- Included among the Record Descriptions of Favorite Albums (Part 1).
- Quite simply, Cheap Thrills is one of the greatest American rock albums of the 1960’s. These are the recordings for which Janis Joplin is so renowned.
Big Brother and the Holding Company – Cheap Thrills (1968): Quite simply, Cheap Thrills is one of the greatest American rock albums of the 1960’s. These are the recordings for which frequent lead vocalist Janis Joplin is so renowned. The over-the-top album cover is nearly as well known as the music, with artwork by underground cartoonist R. Crumb. As with Chuck and His Friends, Cheap Thrills includes a rendering of the Gershwin song “Summertime”. Several of the songs were recorded live at Bill Graham’s Fillmore Auditorium, including the devastating final cut, Big Mama Thornton’s “Ball and Chain”. When I went off to college in the fall of 1969, my two favorite songs were “Piece of My Heart” from Cheap Thrills and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” by the Band.