Big Brother & The Holding Co.* – Sex, Dope & Cheap Thrills

I was very sceptical when I read that this a GZ pressing. Now that I'm listening to it I'm glad I bought it though. The pressing quality is excellent.

"The Controversial Original Title Restored" - the edited title is so much better. Cheap Thrills says what the omitted 2 other words say in 2 words. LOL Just another cash grab. They've made fortunes off Janis.

Hilariously bad innersleeve 'art-work' with the gross 'psychedelic'contrived imitation display - while it was R.Crumb who did the original artwork for Cheap Thrills..they have the "fabulous freak bros' in the bus .. wrong artist !!! LOL What's with the guy with the deer hooves... absolutely atrocious rendering of Janis - like I factually already stated 'gross'.

Well , I bought this one and read printed inner sleeves . Listened to it once & that was that .
If you want a real thing , go and get original album . This is music for if you want to be a fly on the wall when original session was recorded .
As far as it goes , there is a reason this was never released until now .
Attractive title , for sure . And if you want to splash money , there's a 2 X 45 RPM version by Musical Fidelity .
Just sold it today & do not miss it for a bit .

This is a fantastic Double LP. Great to see Big Brother opening the vaults the way many other artists have done except these aren't in some giant overpriced boxset. Just a great double LP with a ton of great unreleased takes. You can feel the energy of the era and the energy of this great band.

Does the LP - Download Card include the versions from the CD that are not on the record, or only the songs from the record?

Totally brain mashing freak form guitar rattle from Jim Gurley makes this the best release from the group.
They are all firing on all four cylinders. Every tune packs a complete wallop that all heavy heads need to get their lobes wired into.
If you ever dug the early ballroom BBHC sound, this'll give you a monumental poke to the centre of the brain.

Sound ain't bad. The recordings are pretty raw and have a demo-like feel to them which give the tracks a nice vibe. Joplin's voice is clear, focused and dynamic. Bass is defined and sounds good. Nice midrange. Realistic drums, though not overly punchy. Separation could've been a bit better, clarity hindered slightly when vocals and all instruments are going at the same time. Sound is just a tad bit thin, music could've benefitted from a slightly wider soundstage, opening up the music a little more thus adding a better spatial element. I enjoy the listen overall though and don't think this release sounds bad at all just would've been better if the instruments were just slightly more defined. Suprised that the pressing is decent given its MRP. Slightly warped but barely noticeable. A little static but also barely noticeable. Centered correctly. Clean surface, only a couple of very small superficial marks. The alternate versions are pretty awesome. All in all, 2 LPs worth of material for $25. Not a bad deal.

Very, very good alternate versions from Cheap Thrills ! I`m thrilled ! Vinyl was pretty dirty with little paper snippets from inner sleeves. After a wash everything was fine. TOP vinyl ! Highly recommended !