Janis Joplin PEARL Guarateed 1st Issue STILL SEALED

$

43

Janis Joplin PEARL 1st Issue STILL SEALED. A true 'take me back' experience only vinyl can bring.
ARTIST:……………………… Janice Joplin
TITLE .………………:………. PEARL
LABEL:……………………..… COLUMBIA KC 30322, this is a original 1970 1st pressing, not a re-issue as re-issues have different numbers.You will find very few of these around. Considered one of the top 50 albums of all time. See review below
LABEL CONDITION :…….… STILL SEALED
JACKET CONDITION :…….… STILL SEALED
RECORD CONDITION:……... STILL SEALED

Full review
Pearl was the last album Janis Joplin recorded before she died at the age of 27 from an accidental heroine overdose; it was also the nickname her Full Tilt Boogie band christened Janis with. The love and affection that Janis Joplin gained through her short life is testament to the fire that burned in her soul and that so readily poured out through her music. She died during the recording of this album, but after she'd recorded enough vocal tracks to avoid any compromise being made. This album was to be exactly what she had intended it to be: her best.

Throbbing, throbbing, throbbing. Move Over is one of the most soulful bluesy rock extravaganzas that has ever blown through this world's collective head of hair. Janis sings from the very pit of her heart with a passion that perhaps no other female artist has ever reached. And that is what this album, and in fact Janis Joplin as a whole can be best defined as; new heights in passion and heart.

Cry Baby is a classic example of Janis Joplin in her fullest glory with a sublime swinging bluesy band surrounding her. But the third track on this album, A Woman Left Lonely, calms down musically only to soar even higher in emotional terms. The tune is haunting with a masterful drum beat holding together poignant piano and organ fills. But it is Janis Joplin's voice that is the true star here (as it usually is). Her voice is rough, and hurt, and pained, and simply beautiful. Beautiful is a much over used word, but I use it here in its fullest power. I use it also to describe Janis Joplin as a whole, in my view there has never been a more beautiful woman. Her rather unattractive physical appearance just goes to add to her beauty, and reminds one of a time when an ugly woman with a soul was preferred to a soulless supermodel.

The Full Tilt Boogie band play throughout this album with a level of maturity and prowess that commands respect, and nowhere is this more visible than track five, a stunning instrumental called Buried Alive In The Blues. Often names like this are not linked to the music or anything, but here the name itself acts with the music to provide a genuinely unique experience of being Buried Alive In The Blues! This is added to when you learn that it originally had words but was the only song Janis didn't record before she died. You can hear have absence.

My Baby is a ballad of sorts, with the occasional distant hint of backing singers thrown in on the tag line. The piano chords rattle away in a fine style and the lead guitar on this track is perhaps some of the best on the album. As this song fades away ever so gradually the anticipation builds. It's right to do so, for this next song is Janis Joplin's only "hit" as in terms of only number one. Me And Bobby McGee is by now an obvious classic masterpiece, but it deserves saying so once more! Wow. The more calm and sparse music is filled by Janis Joplin's supreme vocal performance. The slow pace and acoustic guitar goes along just fine, and then all of a sudden the whole thing takes off and ends in a speedy piano, organ, guitar, drum and bass blues-rock out. Genius.

"I'd like to do a song of great social and political import" - comes the voice of Janis at the start of Mercedes Benz. It's no lie either. You may remember this vocal track (there is no music, just the sound of Janis slapping her lap in the background) from the Mercedes Benz adverts a few years back; it's ironic that in this post-modern era they should use such a track. Here is a song asking God for a Mercedes Benz because the narrator's friends have sports cars and they want to buy their way into being somehow better than them. It is a remarkably powerful anti-consumerism anthem and yet in these days of ultimate-consumerism even this can be stolen off us by the corporations. I wonder what Janis would have thought! Even the scared has been sold out, that was what the song is about and how profound it is then that that was to be the fate of the song itself. All the same, it's a wonderful song.

Trust Me is slightly over polished, but of course you can never hide Janis Joplin's voice and so it is an enjoyable song if not one of the best of the album. Finally on the original release of the album comes Get It While You Can which is a slow nodding soul-blues song which really exposes some often over looked shades and textures to this most amazing voice. This is one of those excellent songs that can really capture your emotions and take you into a different level of existence. And it also includes my favourite lead guitar of the guitar, a very simplistic few notes that quite simply 'just work'. The raw and simple are often the things that really make this kind of music stand out from the rest.

After all imagine Janis Joplin on Pop Idol, she wouldn't stand a chance. First of all she wouldn't look right and secondly her voice just isn't right. But this is something that people often seem to trip up on, her voice is far superior than any other woman vocalist I can think of. Pop stars today all have technically trained voices, they can technically sing and sound good on marketable pop records but not one of them can sing direct from their heart to your heart. Janis Joplin and Bob Dylan, Elvis, Tom Waits, anyone with a truly unique voice is worth a trillion technically gifted singers. They mean something man, they mean. They are the real deal; they exhibit the transcendental soul that turns music into art.

. Janis spent her 27 years of life searching and searching for herself via music. Perhaps here on her last album she fulfilled herself, perhaps she died fulfilled, perhaps any lesser mortal would died fulfilled after recording a record such as this but perhaps Janis Joplin was a spirit that could never be fulfilled. All I know is that for those who say she wasted her life away, that the drugs and the rock and roll lifestyle took her before her time, no, Janis Joplin is very much alive and well to this day, recorded here on Pearl. You can hear the heart and soul still filled with energy beyond that of most living people, you can hear the tears and heartache behind the music, you can hear the life of a true pearl, you can hear Janis Joplin. It was no waste of a life, it was a life. And how many of us can truly say we've had a life?

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UNLESS NOTED, I DO NOT PLAY GRADE MY RECORDS, JUST VISUAL INSPECTION.
I do not usually clean records but rating is based on after cleaning

Shipping Policy

Media Mail Option : $4.00 for 1st Album, $1.00 each additional album. NO INSURANCE on this option, delivery takes 5 – 10 days.

OVERSEAS EXTRA, AIR ONLY. The Normal cost are :
Canada.......................................$9.00
England.......................................$16.00
Europe........................................$16.00
Australia............................................$16.00
Japan/Singapore........................$19.00
Each additional album is.............$5.00
Delivery usually takes 4 – 12 days.

GRADING SYSTEM : :
NM…….…Near Mint – close to a Still sealed condition
NM-……..Near Mint – A record that looks like it has been recently taken from a sealed album but been played less than 4 times. May have some surface scuffs from sleeve, superficial only. Still has the original luster, the vinyl shines and sparkles almost new.
VG++ to NM- Better than VG++ but not quite NM-. Somewhere in between.
VG++ …. Very Good ++ A few light age abrasions are visible, but they are extremely shallow, superficial and only moderately visually distracting (nothing significant) and should play without background noise.. Still has the original luster, the vinyl shines and sparkles almost like new. May have some surface scuffs from sleeve, superficial only.
VG+……..Very Good + - a used, reasonable copy. There will be signs of wear and the possibility of light surface noise between tracks or during quiet passages, but still quite nice.
VG……….Very Good – Shows obvious signs of wear, has surface scratches that you can probably hear, but should still play good and it should not skip.

JACKET GRADING
NM- Has sharp corners and no visible blemishes, a jacket that looks like it has not been handled much.
VG++ a jacket with only minor shelf wear, may have light ring wear. no seam splits. it could have a name written somewhere but the name is really not distracting. an album that has been stored properly, standing up
VG+ - a jacket that has been handled properly, but does show its age. may have shelf/record wear, minor seam splits, writing, misc.flaws but is still intact.
VG A jacket that does have noticeable shelf or ring wear—more than a 3” seam split. may have wear to corners, shows distinct wear from handling. there may be ringwear or minor discoloring, may have edge and spine wear.
VG- A COVER THAT HOLDS THE RECORD.

SYMBOLS
AS – age spots from record sitting in plastic sleeve, should not affect play, or light spots on cover,.
cc – Cut Corner
dh = drill hole in label or jacket or cut corner on cover
cw = cover wear, age spots or ring wear, usually not too bad dj = disc jocky or promo issue, usually but not always white label, sometimes promo stamp on label
ST = number or name sticker on label or cover
WR – writing in pen or ink on label or cover
SS – seam split, will have a number with it indicating how many inches long the split is, SS4 = 4” Seam Split
LSP – light spindle marks
RH or LH – right hand or lh side or corner
CW – Corner wear, 1 or more corners a bit worn but not bad
Each listing will, if needed. have a scale behind it like CW7 ( corner wear )
This scale is 1-10, 1 being the worst, 5 being medium 10 being no wear. CW7 would be medium to light wear, 9 would be very light wear but hardly noticeable