Society- Take Me To A Circus Tent

Quality Rock & Roll Airplane

style.

We are close to the release of the new Jefferson Starship book:

"HAVE YOU SEEN THE STARS TONITE"

Welcome to the Air Rock Show:

How are things going? There are nights in rock history that are often confused for a fantasy. Could it be real? This was and is.

All you need to do is buckle-up and get ready to rock.

It’s 1983 and Jimmy Page is going to play:

Stairway To Heaven but…………..

Later on he is joined by Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton.

Call it an early gift for the weekend.

Thanks for climbing aboard.

Relax and have fun!

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE-

JEFFERSON STARSHIP- Great Society-

Take Me To A Circus Tent

I look forward to hearing you later!

The book is Take Me To A Circus Tent (The Jefferson Airplane Flight Manual) W/93 photos, 32 interviews, 543 pages, and a myriad of 5 star reviews!

Please remember at any moment on an Aircast it can be a rare memory from the Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, KBC, Wooden Ships, Marty Balin, Paul Kantner to name several.  Maybe another picture previously unseen from the Rock Tent Vault sees daylight from Herb Greene or Don Aters.

http://www.takemetoacircustent.net/media/JeffersonAirplaneTakeMeToACircusTentAircast64cbponstage.mp3

Hope the weekend will be the best,

craig

Mine, on the other hand consists of the above-mentioned mags, some Marion Keyes, this years editions of Classic rock magazine and...wait for it, John Major's autobiography. I suppose the one saving grace is that I'm working my way through Hartl and Jones's Genetics by way of some Biology CPD.

Does anyone else find it quite hard to stop working when on holiday ?  So far this time, I've spent time blinging up school GLOW sites, doing some curiculum development stuff for Biology as well as working on my research study report and completing my Finland study visit reflective analysis. And I need to get on with reviewing the gaming literature retty soon as well.....maybe I've got a relaxation phobia (there must be a term for that).

or just maybe I need to get to grips with Hilary Clinton's biog. by way of distraction...

e ai carajas, o que dizer ??

vou ficar calado e guardar as histórias desse disco para um boteco...

King Crimson - Starless and Bible Black (1974)

However, what I got out of it was that the sooner we fill the planet with garbage, the sooner I get to live on a spaceship slurping Cupcake-In-A-Cup from the comfort of my hoverlounger.  Let's hop to it people--the ecosphere isn't going to poison itself.

.

There's a small radio in the locker room at the gym at work, and most of the time it's tuned to Q107.  The past two days after my lunchtime workout I've heard the same song, Steeler's Wheel, "Stuck in the Middle With You".

Between the mp3 blogs I read regularly and the podcasts I keep up with, hardly a day goes by that I don't hear some new band that I've never listened to before.  Not many of them stick with me, but I'm constantly hearing new music.  It must suck to DJ at a classic rock station, playing the same set of songs day after day, week after week, year after year.  At least at a Top 40 station you only play the same song repeatedly for a month or two before replacing it with the Billboard hit-du-jour.

I'd last about two weeks before sending a company-wide email to the effect of "if I hear `Baba O'Riley` one more goddamn time I'm coming back in here with a jerry can and a blowtorch."

nada mais a declarar....

King Crimson - Red (1974)

Here's the youtube link:

And you can buy it here:
Amazon
iTunes

Quality Rock & Roll Airplane

style.

Spread the word please the new Jefferson Airplane book "Have You Seen The Stars Tonite" is not far away from landing!  Thanks so much.

Welcome to Airshow Thursday:

Glad you are part of the flight.  Thanks for being here.

On the flight today:
Steve Howe from a show with Asia
Dennis Wilson from an early Beach Boys appearance
Skip Spence from Moby Grape
Skip Spence and Bob Mosley from Moby Grape
Simon & Garfunkel
Roger Daltrey

All in free-flight.  Enjoy the day and the memories.

Fly to this link and please click on Airshow Photos #8 but do not forget the other great

flights.  There are 100's more to check out from Beatles to Great Society.

http://www.takemetoacircustent.net

Relax and have fun!

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE-

JEFFERSON STARSHIP- Great Society-

Take Me To A Circus Tent

I look forward to hearing you later!

The book is Take Me To A Circus Tent (The Jefferson Airplane Flight Manual) W/93 photos, 32 interviews, 543 pages, and a myriad of 5 star reviews!

Please remember at any moment on an Aircast it can be a rare memory from the Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, KBC, Wooden Ships, Marty Balin, Paul Kantner to name several.  Maybe another picture previously unseen from the Rock Tent Vault sees daylight from Herb Greene or Don Aters.

Hope Thursday will be the best,

craig

Number 584

Kingsman

"Louie Louie"

(1963)
.

.

Genre:Rock

Picture by EmiValo666
Before the Datsuns, the D4, The Vines and even before the immortal Iggy Pop, Garage Rock was tub thumping in 1963. Define GarageRock you say, er ok "Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name. In the early 1970s, some rock critics retroactively labelled it as punk rock. However, the music style was later referred to as garage rock or '60s Punk to avoid confusion with the music of late-1970s punk rock bands such as the Sex Pistols and The Clash." Sounds like a load of old rock to me. (yea but good rock)

A rock & roll band from Portland, Oregon, the Kingsmen's one big hit "Louie, Louie" defined the garage-band style and became one of the all-time classics. The original lineup included Jack Ely (lead singer and guitar), Lynn Easton (drums), Mike Mitchell (lead guitar), Bob Nordby (bass), and Don Galucci (piano). After Ely had "incorrectly" taught the rest of the band the Wailers version of Richard Berry's "Louie Louie" (thus altering the basic rhythm into the now famous duh-duh-duh, duh-duh, duh-duh-duh, duh-duh riff that has become the only way anyone has played it since), they recorded it for fifty dollars at a primitive local recording studio with only three mikes, Ely hollering the lyrics into an overhead boom mike suspended ten feet in the air. Released on a local label, the record went nowhere after Paul Revere & the Raiders quickly covered it in the Northwest market, although it had quickly become a standard for all teen bands in that area.
In 1964, the record started to break nationally, causing the breakup of the original lineup when Easton copyrighted the group's name, informing the other members that he was now sole owner of the Kingsmen and its new lead singer. Ely formed his own Kingsmen, touring at the same time as Easton, who was lip-synching the record whenever possible. Only Easton and Mitchell were left from the original lineup, but they kept scoring big with frat-band versions of "Money" and "Little Latin Lupe Lu," reaching their peak with "The Jolly Green Giant," while Ely languished in relative obscurity and Gallucci formed Don & the Goodtimes. By the early '90s, history had redressed itself somewhat. While replacement members from the Easton version of the band toured as the "original" Kingsmen, Jack Ely finally received some of his due, headlining the 30th Anniversary Louie Louie tour. Though the song itself has been covered repeatedly, the version by Ely and the original lineup remains definitive. ~ Cub Koda, [All Music Guide]

For Iggy Pop see Number 980
For The Clash see Number 999

What does Rolling Stone think about the Kingsmen?
The Kingsmen's cover of a Richard Berry R&B song, a blast of raw guitars and half-intelligible shouting recorded for fifty-two dollars, hit Number Two in 1963, thanks to supposedly pornographic lyrics that drew the attention of the FBI. The song's indecipherability was unintentional: The Portland, Oregon, quintet recorded it crowded around a single microphone. "I was yelling at a mike far away," singer Jack Ely told ROLLING STONE. "I always thought the controversy was record-company hype." [RS Top 500 Songs]

Stuff, you just need to know..

"Wild Thing" - The Troggs
"Why Do I Cry" - The Remains
"Hold Me Now" - The Rumors
"Don't Tread On Me" - Outlaws
"Get Off of My Cloud" - Rolling Stones
"Vicious" - Lou Reed
"Beg Borrow And Steal"- The Rare Breed

Lyrics to the song

Previous Song 583 ..... Next Song 585

1. Never do a rain dance on a hill.
2. Make sure you have a lot of room so you don't run into anything.
3. Spin around in clockwise circles.
4. Make up your own rain chant. It should be rhythmical and easy to say fast.
5. Yell your rain chant while spinning around in circles
[If you are trying to get rid of rain, spin in counterclockwise circles and say your chant backwards].

* Rain Dance - Herbie Hancock
* No Rain - Blind Melon
* Naked in the Rain - Red Hot Chili Peppers
* The Dumb in the Rain - Liars
* I Get the Blues when it Rains - Jerry Lee Lewis

METALLICA have officially confirmed the tracklisting for Death Magnetic, which will be released on September 16th. It is as follows: 'That Was Just Your Life', 'The End Of The Line', 'Broken, Beat & Scarred', 'The Day That Never Comes', 'All Nightmare Long', 'Cyanide', 'The Unforgiven III', 'The Judas Kiss', 'Suicide & Redemption', 'My Apocalypse'

Black Death vinyl LP with the 7" bonus E.P. (1984, Auburn Records) sells for $241.50

Seller - rattlehead14
Starting Price = $3
Bids = 21

Here is the item description from the auction:
BLACK DEATH – Same US Metal LP, issued on Auburn Records in 1984.  Solid Ohio metal from this all African American band.  Includes the original bonus 7” with 2 songs not on the LP.  Vinyl and cover are Mint-, as well as the 7”.......For those who don’t know me, I’m Jim from OPM Records and I’ve moved from the USA to New Zealand, so please note that all records will be sent via airmail from New Zealand.  I’m selling off some of my collection, so I’ll be listing some monster metal records over the next few months, so please check back.

I was watching this auction closely just like I did on the last one that ended at $172.50. This time around most of the bidders had a lot of feedback so the possible shill bidding on the previous auction wasn't an issue. With shipping being $14 from New Zealand, this auction tips the $250+ level. I took a look at the seller's current auctions and his completed auctions, I could do a very long Ebay Madness column just on this guy alone! The rare NWOBHM vinyl he has on auction and has sold is some of the rarer pieces I've seen and the private pressings of little known U.S. and Canadian Metal bands is really good. I counted at least a dozen vinyl LPs that went for $150+ and half of those went over $200! What a shame he has to sell his collection, there are some rare items I wouldn't mind acquiring, including this album. Why can't I win Powerball?

More info on Black Death can be found at Auburn Records (I'm still waiting on that 2 CD reissue!), BNR Metal Pages, Encyclopedia Metallum, and The Corroseum. You can listen to the record in RealAudio at Vibrations Of Doom.

Skeletons from the Closet: The Best of Grateful Dead was the first compilation album from the Grateful Dead. It was first released on LP in February 1974. The release was a ploy for Warner Bros. Records to cash in on the escalating popularity of the band (based on the sales of Workingman's Dead and American Beauty).
Three of the tracks were not original Dead album studio recordings. This "Turn On Your Lovelight" first appeared on the album The Big Ball, which was a loss leader sampler distributed by Warner Bros.; it had also appeared in longer form on Live/Dead. "One More Saturday Night" was taken from the band's live release Europe '72. And "Mexicali Blues" was actually a track from guitarist Bob Weir's solo release (but essentially Dead album) Ace.
Warner Bros. released the album on CD and cassette in 1988 before re-releasing the LP in 1990. The album would be later re-released on by Rhino Records on May 24, 2004 as part of a greatest hits series by various bands. It contains no new material from the 1988 release.
Skeletons from the Closet is the Dead's best-selling album, going triple platinum in the United States.

    I know this is an ‘old' release having originally been released back in 2002 on Atenzia Records but like the band's debut album in 2000 released on MTM, both record labels have since gone out of business. But luckily keyboards player and one of the driving forces in 101 South (and also Harlan Cage) Roger Scott Craig has made this superb AOR release available again. On vocals is Gregory Lynn Hall who has the perfect AOR/melodic rock voice, albeit at the harder edge of vocalists -hints of Lou Gramm at times.  The other notable name musician is Billy Liesegang on guitars (his solo albums are worth checking out as well).

   There are some great songs on here like ‘What's Your Game?' with its pomp keys and catchy chorus. The ballad ‘Dark Cloud On The Horizon' reminded me of Dare on their AOR led debut album - fantastic stuff. The hooks and keys keep on coming as can be heard on ‘Borderline' and ‘Ride Out The Storm', both would easily grace the airwaves if given the chance. The closing song ‘Get Up And Go' takes a detour into slow blues rock and Gregory Lynn Hall's vocals suit the music perfectly.

   Like many great AOR and melodic rock albums this one was hampered by label problems and getting the music out there. Fans of Harlan Cage, Dare (their first two albums) and Foreigner would certainly love this album. Go grab a copy if you don't have this as this is what classic AOR is all about.

John Hall, American politician and former rock musician

Please remember the new Jefferson Starship book "Have You Seen The Stars Tonite" should land in August!

How are you feeling?

Glad you can fly by.  It is 2 for the price of nothing.  As we ofter in free-flight a (Please look for the 2 different links below, three if you count the one for the Air Rock Photos of late)

Jefferson Starship performance of Ride The Tiger circa 2007

Please fly here for the Jefferson's:

http://www.takemetoacircustent.net/media/JeffersonAirplaneTakeMeToACircusTentAircast64ridethetigerin75andtoday.mp3

and we head back in the Rock Time Machine to December 1965 for Simon/Garfunkel live!

Richard Cory

The Sound Of Silence

Please fly here to enjoy Simon/Garfunkel over 40 years back!

http://www.takemetoacircustent.net/media/JeffersonAirplaneTakeMeToACircusTentAircast64letssingwithraresandg65.mp3

Enjoy the show!

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE- JEFFERSON STARSHIP-

Great Society- Take Me To A Circus Tent

Quality Rock & Roll Airplane

style.

For latest Rock and Roll photos (Plenty of them)

Please fly here and when you touch down look to the left. Board the entrance for Airshow Photos #8 and you can see the past all over again. Stick around for the 100's of other pictures.

http://www.takemetoacircustent.net

Relax and have fun!

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE-

JEFFERSON STARSHIP- Great Society-

Take Me To A Circus Tent

I look forward to hearing you later!

The book is Take Me To A Circus Tent (The Jefferson Airplane Flight Manual) W/93 photos, 32 interviews, 543 pages, and a myriad of 5 star reviews!

Please remember at any moment on an Aircast it can be a rare memory from the Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, KBC, Wooden Ships, Marty Balin, Paul Kantner to name several. Maybe another picture previously unseen from the Rock Tent Vault sees daylight from Herb Greene or Don Aters.

Hope Wednesday will be the best yet,

craig

The Police. Pink Floyd, The Beatles, The Eagles...

All great bands.  All great musicians.  All hate some, if not all, of their band mates.

What is it about a band full of guys who can't stand eachother that makes for such great music?  I guess there could be many reasons but, I'm gonna take volatility for $400, Alex.  Luckily, most of these bands have found a way to overcome this cycle of loathing. 

It's called money.  Big truckloads of cash can do a lot to ease the stress of mutual hatred.

At least it's worked a lot lately with a bunch of older bands. Like Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

In 1968 Buffalo Springfield was breaking up, and after finishing the final album.  Stephen Stills found himself with a lot of extra time on his hands.  David Crosby had been let go from the Byrds the previous year, and the two began jamming together.  Graham Nash, then with The Holies, had met Crosby when the Byrds toured the UK in 1966 and had maintained contact since.  Then, on one magical night at a party, Nash persuaded Crosby and Stills to perform on of their songs with Nash singing an improvisational harmony...and a legend was born.

As it turns out Graham was fed up with The Hollies and promptly quit to give this new group a try.  After a rejection from Apple Studios, the group was picked up by Atlantic thanks to the sure hand of the legendary Ahmet Ertegün, who was a huge Springfield fan. Because of their volatile musical histories, the band used their surnames as the bands new title to ensure that if any member left, the band would not continue without him.  After hammering out some contractual problems, the band headed to the Studio and recorded their self-titled first album, which was released in spring of 1969.

The album was a smash, but presented the band with a major problem.  With the exception of their drummer, Dallas Taylor, Stills had handled most of the intrumentalization himself.  It was an impressive feat, but if the band was to tour, they needed another guy. 

That's where Neil Young came in.

After some more contractual tweaking, Neil was added to the band and the moniker as well...and the tour began.  After a trial by fire at Woodstock and a near miss escape from the disaster at Altamont, CSNY released their new quartet back album, "Deja Vu" in March of 1970.  Brimming with supernatural harmonies and great music to back them up, the album quickly topped the charts with it's mixture of pop, rock, country and roots music.

Hit's like 'Carry On' and "Teach Your Children' would help propel it to the top for years afterward and cement it a place in rock history.  Shortly after the tour the band imploded, although they still continue to tour and record from time to time.(read every few years)

Thank God for the money, eh?

Genre:Rock

Yes, its crowbarred.blogspot.com 1st Birthday! One year ago i created this site, at first it was a joke, i mean c'mon Helen Reddy at Number 1000? But, as butts have it, people were disturbed with some of my early selections (3 entries of the Village People???) and i decided very early on i shouldn't mess with the idea.
So, to the best of my ability, remembering that i had never written anything in HTML before July 27th 2006, and yes and your right, I still haven't learnt that much. HA! to you in the 3rd row chuckling.
But i persevered and self taught myself till i felt that the concept & design were at least half right.
I have also learnt that its not easy making this site a success, for example, The Reddit, Digg, Delicious & Metafilter people were pretty straight forward when it came to if something sucked, my email recieved 50/50 of hate mail as well as the "good on ya's", but i have to tell you i thought it wouldn't take a year to do 1000 songs, and its distressing that i have only completed 415, but its hard with a very demanding full time job that takes up most of my time as it is. But i hope by this time next year it will be FINISHED!
Lastly i want to thank the crew & supporters, without you this would not still be going on, i would have walked away from it months ago & yes, [laff] i do know there are people wishing i did. I make it no secret my desire for this project is to be successful, i do this becuase i love music. Anyway.... Onwards & upwards.

Art by Wingspan91089

Although Let Me Up (I've Had Enough) found the Heartbreakers regaining their strength as a band and discovering a newfound ease at songcraft, it just didn't sell that well. Perhaps that factor, along with road fatigue, led Tom Petty to record his first solo album, Full Moon Fever. Nevertheless, the distinction between "solo" and "Heartbreakers" is a fuzzy one because Full Moon Fever is essentially in the same style as the Heartbreakers albums; Mike Campbell co-wrote two songs and co-produced the record, and he, along with Benmont Tench and Howie Epstein, all play on the album. However, the album sounds different from any Heartbreakers record due to the presence of former Electric Light Orchestra leader Jeff Lynne. Petty co-wrote the lion's share of the album with Lynne, who also is the record's main producer. In his hands, Petty's roots rock becomes clean and glossy, layered with shimmering vocal harmonies, keyboards, and acoustic guitars. It's a friendly, radio-ready sound, and if it has dated somewhat over the years, the craft is still admirable and appealing.

But the real reason Full Moon Fever became Petty's biggest hit is that it boasted a selection of songs that rivaled Damn the Torpedoes. Full Moon Fever didn't have a weak track; even if a few weren't quite as strong as others, the album was filled with highlights: "I Won't Back Down," the wistful "A Face in the Crowd," the rockabilly throwaways "Yer So Bad" and "A Mind With a Heart of Its Own," the Byrds cover "Feel a Whole Lot Better," the charging "Runnin' Down a Dream," and "Free Fallin'," a coming-of-age ballad that could be Petty's best song. Full Moon Fever might have been meant as an off-the-cuff detour, but it turned into a minor masterpiece. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, [All Music Guide]

For Helen Reddy see Number 1000
For Village People see Number 988, 973 & 962
For ELO see Number 790
For the Beatles see Numbers 947, 894 & 587
For the Rolling Stones see Numbers 767 & 689
For related Tom Petty see Number 969 & Number 841
What does Rolling Stone think about Tom Petty
In 1986, right before Petty and the Heartbreakers embarked upon a world tour with Dylan, Petty’s house burned down (arson was suspected). His wife and two daughters escaped, but most of his belongings were destroyed. Nineteen eighty-seven’s Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough) hit #20 and was certified gold, a relatively disappointing showing in view of the group’s ’80s success. Respite came with the 1988 release of the Traveling Wilburys [see entry] debut; working with former ELO founder/guitarist and fellow Wilbury Jeff Lynne, Petty released the masterful solo album Full Moon Fever. Its “Free Fallin’”(#7, 1989) gave him a revitalizing hit. [Source:Rolling Stone Magazine]

For Bob Dylan see Number 929 & Number 841
For Traveling Wilburys see Number 969

Lyrics to the song

Previous Song 584 ..... Next Song 586

Number 586

Janis Joplin

"Me & Bobby McGee"

(1971)
.

01.19.43 to 04.10.70
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. 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 unfinished "Buried Alive in the Blues" features no Joplin vocals -- she was scheduled to record them on the day after she was found dead. Its incompleteness mirrors Joplin's career; Pearl's power leaves the listener to wonder what else Joplin could have accomplished, but few artists could ask for a better final statement. [The 1999 CD reissue adds four previously unreleased live July 1970 recordings: "Tell Mama," "Little Girl Blue," "Try," and "Cry Baby."] ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide.

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.
Pic by AngieAauvre
Joplin was raised in the small town of Port Arthur, TX, and much of her subsequent personal difficulties and unhappiness has been attributed to her inability to fit in with the expectations of the conservative community. She'd been singing blues and folk music since her teens, playing on occasion in the mid-'60s with future Jefferson Airplane guitarist Jorma Kaukonen. There are a few live pre-Big Brother recordings (not issued until after her death), reflecting the inspiration of early blues singers like Bessie Smith, that demonstrate she was well on her way to developing a personal style before hooking up with the band. She had already been to California before moving there permanently in 1966, when she joined a struggling early San Francisco psychedelic group, Big Brother & the Holding Company. Although their loose, occasionally sloppy brand of bluesy psychedelia had some charm, there can be no doubt that Joplin -- who initially didn't even sing lead on all of the material -- was primarily responsible for lifting them out of the ranks of the ordinary. She made them a hit at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, where her stunning version of "Ball and Chain" (perhaps her very best performance) was captured on film. After a debut on the Mainstream label, Big Brother signed a management deal with Albert Grossman and moved on to Columbia. Their second album, Cheap Thrills, topped the charts in 1968, but Joplin left the band shortly afterward, enticed by the prospects of stardom as a solo act.

Pic by seeeemilyplay

Joplin's first album, I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama!, was recorded with the Kozmic Blues Band, a unit that included horns and retained just one of the musicians that had played with her in Big Brother (guitarist Sam Andrew). Although it was a hit, it wasn't her best work; the new band, though more polished musically, was not nearly as sympathetic accompanists as Big Brother, purveying a soul-rock groove that could sound forced. That's not to say it was totally unsuccessful, boasting one of her signature tunes in "Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)."For years, Joplin's life had been a roller coaster of drug addiction, alcoholism, and volatile personal relationships, documented in several biographies. Musically, however, things were on the upswing shortly before her death, as she assembled a better, more versatile backing outfit, the Full Tilt Boogie Band, for her final album, Pearl (ably produced by Paul Rothchild). Joplin was sometimes criticized for screeching at the expense of subtlety, but Pearl was solid evidence of her growth as a mature, diverse stylist who could handle blues, soul, and folk-rock. "Mercedes Benz," "Get It While You Can," and Kris Kristofferson's "Me and Bobby McGee" are some of her very best tracks. Tragically, she died before the album's release, overdosing on heroin in a Hollywood hotel in October 1970. "Me and Bobby McGee" became a posthumous number one single in 1971, and thus the song with which she is most frequently identified. ~ [Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide]

What did Rolling Stone think about Janis Joplin
The greatest white blues singer of her time, Janis Joplin is without rival in plumbing the bottomless depths of loss. Indeed, her spine-tingling wails and moans are a kind of rapture of the deep - no lyric about abandonment is too slight to warrant her bloodcurdling investment in it. That intensity is everywhere evident on Pearl, the album on which the twenty-seven-year-old singer was working at the time of her death, in 1970, from a heroin overdose. Her new band, Full Tilt Boogie, cranks the volume when necessary ("Move Over") but never competes with or overwhelms her, as her previous combos, Big Brother and the Holding Company and the Kozmic Blues Band, sometimes did.
Of course, Joplin was not a survivor, and that lends Pearl (her nickname for herself, chosen to match a female lover's tag of Ruby) a poignancy that is as undeniable now as it was upon its posthumous release, in 1971. Her humor on the self-mocking a cappella prayer "Mercedes Benz" (which was recorded in one take) includes this knowing barfly's request: "Prove that you love me/And buy the next round." And her lovely rendition of Kris Kristofferson's "Me and Bobby McGee" is her greatest studio recording - its eloquent restraint all the more effective in communicating the song's heartbreak.
Kristofferson, who had been Joplin's lover not long before her death, cried when he heard her version of the song. "Did we do this?" he reportedly asked as he stood before her dead body. It's the question that caring survivors are always left with, and one that Pearl, in its frightening beauty, does little to resolve. (RS 822) ANTHONY DeCURTIS

Lyrics to the song