Cheap Thrills

When the Album art has R. Crumb doodles you know it's gonna be a *freak out* All of a sudden, it's 1968. Vietnam. Nixon. Motown. Psychedelia. And screaming atop that Mountain is Janis Joplin. Such voice, such energy. I like to imagine Janis at the Crossroads with Robert Johnson, selling her very soul for her voice. That growl, that twang. It's unmistakable and irresistible. Especially on my new favourite version of "Summertime". The guitar tone is fuzzy and the temp is funky and soulful. There's solos, call and response. The piped in crowd noise before each track adds a wonderful electricity to each. These are the hymns of the counterculture, sung by their troubled high priestess and burned into our collective memory of the late 60s. Take a piece of my Heart, Janis. Just take it.

Honestly, I had no idea that Janis Joplin fronted a band until this album came up. I always thought she was a solo act only. I also found out today that Congress has several subway trains connecting their buildings. So not to brag, but I learned two things today! Janis has a voice that shouldn’t work, but is just right for theses songs. It’s gravelly. It sort of sounds like what happens the day after a night of drinking and screaming too many songs. It sounds like the after effect of smoking too many cigarettes. Maybe she drunkenly screamed too many songs while smoking gravel cigarettes. Nothing would surprise me here. The guitar distortion during the first minute of Ball And Chain reminds me of her voice. Maybe she has a distortion pedal in her throat. The point is Janis’s voice is perfectly imperfect. I like the songs on this album, I don’t love them. There is a bit too much jamming for my taste that’s better saved for the live show.

Janis Joplin kills it in the vocals, strong blues roots, great guitar

Let's fucking party! Lo-fi and wild, and Janis sounds amazing. Great fun all round.

OKAY JANIS

This was made for me. I loved this. Also I kept thinking of 30 rock when Jenna has the fake Joplin doc.

Not a big Janis Joplin fan. There are some things I can appreciate - Piece of My Heart is a classic and deservedly so, but in a lot of cases her voice grates on me. For example, her rendition of Summertime is supposed to be a classic but I couldn't stand her voice on it and even the fuzz guitar was annoying me. I liked a bit of the first track, "Combination of the Two" - it was half good sixties heavy rock and half hippy time. "I Need a Man to Love" had some good funk going on, but it also made me feel that this album is very much of its time. The best albums are timeless. I found Joplin's voice grating again on Ball and Chain, which is a shame because I really like Big Mama Thornton (her original version of Hound Dog blows away Elvis). Not sure if a link will work, but here's how Ball and Chain SHOULD sound: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbdUjHmCHA4 ...take it away Big Mama. Have to call this album a 2, unfortunately.

Incredible album, I love it. Janis Joplin is timeless.

Cracker. Surprise Janis Joplin gem.

Dripping in acid haze and California heat wave, so damn cool and confident

The vocals were grating, like Robert Plant scraping a dying budgie down a blackboard.

Janis Joplin’s vocal cords might have mothered Axl Rose’s. Years ago, during my loud "never trust a hippy" phase my dad, not a man in whom I've noted more than an atom of hippy, told me that actually, they did some great stuff, and I shouldn't be so dogmatic. Without disaggregating the whole bursting of restrictive social norms and segregation that they contributed, I'll tip my hat to my dad for the necessary corrective. The sort of disorganised, bold and restless spirit I associate with the movement is present in this record. This list has resurrected my fondness for messy '60's blue-rock recordings, off-the-cuff albums with a bunch of covers thrown in to make up the numbers, production carefree and murky, audience sounds dubbed in, echoes thrown into odd places, and a sense of wanting to capture a moment before moving on, who cares if it isn't perfect, the next one will be better, though the next one often never came. The bass sometimes is off hidden in some corner of a club, stoned and noisily planning some sort of revolutionary arts happening to a bunch of comrades, probably outnumbered by FBI spies, the guitar sometimes is just inappropriately blitzed out in a way that you'd never hear on a contemporary record, they've raided the party, swept the canapés into a bin bag, and have blazed off down the canyon. Anyway, pretty good. Now I'd probably add a star to each of those Doors albums that were thrown at us early in the run.

A classic. Raw, powerful, soulful. And that voice.

The cover art could’ve been beautiful but instead it’s just straight up racist. I know the maker of it was a satirist, but I’m not sure that compensates for that. The music is great though. Janis Joplin has an amazing and unique voice which in my opinion reflects a lot of emotion.

Is Janis Joplin the greatest singer of all time? No, but damn if she isn’t great

Incredible album, I love it. Janis Joplin is timeless.

J'ai profité d'une heure durant laquelle je devais surveiller une élève pendant qu'elle rédigeait son devoir de français pour écouter cet album. Bien que je l'aie globalement apprécié, deux moments ont bien failli gâcher son écoute. En plein milieu de l'album, l'élève en question eut l'impolitesse de me demander comment "langweilig" se disait dans ma langue. J'enlevai mes écouteurs et allai écrire le mot "ennuyeux" au tableau avant d'éclater la craie au sol d'un geste d'humeur et de me rasseoir. Enfin, alors que mon écoute en était à la dernière piste, si proche du but, l'élève crut bon de m'annoncer qu'elle avait terminé son devoir. J'entrai alors dans une colère noire. Les tables volèrent, les chaises voltigèrent, les fenêtres se fracassèrent... Une note de quatre sur cinq bien méritée en attendant de finir incessamment les trente secondes restantes.

Zeppelin couldn’t copy if they tried.

The arguable peak of blues rock, Janis Joplin’s voice is absolutely vibrant and aggressive. You can almost smell the late 60s on this record. 👍

This is a gem! I'm slightly embarrassed to have never even heard of the band or album before, but grateful for the tip, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Pure class.

Loved it.

Amazing record, those live track are huge and this is the record that has Sumertimw in it. As great of a record as Pearl

Brilliant album. Nice bit of Janis screeching away!

This was simply great! The vocals, the guitar, the drums, the bass, the whole band, the album cover. Even not liking too much the "live" inserts in the middle of the songs, this still is a great piece of modern music. Enough said!

Enjoyed more than I thought I would.

Good would listen again

I’d never listened to this. Amazing

Hello, it’s me, the broken record. Just wanted to stop by and remind you that literally every band in the late 60’s San Francisco psych scene were better songwriters, better musicians and more engaging performers than the Grateful Dead. Why you would listen to the Dead when Big Brother and The Holding Company could harness more focused intensity in the first 45 seconds of this record than the Dead were capable of in their entire career? I am not one for conspiracies, usually, but I do believe that when MK Ultra shuttered, the CIA allowed the Dead to traverse the US giving out LSD as a means to further study the effects of the drug on the population. They may not have been involved directly, but i can't imagine that they weren't watching the results intently. Think about it, they no longer had to worry about the risks of CIA involvement in dosing civilians when there was a band who was traveling town to town doing it for them…There's no way they weren't more than happy to let it go on unfettered. Anyway… On “Cheap Thrills”, Big Brother and the Holding Company are in fine form. The band is tight, with an excellent rhythm section, guitar leads that are fuzzy and frenetic and Janis Joplin at the top of her game. I highly recommend it.

Love that Jackie Jormp Jomp voice.

Definitely has a raw, faux-live energy that is both fun but a little bit grating at the same time. Songs are solid though, and everything has a pretty loose and jammy feel to it. All the players here are great, but compared the Janis they are like candles to a torch, which really holds back the songs where she isn't in the spotlight. Overall a very fun time, and Janis is always a pleasure, and its flaws are many but minor.

This album gets so much worse when someone besides Janis does vocals

Big brother and the holding company if they didn’t have Janice Joplin: 💀📉😭

Who let Marge Simpson join Jefferson Airplane?

One from my Dad's record collection - I would gaze at the cover art but never got to playing the actual vinyl. So, good to get it here! Unfortunately pretty generic 60's blues/rock with some histrionics. Also features that weird 60's 'live but not really' anomaly. R Crumb remains the highlight

“Psychedelic blues” is not a combination of words that I like to hear, but leave it to Janis Joplin to overcome that and then some. I love the way the band kinda sucks. They sound like they’re about to fly off the rails from the first few measures of the first song, right up until the end, but they never really do. And Joplin herself was never on the rails to begin with. Everything she did was good to me, but this is the best. Sounds like her in a natural state, whereas later albums sound a bit reigned in. Love Cheap Thrills, always have always will.

Janis is so good.

Both Joplin and the band are raw and powerful. The cover versions are incredible. Album art by Robert Crumb. Not sure about the audience sound effects, but a great album nonetheless.

I wasn’t a fan of the opener but after that it got good fast “I Need A Man To Love” and “Summertime” show a bit more of Joplin’s softer vocals and “Piece Of My Heart” is obviously amazing and shows off her fantastic vocals. The next two tracks were also very good and “Ball And Chain” was a fantastic closer

Another mistake of judging a book by its cover. Loved this way more than I expected. I had never heard of this album or Big Brother & the Holding Company, yet I actually knew some of the songs (and had wrongly thought they were solo Janis Joplin songs). I think the obvious runaway star of this album is Joplin’s voice but a close second is the absolutely stunning guitar solos. I confess to not having listened to much 1960s rock at all but can hear how this album has influenced Stevie Nicks, Sheryl Crowe and Lady Gage to name a few. Probably not one to listen to on earphones for future repeat listens as the sound quality didn’t hold up great there - my fault though!

What a voice. There was a time In my teenage years when she was one of my all time Favourite vocalists. I’ve listened to her less over the proceeding years but whenever I hear her I remember how powerful she is. She had a punk aesthetic that I would imagine influenced the likes of Patti smith. The album as a whole is good, the band is ok.

One of the joys of this project has been discovering Janis Joplin Not discovering really as I was always aware of her but this has been the first time I’ve really listened to her Hell of a voice. One of a kind

Cool instrumentals, I think the effect of making it sound like a live album despite not being one is very cool. But Janis' voice is pretty grating, made me think of Marge Simpson at times lmao. Regardless, I managed to enjoy a fair few tracks and the short total length works in it's benefit. Very solid.

This is just good music, also helped me to find out janis joplin sounds like robert plant when she wants and can sing really well when she wants

Engrossing listen, well-produced. Fake crowd noises are kind of a crutch but interesting. Classic late-60s heavy hippy stuff.

This was a delightful, if unpolished, musical romp. I love Janis and I love her bluesy band but parts were uneven.

Janis is the best thing that has ever happened to Big Brother. an artist with an incredible voice and immense talent – she is the only thing I hear when listening to this album and it's more than enough

Incredibly strong album. The hooks are on point, Joplin kills it vocally, and there is no filler. Only complaint is that the band aren't as interesting as the vocalist.

Blues is not usually my jam. I think this is the second time listening to this album; the first time through I was not grabbed at all...this time definitely moreso. Summertime is my personal favorite and the one two punch of that song and Piece of my Heart is worth the price of admission. Though I find the gutar on Ball and Chain heavy handed Janis' vocals are tour de force. And there are other incredible vocal performances. I'm giving it a 4 which after my first go through I would have never thought would happen. Maybe it will increase still on my next listen (hard to find to listen to anything but the next two on the list (yeah I'm doing 2 per day.

That's rock bottom, when this life makes you mad enough to kill That's rock bottom, when you want somethin' bad enough to steal That's rock bottom, when you feel like you've had it up to here 'Cause you mad enough to scream, but you sad enough to tear

Janis Joplin’s vocals carried this or else everything would have blended together.

VERY NICE

Classic

And Janis Joplin

Would be 5* for the vocals alone, but I like the music too. I'd say this is more blues rock than psychedelic with some great guitar playing, and the rhythm section brings a nice groove. Ball & Chain was an epic closer. This was a great discovery for me

Very good

- One of the great live albums from the 1960's -

this bangs

The album cover already raises expectations and Janis Joplin completely lives up to them. Let's go!

Very fun album! The vocals on Janis Joplin are absolutely incredible. The soulfulness that radiates from this album makes it one that I want to continue listening to over and over.

Classic Blues Rock / Acid Rock featuring the truly amazing voice of Janis Joplin. Although not a live album, (apart from "Ball and Chain"), the album captures all of the energy of a live concert. The best tracks on the album are the three cover songs: "Summertime", "Piece of My Heart", and "Ball and Chain", but the rest of the album is almost as good.

Love the band name. Love the cover. Love the energy here. This is my jam, onichan

fantastic listen

excellent album. the type of album where 5 seconds into every song you can tell its quality. Joplin with legendary vocals.

Absolute banger

Que capa incrível. Só ela já vale o disco todo!

Super cool! I don't really mind if Janis could sing or was just screaming. Her performance was full of passion, and there's a bunch of all-time classics here. One of the key albums from that period.

Great album

Janice Joplin!

Have on vinyl

Loved it. So bluesy, great guitars, and Janis Joplin is remarkable. Highlights are "I Need a Man to Love", "Piece of My Heart" and "Turtle Blues."

Album 753 of 1089 Big Brother & The Holding Company - Cheap Thrills (1968) Rating : 5 / 5 Awesome album. Some of Janis' solo stuff is better but this album is a banger. There are a couple of weaker tracks but not weak enough to take away from the overall listening experience. She outgrew them.

Absolutely loved this album. Janis Joplin, I was unfamiliar with your game

Love me some Janis!

Flows from ripping guitar solos and intense vocals to slow build ups and back again. Passionate and energetic, peak late 60s rock and roll.

hell yeah

It had such a captivating energy from the beginning, that I got mad when it got interrupted by a phone call and started again from the top, so that I can live through it from start to finish. This is an album that I’ll listen to from start to finish many times with no skips.

Combination of the Two is great. This is psychedelic rock I can get behind. Feels like it could have been a Wilson Pickett song. I Need a Man to Love lets Janis Joplin's voice shine. There are better versions of Summertime, it's not terrible, but i don't love it. Piece of My Heart is the hit from the album. Albums used to be a thing so it makes sense that there weren't a bunch of singles off this album, but I think there are better songs on the album. Blues/psychedelic rock is the best psychedelic rock. I guess if I have a complaint it's the phony crowd noise. This is the yacht rock challenge, is music in its purest form live in front of a crowd or in a studio? A glass breaking is too much. I do really like Turtle Blues though. Oh, Sweet Mary is more straight psychedelic music, it could be a Jefferson Airplane or Doors song. All of these San Francisco bands have a similar sound. 5 blues songs and two psychedelic songs, that's a more palatable way to take some acid rock. Ball and Chain is maybe a mix too. Janis just makes everything feel like a blues song, gone too soon. There's a definite Screamin' Jay Hawkins vibe to this.

Late 60s rock at it's very best, the playing is great, I love the garage rock feel to the production, but the shining star is Joplin's vocals, you'll go along way on this list to find better.

This doesn’t sound like an old album, it hits with a raw, live-wire energy that still feels fresh. The guitars are a highlight, buzzing with bluesy grit and psychedelic flair. Janis Joplin shines throughout, her voice full of soul, fire, and heartbreak. She brings serious weight to the songs, especially on standouts like “Piece of My Heart.” I’ll definitely come back to this album.

Janis Joblin at her best

Great

Holy shit this rules

Amazing

Fantastic lp

always

already had this album saved

Janis Joplin is dope

Honestly shocked at how good this is, though I’ll admit that Janis Joplin sounds like Marge Simpson 2/3 of the time

Love it, love it, love it I'm so biased it almost hurts

I had no idea that Janis Joplin had a band before going out solo! This is that band...and they are fantastic!!! It's like psychedelic/blues rock...with Janis' raspy howl. Fucking awesome!! I knew the song Piece of My Heart, but always assumed it was just a piece of Janis' solo work, never knew it was a band. Pleasant surprise today!! Phenomenal!! Favorite songs: Piece of My Heart, I Need a Man to Love, Turtle Blues, Magic of Love, Ball and Chain, Roadblock Least favorite songs: "Oh, Sweet Mary" 5/5

Excellent blues rock record. Janis was one of a kind and gone too soon, regardless of whether you like her voice or not; she was unique. For me she could belt it out like no other.

Awesome

I never Janis was in a band.

I have and will always love Janis

Fantastic

Classic Rock & Roll blues voice of Janis Joplin. A must have album in your collection.

dios janis joplin, tenía ANGEL esa dama

My brother used to date a girl who thought she was Janis Joplin reincarnated. She was born the same day Janis died. I didn’t like her but did always like this album. Rocking good time.

Loved this album. So good, I listened to it twice. That Crumb cover art really lets you know you’re about to get freaky with some underground 60’s shit. Not a bad song on the album which is part acid rock, part psychedelic, a splash of blues, and all sorts of awesome. Janis Joplin was a bad ass. This one deserves all 5 ⭐️

Cheap Thrills is a raw, electrifying snapshot of the ‘60s counterculture—blending blues, soul, and psychedelic rock into an unforgettable ride. With Janis Joplin delivering vocals that could tear your heart out and the band pushing boundaries like they’re on fire, it’s no wonder this album is considered a cornerstone of rock history. Between the explosive “Piece of My Heart” and the dreamy, reimagined Summertime, Cheap Thrills not only defines an era but proves why Joplin remains one of the most compelling voices in music. A must-listen, even if Sam Andrew’s vocals aren’t quite shining next to hers—but hey, you can’t compare a lightbulb to the sun.