Pearl
| Janis Joplin
Pearl
Pearl is the second and final solo studio album by Janis Joplin, released posthumously on Columbia Records, catalogue KC 30322, in January 1971. It was also released simultaneously in a 4 channel Quadraphonic format in the U.S., catalogue number CQ 30322, and in Japan as SOPN 90 and a foil type cover with obi as SOPN 44005. It was the final album with her direct participation, and the only Joplin album recorded with the Full Tilt Boogie Band, her final touring unit. It peaked at number one on the Billboard 200, holding that spot for nine weeks. It has been certified quadruple platinum by the RIAA.-Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Rolling Stone
February 18, 1971. Janis’ last. Fortunately, Pearl is a good record and Janis is often magnificent. The voice cut off was clearly in its prime. I suspect that some of the tracks are not in their final shape, but these are not scraps, and there is every indication that Janis was working toward a new maturity and confidence.
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BBC Review
2008. Pearl is a smoother, more polished album than anything Janis had achieved previously. . . . Pearl, conversely is the sound of an artist growing up.
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Classic Rock Review
February 24, 2011. Pearl has a more polished and accessible sound than anything Joplin had done earlier with Big Brother & the Holding Company or The Kozmic Blues Band, . . . . . . . there is really nothing special about the selections on this album. But, they are entertaining enough to make Pearl the crown jewel in the catalog of this rare talent.
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Ultimate Classic Rock
January 12, 2016. . . . Joplin soars on Pearl, whether spinning gospel with soul or flexing a bluesy muscle on sturdy rockers or giving her big voice a workout on everything from country to R&B. All these years later, it still sounds like a new beginning. Sadly, it didn't turn out that way.
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Louder Sound Classic Rock
July, 2005. Whatever the reasons, there is an effervescence, a positive energy, radiating from much of Pearl, in stark contrast to most of Janis’s (all too few) other recordings.
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Clash Music
February 16, 2002. As fate would have it, however, the album would go on to become the defining symbol of Joplin’s place as the greatest white female blues and soul singer of her generation.
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AllMusic
Janis Joplin's second masterpiece (after Cheap Thrills), Pearl was designed as a showcase for her powerhouse vocals, stripping down the arrangements that had often previously cluttered her music or threatened to drown her out.
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PopMatters
June 12, 2005. Joplin's posthumous soulful classic is beefed up by a bonus disc of live 'Festival Express' recordings. It's a record that shows her at her height with mere months left to live.
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Paste Magazine
June 1, 2005. Even if you put aside the mythology and hyperbole that’s grown up around Joplin in the 35 years since she died of a heroin overdose, her final work, Pearl, remains a great blues-rock album. Her best, in fact.
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Goldmine Magazine
September 18, 2012. Maybe it was because producer Paul Rothchild (1935-1995) had fallen in love with her. Maybe it was because she finally found the right band again after the horrible experience of Kozmic Blues. Maybe it was because the songs were written by legendary songwriters. Whatever the reason, “Pearl” is Janis Joplin’s masterpiece.
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MoFi
Joplin displays balance of impeccable timing, devastating vulnerability, and raw emotion: full tilt boogie band, producer Paul Rothchild complete album steeped in soul and loaded with spirit.
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NY Times
January 16, 1971. “Pearrl” is a well ‐ rounded album. It has more substance and depth than her previous attempts, and is a more con vincing blend of power and precision than she and her pre vious bands have accomplished.
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The Bagel And The Rat
June 30, 2005. . . . for as long as she lived Janis was always a work in progress. Maybe she always would have been. Pearl represented the summit of her self-creation to that point, and it was the only studio album she truly enjoyed making.
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Elsewhere
May 15, 2017. In places Pearl, the nickname she gave herself and others adopted, hinted that while she was still a blues belter she might just move in other directions, reigning in some of her astonishing fire-power and aiming for more nuance.
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seattlepi.com
April 26, 2011. Had she lived Pearl would have been a bridge to somewhere but, because of her untimely death, it remains as her last will and testament. If you want to understand and appreciate Janis Joplin, this is an essential chapter in her life story.
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The Music Box
June, 2005. As for Pearl itself, it is commonly (and rightfully) referred to as Joplin’s finest studio effort. Released posthumously and never fully completed, the album still became her most successful outing, largely because it featured not only her most accessible but also her most enduring material.
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George Starostin's Reviews
A serious improvement with quite a load of great tunes, but that unique Joplin style is slowly fading away. She did her job well here, and managed to get out another completely adequate and idiosyncratic record with her identity firmly stamped on it . . . .
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Daily Vault
August 30, 1999. If there was one must-own album of Joplin's career that wasn't a best-of, Pearl would be that album. It shows us an artist who was still growing, and whom I don't think had made her ultimate album yet.
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Keno's Classic Rock n Roll Web Site
2000. Janis Joplin's last studio album, recorded shortly before her death and perhaps her best ever. Janis' voice was at her peak here and there is not one weak song on this album.
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Robert Christgau
No accident that the only transcendent tracks here are "Me and Bobby McGee," an country song, and "Mercedes Benz," an impromptu (or simulated impromptu) hippie goof.
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