Big Brother And The Holding Company Featuring Janis Joplin - Ball & Chain (2009) [DVD+CD]



DVD5 | Video: NTSC, MPEG-2, 720 x 480 at 29.970 fps | Audio: PCM 2 channels at 1 536 Kbps | 3,93 GB | Time: 57 min.
CD | MP3 CBR 320 Kbps | 64 MB | Time: 27,55 min.
Genre: Rock | Label: Charly Records UK | Release Date: 13 Oct 2009

The legendary Janis Joplin's first band captured live at KQED, San Francisco in April 1967.
Big Brother are primarily remembered as the group that gave Janis Joplin
her start. There's no denying both that Joplin was by far the band's
most striking asset, and that Big Brother would never have made a
significant impression if they hadn't been fortunate enough to add her
to their lineup shortly after forming. But Big Brother also occupies a
significant place in the history of San Francisco psychedelic rock, as
one of the bands that best captured the era's loosest, reckless, and
indulgent qualities in its high-energy mutations of blues and folk-rock.
Big Brother was formed in 1965 in the Haight-Ashbury; by the time Joplin
joined in mid-1966, the lineup was Sam Andrew and James Gurley on
guitar, Peter Albin on bass, and David Getz on drums. Joplin, a recent
arrival from Texas, entered the band at the instigation of Chet Helms,
who (other than Bill Graham) was the most important San Francisco rock
promoter. Big Brother, like the Grateful Dead and Quicksilver Messenger
Service, were not great songwriters or singers. They didn't entirely
welcome Joplin's presence at first, though, and Joplin did not dominate
the group right away, sharing the lead vocals with other members.
It soon became evident to both band and audience that Joplin's fiery
wail mature and emotionally wrenching, even at that early stage had to
be spotlighted to make Big Brother a contender. But Big Brother wasn't
superfluous to the effort, interpreting folk and blues with an inventive
(if sometimes sloppy) eclecticism that often gave way to distorted
guitar jamming, and matching Joplin's passion with a high-spirited,
anything-goes ethos of their own.
Big Brother catapulted themselves into national attention with their
performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967, particularly with
Joplin's galvanizing interpretation of "Ball and Chain" (which was a
highlight of the film of the event). High-powered management and record
label bids rolled in immediately, but unfortunately the group had tied
themselves up in a bad contract with the small Mainstream label, at a
time where they were stranded on the road and needed cash. Their one
Mainstream album (released in 1967) actually isn't bad at all,
containing some of their stronger cuts, such as "Down on Me" and "Coo
Coo." It didn't fully capture the band's strengths, and with the help of
new high-powered manager Albert Grossman (also handler of Bob Dylan,
the Band, and Peter, Paul & Mary), they extricated themselves from
the Mainstream deal and signed with Columbia. The one Big Brother album
for Columbia that featured Joplin, Cheap Thrills (1968), wasn't
completed without problems of its own. John Simon found the band so
difficult to work with that he withdrew his production credit from the
final LP, which was assembled from both studio sessions and live
material (recorded for an aborted concert album). Cheap Thrills
nonetheless went to number one when it was finally released, and though
it too was an erratic affair, it contained some of the best moments of
acid rock's glory days, including "Ball and Chain," "Summertime,"
"Combination of the Two," and "Piece of My Heart." Cheap Thrills made
Big Brother superstars, a designation that was short-lived. By the end
of 1968, Joplin had decided to go solo, a move from which neither she
nor Big Brother ever fully recovered. That's putting matters too simply:
Joplin never found a backing band as sympathetic, but did record some
excellent material in the remaining two years of her life. Big Brother,
on the other hand, had the wind totally knocked out of their sails.
Although they did re-form for a while in the early '70s with different
singers (indeed, they continued to perform in watered-down variations
into the '90s), nothing would ever be the same.

Tracklist:
DVD:
1. Down on Me [3:12]
2. Coo Coo [5:53]
3. Hall of the Mountain King [7:57]
4. Blow My Mind [4:46]
5. Ball and Chain [8:07]
6. Light Is Faster Than Sound [6:47]
Extra:
- Interview with Sam Andrew, Peter Albin, James Gurley and David Getz

CD:
1. Down on Me
2. Coo Coo
3. Hall of the Mountain King
4. Blow My Mind
5. Ball and Chain
6. Light Is Faster Than Sound

Features:
- Interactive Menu
- Direct Scene Access







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