Big Brother & The Holding Company, Janis Joplin - Ball and Chain (Official Audio) 

Janis was quite possibly one of the most beautiful women to ever grace a stage. Her soul felt like this, that’s why she could sing it. The death certificate may say heroin overdose as cause of death, but truly she died of a broken heart. She died a little over a month before I was born and I have loved her my whole life.

73 years young now, living in the border of Texas/Mexico, and every time I listen to these people (Janis, JImi Hendrix, Santana, ,the Doors, etc.) I am reminded of what an awesome life I've had and how blessed I was to have lived and experienced all of it in the midst of all of them in my always loved California.

AMEN TO THAT I 73

This isn’t hippie in any way. The hippies were idiots. This is them kosmic blues mama!

Wow, you know it brother! It is a thunderous, stomping, gargantuan, Godzillian, genius of a guitar solo. Hardly anyone mentions James Gurley.

I'll speak of it ! ... Probably the heaviest, grittiest, live blues guitar tone ever recorded. IMHO.

@@rodgerdrew8500 And I will second that! Not many women comment on this tune, but I will agree it is Smolderingly HOT and Sexy!

Loved it!! Jazz man I got to see her in San Diego! Absolutely amazing!

@Jazz Man nope, James Gurley.

Rock On ! 👍👍👍

Unique- unique- unique!!!! No one can " copy" this soul searching song!!!!

I know this is a long time later, but there's no doubt music is therapeutic. Janis hits at the bone makes them rattle and feel better.

I'm b nknmnñ​@@chrisretired5379

I feel this comment...

you are so correct, my friend. The absolute best of Big Brother as well as Janis. If someone from another planet would ask, how did they sound?....this is what I would play for them!

This is bombazz❤ I envision myself in an underground blues & jazz mafia tavern somewhere in Lousianna. Sitting at a round table smoking an xl cig while I wait for my 'guys' to show up with their cut. Lol

Wow... I wish I was round for all of this. Amen that it kills today. The voice mmmmmmm

Ya !

TY.

Truth!!

Every thing is cheap about these thrills and that is what makes it so beautiful

They called their style Hurricane Blues. When this record came out, I could find all the guitar breaks on it, wore down the grooves where they were. And almost half a century later, they still hold up. Also, I still can't describe it other than its real blues music blown all out of distortion. My fave guitar licks and I've heard thousands of them.

It's a shame Janis got all the credit and left the band nothing, but that's corporate thinking for you

The band was phenomenal.... I always loved the sound of this band..

@@philipshirk729 Corporate thinking led to the Full Tilt Boogie Band. So much for corporate thinking.

Gurley was held in high regard by his peers in S.F. Personally, I would love to hear Big Brother before Janis joined. Nothing against Joplin but I've read that had to slow down their playing greatly to accommodate her.

I cant imagine who would say that, but if they did, they were fools!

They played the super blues!

being a super technically brilliant instrumentalist doesn't make you good at music, just good at playing your instrument... so go play classical in an orchestra . Feeling the music makes you rock and roll. That is what rock is.

Consider their first LP. Thats where that opinion comes from. Once they realized the great potential of Janice, they changed their experimental hippie weirdness into this psychedelic blues masterpiece! Fortunately today, years after Janices death, they've had the good sense to maintain this impeccable style of rock&roll. Peace.

I have never heard anyone , ever , call them a lousy band

Make love not war

Where did you listen (if I may ask) ? I always thought those reconnaissance were a little like hiking trips and you'd sleep out in the jungle....

Thanks for your service.

@@mmmm-uy2se it wasn't like they had a choice!

Fake? Fake subman? Fake little fish? Fake. Neanche sa.dov'è il Vietnam. Orrido.

Sorry, this is a studio version made to sound "live".

@@MrMikebutkus That's incorrect. It was recorded live on March 8, 1968 at the Fillmore East. The rest of the album was recorded in the studio.

@@randyhammill9021 Combination of the Two also sounds live, though the crowd could've been dubbed.

Tout à fait. 56 ans . !!!!🇫🇷🙏🙏🙏🙏💜💜💜💜

I started listening to this when it first came out - nearly 50 years later I still listen to it with much joy.

Janis, Sam and James went backstage after club date of Thornton's and personally asked permission to cover her song.

True. I think we all feel the same, but a little Mr. Natural wouldn't hurt! 😂

Shrooooms😉

Hello Lorie how are you doing hope you’re having a great time with your family may God bless you and your family

Ikr! Straight trippin

Ditto again

Hello Linda how are you doing hope you’re having a great time with your family may God bless you and your family

I wasn't there. I was too young. But, I know that they were great!

Is there anyone ever saying this?...

Easily best band she had

@@WolfShenda The people who told Janis she could better. They were wrong.

It gets there with her every time I hear it! She put everything into it! she was only about 5" feet tall!

💣🎵🎶🎵🎵❤ yes Janis Haight ASHBURY Fillmore 1960s

This is blues music. It's meant to sound dramatic, sad, serious & deep.

18 for me!

Nobody cares

@@rossfrank498 131 people do, sit down

Yeah Frank, I was 14 also. Girl on the bus had this LP.

Ditto

As a christian now, shes still my girl..always.....

more of a fuzz than distortion

@@yese1697 yeah. More people used fuzz in blues than distortion. Like Clapton, Hendrix, etc.

The distorting of the sine wave form is a bit fizzy, somewhat dizzy, soft as a kittens belly hair , and warmer than the afterglow of a nice pump on a nice day before all the cards get stacked. Definitely no fuzz though , I know fuzz from buzz and that's cuz people really want out of the higher side of my number and you had mentioned that to him about getting put in my notes from the clubhouse for a few days but I can imagine how quick you would like to ride without a phone.

Can you give me some good recommendations for some good fuzz? You sound like someone who might know

@@softest_eevee Jesus Christ, what the fuck worships the mule? That is some bona fide down and dirty true rambling on there. I have not got even a fuzzy memory of spouting this drivel...wow But for the fuzz my recomendation Best fuzz - the tiny, almost imperceptible little forests you find on your sweets upper backside thighs or just below the naval Avoid at all cost- your dad's face after the weekend camping trip

Ask Ryan Seacrest & Simon Cowell...They Bout Effed Up Music as LOW As lt Could Go Today... ldull, lndeed...

But we have T. Swift!. LOL Some really good crap, right there! Come back in 50 years. Janis will still be screaming the blues but Swift? WHO? YEAH. NOT TIMELESS!

Me too.

Same here

Agreed!

godam, me too.

I just woke from a dream of this being played, had to hear it again.

yes, why not, it's up there.

Aspa Kostarakou OMG yesss

yes

horizontal dance music . . .

Absoultely

So totally true!

real psychedelic sound, and very different from Hendrix and other guys. but i wish he practiced more; as much as i love his playing he often goes over the top, out of tune etc. a little too much.

You a smart man

''James Gurley'' the most seriously underappreciated guitar player since Hubert Sumlin. Lookin forward to the big concert in the sky. May they both reside in Heaven. RIP.

@@mchorchos That was done intentionally. Like John Cippolina's sound.

@@mchorchos that's what makes it psychedelic

Every time.

I love James Gurley, but what about Jerry Garcia?

@@steveborst5386 no comparison..like Clapton vs Beck..

@@jamesbarta5452 If you mean that Clapton is far better than Beck, I agree. Regarding Gurley vs. Garcia. I agree that Gurley's solo on Ball and Chain is astounding. But he has only a limited amount of good work. If you're talking about the best; listen to Dark Star,

me to

Absolutely INCORRECT!. Three tracks on the original album (I Need a Man to Love, Combination of Two and Ball and Chain) ** ARE ** indeed full and unoverdubbed live recordings, taken from the group's actual performance at the Bill Graham's Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco. You probably have live parts of the album conflated with the remaining four tracks, which are recorded 'live' in Columbia's studio (I am not aware of any canned audience added to these tracks and you most certainly won't hear any on, for example, 'Summertime'. If some background banter is audible on these four tracks, this is purely a chat between the group members and the studio crew, I honestly doubt that this was intended to give the four studio tracks a faux-live feel. Another falsehood is that there are no live versions of Ball and Chain, this is just plain wrong. In fact, there are more than a dozen known live and demo versions of Ball & Chain, including (but not limited to) Janis' performances from the Monterey International Pop Fest, Woodstock, San Francisco, Germany, Toronto, as well as versions released on her posthumous recordings (Joplin in Concert, 1972 and Janis, 1975). Still, the Cheap Thrills version is by far the most grandiose and heart-wrenching. I doubt that Janis ever reached those emotional high notes again. And of course. Sam Andrews' galactic fuzz solo is a nothing short of cosmic orgasm on steroids.

Well, there's the live version from the 1967 Monterrey music festival, videoed and can be seen in the documentary Monterrey Pop

Theodore Quiroz Discovered this in the late 80's still turns me now as then, still better on vinal but who cares when it's this cooool!!!!!!!!!!!!

This album, Cheap Thrills, was recorded entirely in the studio. The live effects were just that.

Hi I'm pretty sure this is live Fillmore San Francisco I was there. there were some hells Angel's there a couple had tears in their eyes .that's the music that's played at the end of a concert .

@@russellrustin1028 You are correct that the song, Ball and Chain, was recorded at the Fillmore, but the rest of the album was done in the stdio, with crowd noises added.

Pat Benny ok I'll by that. I will check you may right

Have you had the opportunity to see the video of Janis Joplin singing this song at the Monterey Pop Festival. If not check it out. Her performance blew Mama Cass Elliott away!

lucky basterd I m glad too visite the museum of the Gulf in 2017

I’m feeling you

Didn't yer dad listen to rubbish? Shoulda told him so. I did. Then I picked myself up off the floor and went to listen to my rubbish.

@@usandthemx LOL!

I love Janis, but actually her voice almost cracks several times in this song. So, technically seen this could be called rubbish. ;)

@@matthiasgossen4334 thats what makes it beautiful. Pure passion

Sounds like my dad . He says there’s only two types of music , country and western . The man has no soul.

No, it was a studio recording to sound like a live concert. But, when in concert, she sounded just like this. No phony autophone.

@@MrMikebutkus This is from the Fillmore West. But, it's the only true live one on Cheap Thrills. Two or three other ones on it are as you described.

@@RichardMNixon-zh6uz i was standin outside fillmore bout 1130 pm couldnt get in but got listen from outside still can hear it burned into my brain

No gods were allowed in this space. It was ALL Janis.

my heart goes faster every time

I remember when my oldest brother brought this GEM home back in the 60s. I was blown away then..........still am in 2020. What a voice, and the guitar just cuts through my soul. Haven't heard anything that comes close to this masterpiece. RIP Janis, You did one hell of a job on this one

It's 2021 dude...

I agree, I only check out those others to see her foot-stomping. Tell me tell me tell me tell me tell me tell me....................

@@peterbaruxis2511 how bout the 1970 Festival Express Tell Mama version?? That's a great one also.

You don't know jack shit, period.

I'm stoned too right now.

It's obligatory to get stoned when listening to Janis

@@spookisghostly4619 Nope. Enjoying this just fine completely sober.

amen ♡

Drugs are the fuel, music is the main control of your own space time ship.

Hello Linda how are you doing hope you’re having a great time with your family may God bless you and your family