Pearl
Sony - Sony
Janis Joplin
Release date: 1999-08-31
Audio CD
Album Rock, Blues-Rock, Hard Rock, Pop, Pop/Rock Music, Popular Music, Rock, Rock & Roll, Rock/Pop
1. Move Over - Janis Joplin, Joplin, Janis
2. Cry Baby - Janis Joplin, Berns, Bert
3. A Woman Left Lonely - Janis Joplin, Penn, Dan
4. Half Moon - Janis Joplin, Hall, John [1]
5. Buried Alive in the Blues - Janis Joplin, Gravenites, Nick
6. My Baby - Janis Joplin, Ragovoy, Jerry
7. Me and Bobby McGee - Janis Joplin, Kristofferson, Kris
8. Mercedes Benz - Janis Joplin, Joplin, Janis
9. Trust Me - Janis Joplin, Womack, Bobby [1]
10. Get It While You Can - Janis Joplin, Ragovoy, Jerry
11. Tell Mama - Janis Joplin, Daniel, Marcus
12. Little Girl Blue - Janis Joplin, Hart, Lorenz
13. Try (Just a Little Bit Harder) - Janis Joplin, Ragovoy, Jerry
14. Cry Baby - Janis Joplin, Berns, Bert
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Pearl
Date undefinedI own the Box of Pearls which includes all of the recordings that Janis ever made. I especially like the Pearl album because it is a large part of her history. She died before the album was ever released, hints the name Pearl (her nickname). It may not have been the same as her other albums, but still I find it interesting because she never knew the success and fame she holds today. Pearl is a great album for any true Janis Joplin fan because it was the very last album she made. Pearl shows a much softer side of Janis' voice on many of the tracks, which may also show the point that she was at in her life. No matter the preference, it was still Janis and Pearl is an essential for any true Janis Joplin fan.
Pearl
Date undefinedJanis Joplin's Pearl (1971) was recorded during September 1970. The last song they cut was Mercedes Benz, one of two songs on the album written by Janis. It was taped on Oct. 1, 1970, just three days before Janis suddenly died. It's sung a cappella, and a little tongue-in-cheek, but the song really does have some "social and political import" (as Janis says introducing the song) regarding materialism, economic class, and religon. It's really sort of sad to hear it sometimes, knowing that she unknowingly had only three days to live at the time. At the end of Mercedes Benz, Janis laughs and says, "That's it!".
Pearl is a great album, maybe Janis Joplin's best, and it highlights her talent in a variety of musical settings. And what talent she had! She was dramatic, soulful, expressive, tough yet vunerable, and beautifully feminine in her own way. A real "Pearl" (also Janis' self-chosen nickname). The first and only album she recorded with the Full Tilt Boogie Band, Pearl has a cleaner sound, more polished and less experimental than her earlier work. That's not to say the album doesn't rock. It does! The first two songs are good examples. Move Over (written by Joplin) and Cry Baby are both classic Janis, rockin', bluesy, and tough. A Woman Left Lonely is slower, as in the slow piano blues tradition, but just as direct and completely satisfying. Half Moon is a lively rocker with funky guitar, spacy piano, and a spirited vocal performance from Joplin. It's one of my favorites here. Get It While You Can is another winner that rocks the blues in classic Janis Joplin fashion. The big hit from the album was fellow Texan Kris Kristofferson's Me And Bobby McGee. Janis plays the acoustic guitar herself on this one, and she and the band end the country song with a vigorously wide-open improvisational rock coda. Janis is the star on Pearl, and the Full Tilt Boogie Band allows her to shine while providing a competent backdrop for her stirring and genuine vocal performances. She was a great blues, rock, and country singer, and on Pearl she really shows it.
Paul Rothchild, who also produced all but one of The Doors albums, produced Pearl, and says it was Janis Joplin's best album. Is Pearl her best album? It's really a matter of taste and the sentimental connections that people have to each album. What do I think? Maybe it's her best, maybe not. But Pearl is my favorite of all of Janis' albums. And this is one of my all-time favorite album covers, too. What a smile!
Pearl
Date undefinedIn the last year or so, I've become immersed in the Monterey Pop Festival and the blues from this time. I picked up Pearl because I love Janis and she's always been a genius figure in music. However, this album is one of the first albums to actually give me goosebumps. Listening to her voice, I saw so much versatility. She could get raspy and passionate in some of the tracks, while she could also tone it down and display her magnetic voice. Her backup band, which she helped choose, is a fantastic partnership to Janis.
Get this album. Whether you get this version or the version with a whole disc of live cuts, please get this album. The additional liner notes comment on this being her most mature and polished work, and that couldn't be more right. Pay tribute to one of the greatest, most classic blues singers and buy this album.
