Audio CD (March 13, 2012)
Number of Discs: 1
Label: Columbia/Legacy/Sony Music Entertainment
USA

Bear's Sonic Journals Presents: Big Brother And The Holding Company Featuring Janis Joplin - Live At The Carousel Ballroom 1968

All tracks recorded Sunday, June 23, 1968 (Except #14 which was from June 22, 1968)

Track List
1. Combination of the Two Andrew 4:35
2. I Need a Man to Love Andrew 6:39
3. Flower in the Sun Andrew 3:11
4. Light Is Faster Than Sound Albin 6:02
5. Summertime Gershwin 4:35
6. Catch Me Daddy Albin, Andrew, Gurley 5:06
7. It's a Deal Albin, Andrew, Gurley 2:28
8. Call on Me Andrew 4:04
9. Jam - I'm Man (Mad Man Blues) Albin, Andrew, Gurley 6:51
10. Piece of My Heart 4:49
11. Coo Coo Albin 6:22
12. Ball & Chain 9:22
13. Down on Me 2:50
14. Call on Me [Saturday Show - June 22, 1968]

Columbia/Legacy Recordings с гордостью объявляет о выпуске Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968, ранее недоступной концертной записи Big Brother and the Holding Company с участием Дженис Джоплин, записанной 23 июня 1968 года легендарным звукорежиссером Оусли Стэнли, a/k/ «Медведь», который руководил мастерингом этого релиза перед своей фатальной автомобильной аварией 12 марта 2011 года на своей приемной родине в Австралии. Выпуск альбома приурочен к годовщине его смерти и посвящен "Медведю".

Columbia/Legacy Recordings is proud to announce the release of Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968, a previously unavailable live concert recording of Big Brother and the Holding Company featuring Janis Joplin, recorded June 23, 1968 by legendary soundman Owsley Stanley, a/k/a "Bear," who supervised the mastering of this release before his fatal car accident on March 12, 2011, in his adopted homeland of Australia. The release of the album marks the one-year anniversary of his passing and is dedicated to Bear.

"Care was taken to preserve and ensure the integrity of the music as well as to present an accurate snapshot of the masterful talent of one of the greatest singers of her generation and one of the hottest live bands in the San Francisco scene," wrote Bear's widow, Sheilah Stanley, in her dedication to Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968. "This is Bear's vision - how he heard the band live, and how he wanted to transmit that to you...this truly is Bear's presentation of this phenomenal band and inspirational music."

Cited by San Francisco rock scribe Joel Selvin as "truly one of the fathers of today's concert sound systems," Owsley Bear Stanley "supervised the sound at the Carousel Ballroom, a former big band dance palace at the corner of Market and Van Ness in downtown San Francisco that, for a few brief, glorious months in 1968 was operated by a collective formed by the Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Big Brother and the Holding Company, a social/musical laboratory experiment akin to inmates running asylums, whose six-month run may well have corresponded with the height of the whole '60s Haight-Ashbury/San Francisco thing...."

An essential and pivotal figure in the San Francisco counter-cultural scene, from beatniks to hippies to beyond, Bear began mixing live sound with the Grateful Dead in 1966 and ran the sound system for the Carousel until Bill Graham took over and rechristened it the Fillmore West in the autumn of1968. From his first days with the Dead, Bear would record the shows he was involved with as way to improve his live system set-ups. Bear's "sonic journals" are generally regarded as the gold standard for live concerts from the psychedelic era.

"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," notes rock scribe Jaan Uhelszki in her essay on Janis and Big Brother's enduring ability to astound and surprise, "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 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."

"He viewed these recordings as windows into the past," wrote Bear's son, Star finder Stanley, in his notes for Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968. "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."

Follow Bear's advise in the liner notes: Put your left & right speakers close together in the middle and turn it up LOUD for best enjoyment (believe me, its worth it!). All artwork in 600dpi png included.

Allmusic, Thom Jurek:
The first entry in the Bear's Sonic Journals series is, without question, a stunner. "Bear" (Augustus Owsley Stanley III), the Grateful Dead's live soundman, built and manned the sound system at the Carousel Ballroom. He personally supervised this previously unreleased effort (items from it have appeared on the Joplin box with crummy sound) shortly before his untimely death in an automobile accident in 2011. (He even provides listening instructions via a brief liner essay -- one of a number of them -- including an excellent historical one from Jaan Uhelszki). There were no stage monitors then (something Bear would later pioneer); the band had to listen to the echo back from the room, the P.A., and amplifier sound to cue pitch. Here, vocals and drums are in the left channel, guitars and bass in the right -- no melding. The effect is electrifying; it's exactly what one would experience as an audience member. The sound is warm, immediate, raw; full of intricacies, small flaws, and rough spots that make the performance singular. This is Big Brother still very much performing as a unit, recorded on June 23, 1968 shortly after finishing sessions for Cheap Thrills, whose release occurred two months later. They're comfortable enough with one another here to trust each others' instincts. Joplin's vocals are the centerpiece, but the wild, wooly, psychedelic rock of Big Brother -- James Gurley and Sam Andrew on guitars, bassist Peter Albin, and drummer Dave Getz -- is the engine that propels that singular voice to the heights it needs to soar to. Andrew takes alternate duet and backing vocals regularly; the rest of the band chimes in on the backing ones too. The disc begins with "Combination of the Two," with Joplin and Andrew taking turns on the vocal and a truly incendiary and wildly inventive guitar solo from Gurley. The vocal play continues on "I Need a Man to Love." Joplin's reading is subtle enough to let the blues drench the tune amid the revved sonics. "Summertime" is every bit as lovely as and more soulful than the one on Cheap Thrills. "Catch Me Daddy" is a revelation of jazzy psychedelic blues. The two versions of "Call on Me" (one from Sunday night) are radically different from one another. "Piece of My Heart" features some lithe vocalizing in the verse from Joplin we haven't heard before. But the true highlights here are Albin's "Coo Coo," an acid-drenched instrumental, and "Ball and Chain," in what may be its definitive recorded performance. Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968 is easily the finest gig from Big Brother & the Holding Company yet released, and it's a fitting tribute to Bear's inventive legacy.

The Pearl Sessions is an historic expansion of Joplin's final studio album, providing fascinating new insight into Janis' creative process through a range of rare and previously unreleased material.

Newly available bonus material on The Pearl Sessions includes the original master mono mixes of the album's singles ("Cry Baby," "Me and Bobby McGee," "Half Moon," "Get It While You Can," "Move Over," "A Woman Left Lonely") and a full-length second disc showcasing Joplin live in the studio performing never-before-heard takes of Pearl classics. From behind-the-scenes banter to full finished takes, The Pearl Sessions shows the complexity of Joplin's genius, the tough and vulnerable aspects of her personality, her lightning sense of humor, and her razor-sharp attention to the details of her craft. Offering fresh perspectives on the more familiar "official" versions of the songs, alternate takes of "Get It While You Can," the Janis Joplin-composed "Move Over," and others open up unexpected new dimensions in the material and in the sublime nuances of Joplin's delivery.

The Pearl Sessions offers an unprecedented opportunity to be in the room with Janis, her producer, Paul Rothchild, and the members of the Full Tilt Boogie Band (guitarist John Till, pianist Richard Bell, bassist Brad Campbell, drummer Clark Pierson, organist Ken Pearson) as they create one of the enduring masterpieces of rock 'n' roll.

Originally released on January 11, 1971 (three months after her passing on October 4, 1970), Pearl debuted Joplin's final finished studio recordings. The only album Joplin ever recorded with the Full Tilt Boogie Band, the touring ensemble that had backed her on the Festival Express (a mythic 1970 concert tour by railroad across Canada with the Grateful Dead, the Band and others), Pearl included canonical studio recordings of songs that had been introduced to audiences on tour. A live version of "Tell Me Mama" (a song not included on the original Pearl), recorded during the legendary Toronto Festival Express date, is included as a bonus track on The Pearl Sessions. Also included as a bonus is Janis' scorching live version of "Half Moon," recorded for her appearance on "The Dick Cavett Show" on August 3, 1970.

Peaking at #1 on the Billboard 200, a position it held for nine weeks, Pearl included some of Janis's most familiar and best-loved performances including her cover of Kris Kristofferson's "Me and Bobby McGee" and her off-the-cuff a cappella "Mercedes Benz." A never released alternate take and the original "Me and Bobby McGee" demo are both included on The Pearl Sessions.

When putting together material for a 40th anniversary edition of Pearl, researchers discovered a treasure-trove of previously uncatalogued audio tapes from the album's sessions, produced by Paul Rothchild. An industry legend, perhaps best-known for producing the first five Doors albums, Rothchild further solidified his position in music history with his work on Pearl.

The Pearl Sessions brings together the original mono versions of the album's 45s and the original LP tracks alongside a revelatory cavalcade of newly-discovered alternate versions, outtakes and vocal takes that put you in the studio with Janis Joplin.

A limited edition double 10" high fidelity vinyl gatefold release, Highlights from The Pearl Sessions will be available exclusively for Record Store Day (April 21, 2012). A companion to the newly curated two CD edition of Joplin's farewell masterpiece, Pearl, this vinyl release presents previously unreleased and seldom heard takes and early versions of classic songs, culled from the recently discovered tapes used to create The Pearl Sessions.

A limited edition 12" vinyl edition of Pearl will also be available on Tuesday, April 17. A breakout from the Classic LP Collection box, the album is pressed at RTI on 180-gram audiophile vinyl.

Line-up / Musicians:

– Peter Albin / Bass, Vocals
– David Getz / Drums, Vocals
– James Gurley, Sam Andrew / Guitar, Vocals
– Janis Joplin / Lead Vocals

Written by David Getz (tracks: 6, 7, 9), James Gurley (tracks: 6, 7, 9), Janis Joplin (tracks: 2, 6, 7, 9), Peter Albin (tracks: 4, 6, 7, 9, 11), Sam Andrew (tracks: 1 to 3, 6 to 9, 14)

Mastered By – Paul Stubblebine
Production Manager [Project Direction] – Adam Farber, Jim Parham, Marisa Magliola
Recorded By, Producer – Owsley Stanley

Recorded At – Carousel Ballroom – June 23, 1968 - ( Tracks 1 to 13 ) & June 22, 1968 - ( Track 14 )
Recorded on June 23, 1968 at The Carousel Ballroom, San Francisco, California, by Owsley Stanley.
Released on March 13, 2012.