9 Posthumously Released Albums You Should Own
Janis Joplin left this world all too soon 47 years ago today (October 4), but even after her untimely passing, she left her fans one final gift with the album…
5th April 1969: American blues-rock singer Janis Joplin (1943 – 1970), of the group Big Brother and the Holding Company.
Photo by Evening Standard/Getty ImagesJanis Joplin left this world all too soon 47 years ago today (October 4), but even after her untimely passing, she left her fans one final gift with the album Pearl.
Pearl was released about three months after Joplin’s death and would top the Billboard 200 album charts for nine weeks and go on to be certified four-times platinum.
Pearl, of course, isn’t the only album to be released after an artist’s death. In honor of her wonderful life, here are nine posthumously released albums you should own.
Janis Joplin – Pearl
From the opening track of “Move Over” to the closing of “Get It While You Can,” this Pearl is a diamond of an album.
Otis Redding – The Dock of the Bay
Two months after Redding’s death via plane crash, we received this stellar album. And that title track? Simply a classic!
Roy Orbison – Mystery Girl
Like Redding, Orbison’s Mystery Girl was released two months after his heart attack death and featured the hit single “You Got It.”
Gram Parsons – Grievous Angel
Gram Parsons was only 26 when he died via an overdose of morphine and alcohol. Four months later, his second solo album Grievous Angel was released forever reminding fans what could have been.
George Harrison – Brainwashed
Harrison’s final studio album came out about a year after he died and features tracks dating back to the late 1980’s. It was completed by close friend Jeff Lynne and son, Dhani Harrison.
Johnny Cash – American V: A Hundred Highways
The fifth installment of Cash’s American series, it became Cash’s first number one album in 37 years and featured one of the most haunting, cool versions of “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” that you’ll ever hear. (Its video is also pretty awesome, too.)
Marvin Gaye – Dream of a Lifetime
Gaye’s first posthumous release came out a year after his murder and featured the single “Sanctified Lady,” which hit number two on the Billboard Hot R&B Singles chart.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono – Milk and Honey
Completed by Ono, Milk and Honey was Lennon’s final studio release and came out four years after Lennon was murdered and featured the hit single “Nobody Told Me,” which was originally written for Ringo Starr to be included on his 1981 solo album Stop and Smell the Roses, but he ended up not recording the track.
Gregg Allman – Southern Blood
The most recent posthumous release on this list, Allman’s Southern Blood was released four months after his passing. The album was made up of mostly cover songs but featured one original track with “My Only True Friend” that Allman wrote with Scott Sharrard.
Erica Banas is a rock/classic rock blogger that loves the smell of old vinyl in the morning.
