Writing about Judy Garland (and Jesus Christ) the other day, I mentioned how both of them were fated to die the way they did: Jesus is a God because he knew it, Judy is a god because she was only dimly aware of it.
And Janis Joplin? Joplin also seems drawn to her fate, which seemed to be the finishing end of her legend. A handful of albums, some outtakes, and then she is gone. So when you come to The Pearl Sessions, the extended version her fifth album, the question is…. are you in the market for the following?
1. three takes of "Move Over", plus the single
2. two of "Me And Bobby McGee", plus mono single
3. two of "Get It While You Can", plus mono single
4. an alternate vocal on "A Woman Left Lonely",
5. an alternate vocal and an alternate version of "My Baby"
6. A couple of live tracks
7. "Overheard in the studio"
8. An instrumental
For me, the answer to all of the above, except for # 8 (I don't think that much of Full Tilt Boogie -her backing band) is absolutely. This is not the complete "Pearl" sessions -Janis last album and released just before her death, but it is the best we have and the minutiae of inflection and attack are more important here than elsewhere.
At the time Pearl was seen as a move away from rock, from Big Brother And The Holding Company, today neither band seems remotely close to good enough for Janis. She needed a major blues band to pull her voice to where it should have been and would have gotten. And while adept at country, Kris Kristofferson's song is country that morphs into blues, and rock and roll, it is her improvised roar as a blues singer that makes her a living legend.
And there is so little to get your mind around. There should have been decades of material and there just isn't and see we eat the crumbs off her table.
Pearl might not be a great album, it needs another "Bobby" and an "Piece Of My heart" to offset the relentless boogie, but it IS A GREAT ALBUM IN COMPARISON TO WHAT CAME AFTER. It is a masterpiece because NOTHING CAME AFTER.
Pearl feels nothing like a last album, it is depressed but refreshed, it is relentless in its ferocity, in Joplin's ferocity. Listening to the one, two punch that opens side one (discussing vinyl here folks), and waiting for the back to back country diversions in the middle of side two, the album lacks shading.
And so what?
I have no problem listening to three takes of "Move Over" Indeed, I have no problems listening to 27 versions of "Move Over". Where is THE COMPLETE SESSIONS??/
Grade: A