Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968

Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968 is a live album by Big Brother and the Holding Company featuring Janis Joplin. The album was recorded by Owsley Stanley in 1968, and released on 12 March 2012 through Columbia and Legacy, on the one-year anniversary of his death in an automobile accident. He had been supervising the development and release of this album right up to the time of his death on March 12, 2011. The album is dedicated to him, and set to the specifications Stanley set prior to his death. Background The concert by Big Brother and the Holding Company was performed at the Carousel Ballroom on June 23, 1968, shortly after recording sessions ended for the group's number-one hit album, Cheap Thrills. The concert took place during a brief six-month period in which the facilities were owned by bands including the Holding Company, Jefferson Airplane, and the Grateful Dead. Afterwards, the ballroom would be purchased and run by Bill Graham, who renamed it the Fillmore West. Owsley Stanley, who most memorably produced innovative sound recordings for the Grateful Dead, manned the sound system for the Holding Company and other acts who played the Carousel. This is the first of Stanley's Bear's Sonic Journals, hundreds of released and unreleased live shows from the San Francisco psychedelic rock era. No mixing or remastering was done for the release of the album, as Stanley's intent was to create a unique and real sound. Recording Limited by the technology of 1968, Stanley admirably worked to perfect the sound produced by Big Brother during the performance. Unusual by today's standards, drums and vocals are transmitted on the left channel and lead guitar and bass on the right. The distinctive results are a raw sound depicting each instrument as a different individual entity. Stage monitors had yet to be developed, so the musicians had to listen to the echo effect in the ballroom, the P.A., and amplifier sound to cue pitch. An occasional missed note, especially in the vocal harmonies, was the result. Still, the miscues don't hinder the production of an overall classic performance by the Holding Company. Despite its imperfections, this style of recording features a distinct uncut sound that captures the true live experience of the performance. Stanley also insisted that no applause be dubbed into the recording.