What Was The Last Album You Bought?

[Vyn]

I acquired a copy of Janis Joplin's Pearl.

Originally released in 1971, it was her first LP featuring the Full Tilt Boogie Band, and her last LP ever.

The copy I picked up was released in 2016 by Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs. It is, of course, mastered as half speed. The songs were cut at 45 rpm, necessitating a two-disk package. It has a gatefold cover. the two disks are 180 grams, and is a numbered release. It says "Limited Edition" but I don't know how "limited" it really is, somehow I suspect they aren't going to sell out even at this point in time, ten years down the road. Because mine was bought as "new old stock", unopened, for $50 (the original retail price).

It does sound very good. It is one of just a few MFSL records I have that all the rigamarole they go through to make the record results in noticeably better sound. This is not a case of, "yeah, it kind of seems like a thin veil has been lifted on the frequencies north of 8k." This is a full-on, "Ok, wow!".

[Zzzptm]

And that album 100% deserves a treatment like that. It's heartbreaking how both incredible and final it is.

[Vyn]

Indeed, she deserved much better, both from the people in her life at that time and herself. But by that time, she was listening to the heroin.