by Al CampbellWhether Big Brother & the Holding Company would have made any waves at all in the late-'60s San Francisco music scene sans Janis Joplin could be argued. Be A Brother is a good indicator of what they would have sounded like without her amazing voice. Recorded in 1970, guitarist David Schallock and singer/songwriter/producer Nick Gravenites were added to help fill the space created with the absence of Joplin. These ten original compositions include "Home on the Strange," "Mr. Natural," "Funkie Jim," and "I'll Change Your Flat Tire, Merle" dedicated to Merle Haggard. This is a decent blues-based session similar to early Butterfield Blues Band records, which isn't a bad thing at all.