The greatest white female rock singer of the 1960s, Janis Joplin was also a great blues singer, making her material her own with her wailing, raspy, supercharged emotional delivery. First rising to stardom as the frontwoman for San Francisco psychedelic band Big Brother & the Holding Company, she left the group in the late 60s for a brief and uneven (though commercially successful) career as a solo artist. Although she wasn't always supplied with the best material or most sympathetic musicians, her best recordings, with both Big Brother and on her own, are some of the most exciting performances of her era. She also did much to redefine the role of women in rock with her assertive, sexually forthright persona and raunchy, electrifying on-stage presence."Pearl" was Joplin's second masterpiece after"Cheap Thrills", and the album 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. Thanks also to a more consistent set of songs, the results are magnificent - given room to breathe, Joplin's trademark rasp conveys an aching, desperate passion on funked-up, bluesy rockers, ballads both dramatic and tender, and her signature song, the posthumous number one hit"Me And Bobby McGee". The album's recording sessions started on July 4th in 1970 and ended unscheduled on October 2nd. Two days later on October 4th 1970, with unfinished songs still due for completion, was found dead in an appearant heroin overdose. Created exclusively for Record Store Day 2012, this collection includes rare and unreleased studio outtakes of classic songs specifically culled from the recently discovered studio recordings used to create"The Pearl Sessions". This double 10-inch vinyl release"Highlights From The Pearl Sessions" is comprised of several previously unreleased and almost never heard alternate takes and early versions of the classic songscomes packaged in a gatefold jacket with extensive liner notes and rare photographs.