Janis Joplin

Big Brother & the Holding Company (23:04)
(r. August 1967)
(c. September 02, 1967 — # 60)
Track listing:
Side 1:
Bye, Bye Baby (2:35)
Easy Rider (2:21)
Intruder (2:25)
Light Is Faster than Sound (2:29)
Call on Me (2:32)
Coo-Coo (1:55) *
Side 2:
Women Is Losers (2:01)
Blindman (2:00)
Down on Me (2:02)
Caterpillar (2:15)
All Is Loneliness (2:15)
The Last Time (2:12) *
Bonus tracks (remastered extended version):
Call On Me (alternate take) (2:41)
Bye, Bye Baby (alternate take) (2:39)
* Extra tracks on 12-track pressing and first European and Japanese CDs

Big Brother & the Holding Company is the debut album from Big Brother and the Holding Company and the studio debut of Janis Joplin. The album was originally released in early 1967 then re-released following the band's major success at the Monterey Pop Festival with two additional songs that originally were only available as an A side/B side single. The album was a moderate success peaking in the top 60 and almost producing a top forty hit with the Joplin song Down On Me.

Big Brother and the Holding Company is an American rock band that formed in San Francisco in 1965 as part of the psychedelic music scene that also produced the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Jefferson Airplane.

The original members of the band were Sam Andrew (lead guitar) and James Gurley on guitars, Peter Albin on bass and Chuck Jones (no relation to the animator) on drums, who was replaced by Dave Getz in 1966.

The group increased in popularity with the addition in April 1966 of lead singer Janis Joplin. She was recruited by the band's manager of the time, Chet Helms, who had previously lived in Joplin's college stomping grounds of Austin, Texas, and the group also benefited greatly from the fact that Helms had recently founded the renowned San Francisco concert promotions company Family Dog Productions. In 1967, the band released their self titled debut album Big Brother and the Holding Company which was moderately successful on the charts.

01. "Bye, Bye Baby" (Powell St. John) – 2:35
02. "Easy Rider" (James Gurley) – 2:21
03. "Intruder" (Janis Joplin) – 2:25
04. "Light Is Faster Than Sound" (Peter Albin) – 2:29
05. "Call on Me" (Sam Andrew) – 2:32
06. "Women Is Losers" (Joplin) – 2:01
07. "Blind Man" (Albin, Andrew, David Getz, Gurley, Joplin) – 2:00
08. "Down on Me" (arr. Joplin) – 2:02
09. "Caterpillar" (Albin) – 2:15
10. "All Is Loneliness" (Moondog) – 2:15
11. "Coo Coo" (single) – 1:59
12. "The Last Time" (single) – 2:17
13. "Call on Me" (alternate) – 2:42
14. "Bye, Bye Baby" (alternate) – 2:39