I recall those halcyon days of pulsating hard rock in 1968 pounded out by the band Blue Cheer. I must admit that I could only tolerate so much of their sound at a time. It’s interesting what the mind rejects but the universe accepts.
Looking back on what Blue Cheer established has helped me to appreciate their role in the annals of rock music. Sprung from the loins of the psychedelic era in San Farncisco, the band is said to have been named after a street brand of LSD and promoted by renowned LSD chemist and former Grateful Dead patron, Owsley Stanley.
Blue Cheer clearly established heavy metal way before it had a moniker.
Vincebus Eruptum, Blue Cheer’s landmark 1968 debut, is widely regarded as ground zero of the heavy metal explosion. The album, featuring the classic Blue Cheer lineup of guitarist Leigh Stephens, bassist/vocalist Dickie Peterson and drummer Paul Whaley, includes the trio’s mind-melting reading of Eddie Cochran’s “Summertime Blues,” which became a Top 20 single.
Yesterday would have been Janis Joplin‘s 69th birthday. Legacy Recordings took that opportunity to announce they will be repackaging a newly curated definitive two-disc edition of Joplin’s final studio album The Pearl Sessions. It contains newly discovered studio outtakes, live performances and other sonic rarities. It is due to be available on April 17, 2012.
The Pearl Sessions brings together, for the first time in one package, the original mono versions of the album’s 45s alongside the original LP tracks as well as the revelatory newly discovered alternate versions, outtakes and vocal takes of Pearl‘s classic tracks.
Disc One of The Pearl Sessions includes the original album as well as the original mono singles from the album.
Disc Two is a collection of behind-the-scenes recordings illuminating the Pearl sessions with highlights and insights revealed in candid studio dialogue, song demos and alternate takes including nine previously unissued tracks.
Columbia/Legacy Recordings recently announced the release of Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968, a previously unavailable live concert recording of Big Brother and the Holding Company featuring Janis Joplin, recorded June 23, 1968 by legendary sound man Owsley Stanley, a/k/a “Bear,” who supervised the mastering of this release before his fatal car accident on March 12, 2011, in his adopted homeland of Australia. Dedicated to Bear, the album will be released on March 13, 2012, marking the one-year anniversary of his passing.
The Pearl Sessions Track List:
Disc One
The Pearl Album
Move Over
Cry Baby
A Woman Left Lonely
Half Moon
Buried Alive In The Blues
My Baby Me and Bobby McGee
Mercedes Benz
Trust Me
Get It While You Can
Bonus Tracks – The Mono Single Masters
Me and Bobby McGee
Half Moon
Cry Baby
Get It While You Can
Move Over
A Woman Left Lonely
Disc 2 – The Pearl Sessions & more…
Overheard in the Studio…
Get It While You Can (Take 3) (Previously unissued)
Overheard in the Studio…
Get It While You Can (Take 5) (Previously unissued)
Overheard in the Studio…
Move Over (Take 6) (Previously unissued)
Move Over (Take 13) (Previously unissued)
Move Over (Take 17) (Previously unissued)
Me and Bobby McGee (Demo version)
Me and Bobby McGee (Take 5 – Alternate – Previously unissued)
Cry Baby (Alternate version)
A Woman Left Lonely (Alternate vocal)
Overheard in the Studio…
My Baby (Alternate take) (Previously unissued)
Overheard in the Studio…
Get It While You Can (Take 3) (Previously unissued)
My Baby (Alternate take)
Pearl (Instrumental) – Full Tilt Boogie Band
Tell Mama (Live – June 28, 1970 – Toronto)
Columbia/Legacy Recordings recently announced the release of 
