\nPearl<\/i> was to be Janis Joplin’s breakthrough album. After
\nriding the ups and downs of the music industry in such a short time
\n(and after dismissing the members of the Kozmic Blues Band –
\ndivesting herself of the last tie she had to Big Brother And The
\nHolding Company in guitarist Sam Andrew), Joplin finally had the
\nband she wanted, the producer she wanted, and the sound she
\nwanted.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, she would not live to complete her dream; a
\nheroin overdose on October 4, 1970 silenced the 27-year-old singer.
\nBut one thing does remain clear:
\nPearl<\/i>, the album she was working on at the time of her
\ndeath, was indeed her best work.<\/p>\n
Working with the group she dubbed the “Full Tilt Boogie Band”
\nand hiring producer Paul Rothchild, Joplin finally seemed like she
\nwas free of the shackles of her former band. She had proven on her
\nprevious album
\nI Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama!<\/i> that she could
\nsucceed without Big Brother to back her up; what she now needed to
\nprove was that she could thrive as a solo artist. Fortunately, both
\nher new band and producer brought out the best in her.<\/p>\n
From the opening track “Move Over” which symbolized a new
\nembrace of rock by Joplin, she showed she wasn’t afraid to not only
\nreach out in new directions but to delve back into her past in
\npursuit of her muse. This track alone says volumes about the new
\nlevel of comfort Joplin had, and is a great way to kick this disc
\noff.<\/p>\n
\nPearl<\/i> might be best-known for the track “Me And Bobby
\nMcGee,” the Kris Kristofferson co-written song that was Joplin’s
\nonly number one single. And yes, it’s a great track that showed
\nJoplin wasn’t afraid of even throwing the possibility of a country
\ntwist into her music. But for some reason, I don’t consider this
\nher greatest song ever – and I know I’m opening the door up to some
\nserious flame mail for this. (For the record, I’d either select
\n“Down On Me” or “Move Over”.)<\/p>\n
Joplin even had the courage to go a capella on one track,
\n“Mercedes Benz,” though the track shows that Joplin was pushing
\nherself too hard again, as her vocals begin to show the signs of
\nraggedness that came forth on
\nCheap Thrills<\/i>. That same ragged style is heard on “Trust Me”
\nand “Get It While You Can,” though the vocals aren’t nearly as
\nrough as tracks on
\nCheap Thrills<\/i> like “Summertime”.<\/p>\n
One track that Joplin never got to record a vocal for, “Buried
\nAlive In The Blues,” remains on this album as an instrumental,
\nalmost as if the band wanted to pay tribute to their fallen leader.
\nIt’s a surprisingly short track, and I kind of wished that it had
\nlasted longer.<\/p>\n
For the most part, the original 10 tracks on
\nPearl<\/i> shine with very few mistakes (and mainly I’d point out
\nthe vocal raggedness as being a distraction). The four live tracks
\ntacked on to this one, all from a concert in Calgary, not only
\nbreathe some life into material from the previous album, but also
\nputs a nice shine on the song “Cry Baby”. (If the re-releases of
\nJoplin’s career take off, the label might want to consider
\nreleasing this whole show from July 1970.)<\/p>\n
If there was one must-own album of Joplin’s career that wasn’t a
\nbest-of,
\nPearl<\/i> would be that album. It shows us an artist who was
\nstill growing, and whom I don’t think had made her ultimate album
\nyet. Pity that she never got that opportunity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27942,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6230],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-39332","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-janis-joplin","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39332"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39332"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}