Pearl (album)

Content

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 recording studio producer of The Doors, and worked well with Joplin, calling her a producer's dream. Together they were able to craft an album that showcased her extraordinary vocal talents. They used Sunset Sound Recorders in Los Angeles.

The Full Tilt Boogie Band were the musicians who accompanied her on the Festival Express, a concert tour by train of Canada, in the summer of 1970. Many of the songs on this album were recorded on the concert stage in Canada two months before Joplin and the band started their Los Angeles recording sessions. The band also appeared twice on The Dick Cavett Show. They also played many American cities, both before and after Festival Express, although no recordings of those concerts have been officially released.

All nine tracks that she sings on were personally approved and arranged by Joplin. Pearl features the number one hit "Me and Bobby McGee", on which she played acoustic guitar, written by Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster; "Trust Me", by Bobby Womack, written for Joplin; Howard Tate's "Get It While You Can", showcasing her vocal range; and the original songs "Move Over" and "Mercedes Benz", the latter co-written by Joplin, Bobby Neuwirth and Michael McClure.

Joplin sang on all tracks except "Buried Alive in the Blues", which remained a Full Tilt Boogie instrumental because she died before adding vocals, but she approved the instrumental track. The song's writer Nick Gravenites was offered to sing it as a tribute to Joplin, but he turned it down. The recording sessions, starting in early September, ended with Joplin's untimely death on October 4, 1970. Her final session, which took place on Thursday, October 1 after a break of several days, yielded her a cappella "Mercedes Benz." It was the last song she recorded before her death.

The album cover, photographed by Barry Feinstein in Los Angeles, shows Joplin reclining on her Victorian era loveseat with a drink in her hand.

Legacy

A reissue of Pearl remastered for CD was released August 31, 1999. It included four previously unreleased live recordings from the Festival Express Tour, recorded on July 4, 1970, as bonus tracks. In 2003, the album was ranked number 122 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. A two-disc Legacy Edition appeared on June 14, 2005, with bonus tracks including a birthday message to John Lennon of "Happy Trails," and a reunion of the Full Tilt Boogie Band in an instrumental tribute to Joplin. The second disc included an expanded set from the Festival Express Tour, recorded between June 28 and July 4, 1970.

The Pearl Sessions

The album was reissued a third time on disc in 2012 as The Pearl Sessions. It contains alternate takes of the songs that constituted the Pearl vinyl album when Columbia Records released it in 1971. Recordings of Joplin and Paul Rothchild talking between takes give the listener insight into their creative musical process.

Personnel

Additional personnel

Produced by