Janis Joplin With Big Brother And The Holding Company* – Live At Winterland '68

Agree with others that this is a fantastic release. Potentially definitve versions of some of this band's most important songs, and the recording is excellent as is the mastering by Vic Anesini.

Recorded during the Cheap Thrills sessions these spring/summer shows from 1968 find the band at their peak right before they hit the big time. These versions rival the ones on Cheap Thrills and the mixing and sound quality is excellent. I highly recommend anything they did from this period.

I think this is the best Janis/BBHC live set that I have heard so far, both in terms of performance and recording quality. The whole think is killer!

Just picked this up and am thoroughly impressed ..... sounds great. nice n raw, textured (the guitars sound great!!!) yet balanced, frequency wise, and my copy was flat, centered, and silent. a great pressing, and the tip on gatefold jacket was a nice touch. i will be blasting this for a very long time ! big brother fans need to get this for sure !!

The material here was recorded over two sets in April '68. I was fairly disappointed with the seven tracks from the first set; They seem to lack a little energy, the closing song "Farewell Song" is the one track that hasn't appeared on either album and the other songs aren't dramatically different to what was captured on the studio albums. Fortunately the second set saves the album. It has a more promising opening with "Piece of my Heart" followed by two tunes which didn't appear on either studio album and the band all seem to have woken up a bit! Then there's an excellent rendition of "Summertime" before they all really let rip. "Light is Faster than Sound" really captures the spirit of Big Brother and the Holding Company. This is followed by the heavy amplified blues of "Ball and Chain" and an electrifying version of "Down on Me". I could live without the first set, but the second set is a great document of a band at their peak; that said "Cheap Thrills" is still the best example of the work of Janis Joplin with the Big Brother Holding Company.