Fretplay.com Janis Joplin CD reviews Janis Joplin guitar tabs Janis Joplin CD reviews Janis Joplin tabs Pearl


Janis Joplin - Pearl Audio CD

A fair review of the Janis Joplin "Pearl" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Janis Joplin reviews here, or go back to the Janis Joplin tabs.

Janis Joplin Band: Janis Joplin
Title: Pearl
Rating:
Release Date: 1999-08-31
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Move Over 2: Cry Baby 3: Woman Left Lonely 4: Half Moon 5: Buried Alive in the Blues 6: My Baby 7: Me and Bobby McGee - Janis Joplin, Janis Joplin & the Full Tilt Boogie Band 8: Mercedes Benz 9: Trust Me 10: Get It While You Can 11: Tell Mama [Live][#][*] 12: Little Girl Blue [Live][#][*] 13: Try (Just a Little Bit Harder) [Live][#][*] 14: Cry Baby [Live][#][*]

Still shines
Joplin's songs on a sadly sole solo release groove hard enough on their own to warrant embrace then and now; the songwriting itself aids Pearl's good fortune even more than those overly-blused vocals, providing the rare complimentary apparatus for such a soulful scratching.


So glad to hear Janis Joplin again!
So excited to hear Janis again. I had forgotten how much I had enjoyed this "album", now a CD, in my younger days. . . what memories this brought back!.


Janis at her best
This
CD is so good, I've had it in every format
they've put it on. I've always been a HUGE Janis fan. LP, 8-track, cassette and
now CD. You won't be disappointed.


A Rare Pearl
I especially like the Pearl album because it is a large part of her history. I own the Box of Pearls which includes all of the recordings that Janis ever made. 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. .


JANIS' SWANSONG (She was a classic, and so is her very special last album)
The last song they cut was Mercedes Benz, one of two songs on the album written by Janis. Janis Joplin's Pearl (1971) was recorded during September 1970. 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.

Pearl has one of my all-time favorite album covers, too. . . What a smile!.


You can see a complete list of all Janis Joplin discography, or go back to the Janis Joplin tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

Search guitar tabs

#ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
[ Search tabs | Guitar tabs | Bass tabs |
Easy guitar tabs | Guitar solo tabs |
Acoustic guitar tabs | Guitar chords |
How to read guitar tabs ]
Forum topics
Music forums
- Bands and artists - Songwriting and lyrics - Tablature talk - Promote your band
Instrument forums
- Guitar basics - Gear & accessories - Bass guitar
Community
- The pit - Site Feedback - Reviews
[ User survey | About us | Privacy statement ]