John Heaton on Janis Joplin – Pearl- Lost Albums
Janis Joplin died in 1970 aged 27, too young, but some people are destined not to live a long life.
“Pearl” was her last album, released in 1971 a few months after her death and recorded with the Full Tilt Boogie Band. The album hadn’t been finished as the vocals for “Buried Alive in the Blues” were still to be recorded. This song remains an instrumental, possibly in respect.
To fully appreciate “Pearl” an understanding of Janis’ short life is needed.
Janis grew up in Port Arthur, Texas but didn’t fit in with the “normal” kids in school and became an outcast listening to blues and folk music. She joined the school choir but soon got kicked out for not following instructions, other kids picked on and bullied her, called names like a freak, pig, or creep, she thought she was a misfit. In high school, she began to question her desirability and so demanded to be different and push the limits. During her later years of education, she was voted the school’s ugliest boy. Janis needed to escape her tortured adolescence and find the people who wrote the books and songs she had come to love.
A few years later she left Port Arthur and headed to San Francisco; “Just to get away,” she said, “because my head was in a much different place”. She found the blues and loved and emanated them by taking drugs and drinking, it was part of the scene and the pain. She took to the stage to feel she was somebody, to feel wanted and needed, deep down she was deeply unhappy. In 1963 she was arrested as her drug and alcohol use increased. She was into speed, heroin and regularly injected methamphetamine, she was an addict, ill and emaciated. If she stayed, she would die. A few years later she said about her time in San Francisco: “I didn’t have many friends and I didn’t like the ones I had”.
Traveling back to Texas in 1965 she got clean and attended regular sessions with a psychiatric social worker. She fought her inner demons about becoming a professional singer without relapsing, she was torn. She eventually found love in Port Arthur and got engaged, sadly this didn’t last as he had gotten another girl pregnant and moved in with her. Again, she felt alone and had to escape the embarrassment and went to the only other place she knew, San Francisco.
A friend who had recognized her potential introduced her to a band that was looking for a singer, she joined Big Brother & the Holding Company where her ability was soon recognized, but she was terrified of getting back onto drugs. Sadly, the inevitable happened, but at least she felt wanted. In 1967 the band played at the Monterey International Pop Festival along with Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, Simon & Garfunkel, Otis Redding, The Who, and many others.
Two studio albums followed with Big Brother & the Holding Company, one with the Kozmic Blues Band and her final album “Pearl” with the Full Tilt Boogie Band.
“Pearl” was produced by Paul A Rothchild who also produced The Doors.
- Move Over … … “written by Janis”
- Cry Baby … … “a personal favourite of mine that I think expresses her insecurities of love”
- A Woman Left Lonely … “this song showcases her love of the blues”
- Half Moon … … “I think this song shows the skills of the whole band, almost introducing each instrument”
- Buried Alive in the Blues “RIP”
- My Baby … … “I’m not sure why but this always reminds me of a gospel choir”
- Me & Bobby McGee … “written by Kris Kristofferson, this was released as a single after her death and reached No. 1 in the US charts”
- Mercedes Benz … “written by Janis and sung a cappella”
- Trust Me … … “written by Bobby Womack”
- Get It While You Can … “another favourite”
By the evening of Sunday 4th, October 1970 Janis had still not turned up at the recording studios to complete the vocals of “Buried Alive in the Blues”. Her manager and friend went to the hotel where she was staying where he found her alone and dead. An autopsy concluded the cause of death was a heroin overdose.
Janis Joplin was deeply troubled and living in a rapidly changing time. She experimented sexually, with drugs and was heavily into alcohol, possibly an alcoholic. She stood up and supported equal rights for black Americas and performed at the “Wake for Martin Luther King Jr”. She left a legacy that should be understood.
Janis Joplin wanted to be accepted and loved her whole life, find the time to listen to this Lost Album and to accept and love it, and love the music of her.
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