Columbia/Legacy Recordings will mark the first anniversary of Owsley “Bear” Stanley’s passing with the archival release Big Brother and the Holding Company featuring Janis Joplin, Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968. Bear originally recorded the show on June 23, 1968 and supervised the mastering of this release before his fatal car accident on March 12, 2011. The release is slated to be the first installment in a new archival series tiled “Bear’s Sonic Journals.”

“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.”

In the album’s liner notes, Relix Editor-at-Large Jaan Uhelszki explains, “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. 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 is 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.”