Track Listing

Disc 1:

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
8. Mercedes Benz
9. Trust Me
10. Get It While You Can
11. Happy Birthday, John (Happy Trails) [*]
12. Me and Bobby McGee [*][Demo Version]
13. Move Over [Alternate Version][#][*]
14. Cry Baby [Alternate Version][*]
15. My Baby [Alternate Version][#][*]
16. Pearl [#][*][Instrumental]

Disc 2:

1. Tell Mama [Live]
2. Half Moon [Live]
3. Move Over [Live]
4. Maybe [Live][#]
5. Summertime [Live][#]
6. Little Girl Blue [Live]
7. That's Rock 'n Roll [Live][#]
8. Try (Just a Little Bit Harder) [Live][#]
9. Kozmic Blues [Live]
10. Piece of My Heart [Live][#]
11. Cry Baby [Live][#]
12. Get It While You Can [Live]
13. Ball and Chain [Live]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #50282 in Music
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2005-06-14
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Original recording remastered, Special Edition
• Dimensions: .33 pounds

Amazon.com
Janis Joplin's highest charting and arguably most artistically successful album gets the deluxe, expanded treatment on this 2005 reissue. Already re-released once with four extra live tunes, this edition moves those to the second disc, adds nine more (six previously unavailable) from the same summer 1970 tour that predated the original album's January 1971 posthumous release and pads the studio disc with six additional tracks. Those sides--three are inferior, if moderately interesting alternate takes, one is a band jam without Joplin contributing--don't bring much to the table other than to prove that producer Paul A. Rothchild used the correct versions for the final album. But Pearl holds up tremendously well, with Janis focused on some terrific rocking material, yet widening her scope to include a soulful folksy reading of Kris Kristofferson's "Me and Bobby McGee," the album's only major hit.

The real meat of this version consists of the thirteen concert recordings, plucked from the Canadian leg of Joplin's only tour with Full Tilt Boogie. It finds her and the band chugging through ragged but emotionally charged versions of her classics, along with a few tunes from the forthcoming Pearl. Sequenced to mirror her set list, it's a roaring example of Joplin in her prime, comfortable with her band and confident in her astounding abilities to tear into the soul of blues and R&B with vocals that come straight from the heart. Hal Horowitz

Customer Reviews

Classic enhanced with live versions

Nothing has gone stale about Joplin and her band on the all-time classic Pearl. After all these years, it remains a magnificent listening experience because of the quality of the songs, the band's tight playing and the impressive emotional range of Joplin's vocals. The second CD includes some stirring live versions of her greatest songs.

Unlike Cheap Thrills, where there was mostly a cosmic battle between Joplin's voice and Big Brother's heavy metal onslaught, here the voice is the star. My favorites on an album of classics include the poignant Me and Bobby McGee, the tender A Woman Left Lonely, the edgy Half Moon, the emotional Cry Baby, the buoyant Get It While You Can and the plaintive/humorous Mercedes Benz.

Perfect arrangements, brilliant playing and masterly vocalization combine here to create a rock masterpiece. The live album shows the extraordinary power of Joplin on stage. This CD is essential for all rock fans, providing the very best of 1960s rock.

Like the Oracle at Delphi
Janis sang the truth. This was only her third album, and it was to be her last, and the tragedy of that gets to you as you listen to the greatest woman ever in rock and blues take apart these songs. There is an overwhelming sense of tragedy as she delivers the famous "Mercedes Benz," but if you can divorce what you know from listening to this disc, especially the Legacy edition, you'll receive one of the most sublime musical experiences of your life. Every cut was perfect, even the title Coda instrumental that closes what was the official release. Richard Bell and his Canadian cohorts proved that Roberston, Danko & Co. weren't the only Ontarians who could deliver the goods. They band was perfect at every moment. Proof positive comes on the swecond disc, which is culled from the Festival Express tour across Canada. The tour occured before the recording of PEARL, but you can hear PEARL coming. The second disc is one of the best live CDs you'll ever hear.
It is just such a shame that Joplin fell victim to old habits. There is a circle in hell for the rotten scum who sold her the uncut horse. Anyway, there would not be a voice with this kind of power again in rock until Sinead, whose wild horses are more psychological. All the same, nothing prepared rock for Janis when she hit her stride, and singers, male or female since, have never been the same. This is, beyond the cliche, what a classic CD sounds like. Do yourself a favour and pick this up.

legacy
The first disc, simply the regular Pearl album, is incredible and definitely worth buying. However, the second disc has its high moments but leaves something to be desired. Buy just regular Pearl, and for live Janis go get Live in Winterland 68, it is very powerful and you won't be disappointed.