Pearl (album)

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Pearl
Pearl cover
Studio album by Janis Joplin
Released January, 1971
Recorded September-October 1970
Genre Rock
Length 34:10
Label Columbia Records
Producer Paul A. Rothchild
Professional reviews
Janis Joplin chronology
I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama!
(1969)		 Pearl
(1971)		 In Concert
(1972)

Pearl is an album by Janis Joplin, released on February 1, 1971, just four months after her death from a heroin overdose. It is her fourth album and the only album she recorded with Full Tilt Boogie.

Contents

[edit] History

The album has a more polished feel than the albums she recorded with Big Brother and the Holding Company and the Kozmic Blues Band due to the expertise of producer Paul A. Rothchild and her new backing musicians. Rothchild was best known as the producer of The Doors, and worked well with Joplin. Together they were able to craft an album that showcased her extraordinary vocal talents. The Full Tilt Boogie Band were the musicians who accompanied her on the famous Festival Express in the summer of 1970, and many of the songs on this album were introduced on the concert stage in Canada.

Pearl features the hits "Me and Bobby McGee," (commercially released with "Half Moon", another album cut, on the flipside) written by Kris Kristofferson, her lover at the time, and "Move Over," which she penned herself. Joplin sings on all of the tracks except for "Buried Alive in the Blues," which remained an instrumental because Janis died before being able to add her vocals. The recording sessions, which began in early September, ended with Joplin's untimely death on October 4, 1970. The iconic album cover shows Joplin reclining on her Victorian loveseat with a drink in her hand, conveying that this is Janis Joplin as she really is. [1]

A remastered edition of Pearl with extra tracks was released August 31, 1999.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 122 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

[edit] Track listing

  1. "Move Over" (Janis Joplin) - 3:43
  2. "Cry Baby" (Jerry Ragovoy, Sam Bell) - 3:58
  3. "A Woman Left Lonely" (Dan Penn, Spooner Oldham) - 3:29
  4. "Half Moon" (John Hall, Johanna Hall) - 3:53
  5. "Buried Alive In The Blues" (Nick Gravenites) - 2:29
  6. "My Baby" (Jerry Ragovoy, Mort Shuman) - 3:26
  7. "Me and Bobby McGee" (Kris Kristofferson, Fred Foster) - 4:33
  8. "Mercedes Benz" (Janis Joplin, Bob Neuwirth) - 1:48
  9. "Trust Me" (Bobby Womack, Michael MClure) - 3:17
  10. "Get It While You Can" (Jerry Ragovoy, Mort Shuman) - 3:27

[edit] 1999 remastered edition bonus tracks

All tracks are previously unreleased live recordings.

  1. "Tell Mama" - 6:32
  2. "Little Girl Blue" - 3:50
  3. "Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)" - 6:52
  4. "Cry Baby" - 6:29

[edit] Chart positions

Year Chart Position
1971 Billboard 200 1
Preceded by
Jesus Christ Superstar by Original Cast		 Billboard 200 number-one album
February 27 - April 30, 1971		 Succeeded by
4 Way Street by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young


v • d • e
Janis Joplin
Big Brother and the Holding Company
Studio albums
Live albums
Bootleg albums
Compilations
Songs
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