POSTHUMOUS ALBUMS: Feeling Good Was Easy When She Sang the Blues

Someday we'll do Blackest White Singers Week, if only because I am looking for an excuse to watch my favorite Rick Astley video. Oh, hell, we can do it now. But somewhere on that list, probably atop it, would be Janis Joplin. Pearl, as she was called, died in 1970 at the age of 27, leaving a only a few albums but millions of admirers.

At the time of her death, Joplin was working with venerable producer Paul Rothchild, known for his work with the Doors. If the guy could wrangle Jim Morrison, the logic went, he could get Janis to straighten up, too. The sessions were productive and happy, best expressed by Janis' joyous take on "Mercedes Benz," which she co-wrote. Most famously, these sessions produced the single "Me and Bobby McGee," written by sometime lover Kris Kristofferson. The song, when sung from Kristofferson's perspective, could be heard as a song for Janis, a traveling blues singer much like the title character.

On October 4, 1970, Janis died. Pearl was released four months later and became her best-loved album. Years earlier, back home in Texas, her campus newspaper declared, "She Dares to Be Different." In the 46 years that have passed since that headline, nobody has disputed this fact.

TODAY'S RECOMMENDATION: "Cry Baby" by Janis Joplin
AVAILABLE ON: Pearl; iTunes

POSTHUMOUS ALBUMS: Come As You Are

In November of 1993, Nirvana performed on MTV's Unplugged. It was something all the top stars of the day (and days past) were doing, and Nirvana had a new album, In Utero, to promote. Unintentionally, they ended up showing the world just how versatile a group they were.

Touring guitarist Pat Smear and cellist Lori Goldsten augmented the core trio of Kurt Cobain, bassist Krist Novoselic and drummer Dave Grohl. Cris and Curt Kirkwood of the Meat Puppets joined the band for three of their own songs. Fleshed out but not fattened, Nirvana painted with a lot of colors they hadn't used before. Novoselic played accordion on "Jesus Doesn't Want Me For a Sunbeam," and though his Foo Fighting days lay ahead, Dave Grohl plucked a little bass and supplied backing vocals.

The band attempted several covers that night, ranging from David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold the World" to Leadbelly's "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?", the album's finale and highlight. (They also cheated a little: some electric guitar sneaks in here and there, but the sound is still crisp and intimate).

Five months after the performance, Cobain took his own life. MTV Unplugged in New York arrived on CD that November, a year after its recording. It's noteworthy not for just being a great posthumous release, but also for displaying previously unheard potential that would never be further developed.

It may not be Nirvana's most groundbreaking album. That prize goes to the era-defining Nevermind. Grohl has said Bleach may be the group's best overall, and he didn't even play on it. But Unplugged is the finest example of Nirvana's collective skills. It's their most diverse, surprising album, full of moments both lovely and terrifying. It's also the saddest; without all the electric noise of their other records, you can really hear how badly Cobain was hurting.

TODAY'S RECOMMENDATION: "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" by Nirvana
AVAILABLE ON: MTV Unplugged in New York; iTunes

POSTHUMOUS ALBUMS: Last Act of the Man in Black

Johnny Cash's late-career comeback was remarkable for a lot of reasons. It was remarkable that an artist over seventy could release a platinum album. It was remarkable because it resulted not just in huge commercial success, but also in some of the finest work of Cash's career. It was remarkable because, even after his death, it showed no signs of slowing down.

In the late 1970s and '80s, Cash's career descended into mediocrity and repetition. His longtime home, Columbia Records, dropped him. He endured a short, unsuccessful stint at Mercury Records, which saw him re-recording many of his classics, a pointless and empty use of the great man's time. Cash was even reduced to appearing in a Taco Bell commercial. Sure, he guest-starred on a U2 track ("The Wanderer"), but cameos don't make for satisfying careers.

Then, a frighteningly bearded but beloved rock producer named Rick Rubin took notice. In 1994, Rubin signed Cash to his American Recordings label, and recorded an album of solo acoustic performances in Cash's living room. Simply titled American Recordings, it was a jolting return to form for Cash, both as a performer and songwriter. Blending strong new originals ("Drive On") and cleverly chosen covers (Nick Lowe's "The Beast in Me"), it was Cash's biggest success in years, and as good an album as he had ever made.

Cash and Rubin followed it up with Unchained, featuring Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and American III: Solitary Man. By the time of The Man Comes Around in 2002, Cash had finally started to sound his age. But that didn't stop the fourth installment of the series from becoming the most successful, selling over a million copies. It even got Cash back on the radio with his shattering cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt."

Cash died in September of 2003, less than five months after his beloved wife June. This left Rubin with a mountain of unreleased material, much of it recorded in Cash's final days. In 2006, Rubin issued American V: A Hundred Highways. It debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts, and featured Cash's final compositions, plus covers ranging from Gordon Lightfoot to Odetta. Listening to the album can be emotionally trying; not only are most of the songs about death, but Cash sounds frail, and his once-mighty voice wobbles and cracks.

But music is made to elicit an emotional response, and on that note, A Hundred Highways is a fitting tribute to Cash's long, hard life. Joaquin Phoenix ain't bad, but no actor could reproduce the dramatic punch of an artist knocking at death's door and making music this damn good.

TODAY'S RECOMMENDATION: "God's Gonna Cut You Down" by Johnny Cash
AVAILABLE ON: American V: A Hundred Highways; iTunes

ADDENDUM: People have asked what Rick Rubin looks like. You can Google it for yourself, but here's a pretty good approximation.

POSTHUMOUS ALBUMS: History's Most Ironic Band Name

It is often said there's no better way to stay famous than dying. Death can intensify your legend, especially if it follows an extraordinary career, like that of John Lennon or Keith Moon. But sometimes, tragically, an artist will leave us at such an early stage in his or her career that their death becomes indistinguishable from their life. They're gone as soon as they've arrived.

Listening to the music of Joy Division, it's impossible not to think of the suicide of frontman Ian Curtis. Curtis suffered from epilepsy and depression, as well as a failing marriage. He hanged himself at the age of 24, soon before the group was to tour the U.S. The group's sophomore album, Closer, debuted in July of 1980.

Curtis and bandmates Stephen Morris, Peter Hook, and Bernard Sumner burst onto England's exploding punk scene in the late 1970s. The group released their first album, Unknown Pleasures, on an independent label in 1979. Curtis' voice, an off-putting combination of David Bowie and the HAL 9000 computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey, was the most striking component of their dark, brooding sound. Vocally, Curtis resembled his contemporary Tom Verlaine of the band Television, only much sadder.

Joy Division weren't exactly punk. Their music wasn't loud or nasty enough. But they were also too strange and glum to fit in with the New Wave. They were hugely influential to the goth-rock movement of the 1990s, for better or worse. Their work is somewhat reminiscent of the Doors, but far more despairing and minus the rock star sheen of Jim Morrison.

Even without traditional rock star charisma, there is something immensely moving about Curtis' performances, especially when you consider his fate. As critic Robert Christgau said, "It's his passionate gravity that makes the clumsy, disquieting music so convincing."

For a slightly fictionalized look at Curtis' life, check out Control, a highly acclaimed 2007 film by Anton Corbijn. Corbijn has some experience with depressed rock stars, having directed music videos for the likes of Nirvana. But more on them later in the week.

TODAY'S RECOMMENDATION: "Passover" by Joy Division
AVAILABLE ON: Closer; iTunes

POSTHUMOUS ALBUMS: The Quiet One Has Something to Say

Tupac Shakur has released more albums since his murder in 1996 than he did while he was alive. This makes him the most productive dead man since Paul McCartney, except he's actually dead. Record companies love dead artists because they still sell but they never complain about money. This week we spotlight albums released after their creators kicked the bucket.

George Harrison enjoyed a relatively quiet post-Beatles career. Though productive throughout the 1970s, with albums of wildly varying quality, he settled down in the '80s to record only sporadically. After a brush with cancer in the late 1990s, not to mention a brutal attack by a crazed Beatles fan (no, not that one), George decided to get back to work while he still could.

This meant finally putting the finishing touches on some songs he'd been tinkering with for a decade. George enlisted the help of his lookalike son Dhani, as well as old Traveling Wilburys buddy Jeff Lynne, to lay them down. When Harrison's cancer returned in 2001, the team worked feverishly to get as much work completed as possible. George, the youngest Beatle, died on November 29. After a break, Dhani and Lynne returned to the album, now called Brainwashed, and released it a year after George's passing.

George was ill during much of the album's production, and his voice is audibly weak in spots. But he also sounds more engaged and energized than he did on lesser records like Dark Horse and Somewhere in England. The album sounds fresh, rigorous, with a surprisingly restrained production considering Lynne, Mr. ELO himself, was involved. Guitars, ukuleles, and earthy harmonies swirl together gently to create the warmest album of Harrison's career.

It's also the second best solo disc Harrison ever cut. It's a lovely bookend to his first, and best, All Things Must Pass. It's a shame he had already used that title.

TODAY'S RECOMMENDATION: "Any Road" by George Harrison
AVAILABLE ON: Brainwashed