Big Brother and the Holding Company featuring Janis Joplin – Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968
Written by admin on March 14, 2012 – 11:02 am - |
Columbia/Legacy Recordings have released a previously unavailable live concert recording of “Big Brother and the Holding Company featuring Janis Joplin – Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968”.
The show was captured on June 23, 1968 by legendary soundman, Owsley Stanley (aka “Bear”), who remastered the recording before he was tragically killed in a car accident last year. The album marks the one year anniversary of Bear’s death and is dedicated to him. |
The Carousel Ballroom was a former big band dance palace in downtown San Francisco that in 1968 played host to luminaries of the counter-culture scene, including the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Big Brother and the Holding Company. Bear ran the sound system at the Carousel until it was taken over by Bill Graham later in the year and renamed Fillmore West.
In his notes for “Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968,” Bear’s son, Starfinder Stanley, says:
| “He [Bear] viewed these recordings as windows into the past. So this is not just a live recording of Janis Joplin singing with Big Brother and the Holding Company. This is an auditory portal that…can transport you back to the short-lived but incredible world of the Carousel Ballroom in 1968.” |
Among those in attendance that night in June 1968 was Grateful Dead drummer, Mickey Hart, who remembers the power of Joplin’s performance:
| “This evening was special. The Bear loved Janis. Her ability to sing multiple tones simultaneously and then morph them into heart wrenching chords was singular. Her primal cry, filled with tenderness and hurt, was delivered at 140 decibels as the band pushed here into the slipstream. There could be no one more qualified to bring Big Brother and the Holding Company to life than Owsley. Together they captured the magic. The Bear sure had it right this night.” |
Rock critic, Jaan Uhelszki, describes Janis Joplin and the band as a “force of nature” in her essay on the album:
| “What is key about these moments captured by Owsley is that they’re a true representation of what this mythic band really sounded like live. The rough magic, the explosive synergy, the dangerous frisson of boundaries being demolished between artist and audience….these 14 songs are a testament to what a force of nature Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company was during these two nights at the Carousel Ballroom. Showing them at the zenith of their considerable power, it is so fortunate that this recording was ever made — only two months before their break up. This is one of the few living documents of that propitious and monumental pairing.” |
“Big Brother and the Holding Company Featuring Janis Joplin – Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968” tracklist:
- Combination Of The Two
- I Need A Man To Love
- Flower In The Sun
- Light Is Faster Than Sound
- Summertime
- Catch Me Daddy
- It’s A Deal
- Call On Me
- I’m Mad (Mad Man Blues)
- Piece Of My Heart
- Coo Coo
- Ball & Chain
- Down On Me
- Call On Me (Bonus track from Saturday Show – June 22, 1968).
“Big Brother and the Holding Company Featuring Janis Joplin – Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968″ is available now. A two 12” vinyl LP gatefold collector’s edition is out on March 26.
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Live At The Carousel Ballroom 1968 (CD) |
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Live At The Carousel Ballroom 1968 (2 LP) |
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Tags: Big Brother and the Holding Company featuring Janis Joplin - Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968, Janis Joplin, Owsley Stanley
Posted in American Rock, New releases |
