Next month, the 50th anniversary of Big Brother & the Holding Company’s Cheap Thrills comes out, and the reissue will include different studio cuts and live versions, including of classics like “Piece of My Heart.”
Below is what is referred to as “Take 4” of the iconic tune, and it’s recordings like this that fascinate fans who get to hear the different steps that were taken to get to the final product we all know and love.
The reissue, dubbed Sex, Dope & Cheap Thrills, which was the album’s original title but was deemed “too controversial” by the powers that be at Columbia Records, is available for pre-order at JanisJoplin.com.
Big Brother & the Holding Company – Sex, Dope & Cheap Thrills – Track Listing
Disc One
1. “Combination of the Two” (Take 3)
2. “I Need a Man to Love” (Take 4)
3. “Summertime” (Take 2) *
4. “Piece of My Heart” (Take 6)
5. “Harry” (Take 10)
6. “Turtle Blues” (Take 4)
7. “Oh, Sweet Mary”
8. “Ball and Chain” (live, The Winterland Ballroom, April 12, 1968)
9. “Roadblock” (Take 1) *
10. “Catch Me Daddy” (Take 1)
11. “It’s a Deal” (Take 1) *
12. “Easy Once You Know How” (Take 1) *
13. “How Many Times Blues Jam”
14. “Farewell Song” (Take 7)
Disc Two
1. “Flower in the Sun” (Take 3)
2. “Oh Sweet Mary”
3. “Summertime” (Take 1)
4. “Piece of My Heart” (Take 4)
5. “Catch Me Daddy” (Take 9)
6. “Catch Me Daddy” (Take 10)
7. “I Need a Man to Love” (Take 3)
8. “Harry” (Take 9)
9. “Farewell Song” (Take 4)
10. “Misery’n” (Takes 2 & 3)
11. “Misery’n” (Take 4)
12. “Magic of Love” (Take 1) *
13. “Turtle Blues” (Take 9)
14. “Turtle Blues” (last verse Takes 1-3)
15. “Piece of My Heart” (Take 3)
16. “Farewell Song” (Take 5)
* Previously released
Erica Banas is a rock/classic rock blogger that loves the smell of old vinyl in the morning.
