Incredible work from a singer we'd never heard before – but who should have been huge, given the quality of these tunes!
Pearl's got an amazing sound that's right out of the "birth of soul" era in which she recorded – a hard soul approach that's steeped in influences from earlier R&B years, but which comes across with a straightforward power that echoes later classics by 60s divas like Aretha Franklin or Fontella Bass. The set's one of the best we've ever seen from the Tuff City soul archives – wonderfully annotated, in a way that tells the full story of
Pearl's lost years – and which really gets at the strength and quality of this amazingly soulful work. The set features 19 tracks in all – and titles include "Be My Baby", "My Love Is Your Love", "Sippin Sorrow", "I'll Be A Crybaby From Now On", "Sloppin", "One More Time", "Don't Tell It All", "Stickum Up Baby", "Fool Like Me", and "The Last Mile".