Black Pearl was a San-Francisco-based band that existed from the late 1960s to the early 1970s. They released two albums, Black Pearl and Black Pearl - Live!.
History
Black Pearl was composed of Bernie "B.B" Fieldings, Bruce Benson, Oak O'Connor, Geoffrey Morris, Tom Mulcahy, and Jerry Causi. Morris, Causi, and Benson had been members of the Barbarians, a 60s garage band noted for their extreme long hair for the times and their single, " Are You a Boy or Are You A Girl". The Barbarians were also noted for the band's drummer, Moulty, who had lost one hand in a childhoodaccident and consequently played drums with a hook. The band was formed after Barbarians' singer and drummer Moulty refused to travel to Boulder, Colorado for a two-week engagement. A new drummer, Oak O'Connor, plus Mulcahy and Fieldings, joined with ex-Barbarians Morris, Causi, and Benson, all initially based in Boston, to form Black Pearl in 1967. The band relocated from Boston to San Francisco, after a period of time in Colorado. Fieldings, who was white, was a wild showman who based his stage presence on that of James Brown. His admiration for James Brown was evident on the group's live album, which contains a twelve-minute version of James Brown's "Cold Sweat". As noted by one reviewer, "Black Pearl crank out some hard rockin' psych-rock music with the most ferocious drumbeats you've heard in a while." The band's three guitar lineup was considered to be both unique and powerful, being a format also found in contemporaries Moby Grape and Buffalo Springfield. Black Pearl released two albums, Black Pearl and Black Pearl - Live!, with the second being less well-received than the first. By the time of the 1970 release of the second album, the original band had broken up. Morris, O'Connor and Mulcahy continued as Black Pearl, playing initially as a power trio. Later musicians were Bobby Mason, Tom Becker and E. Rodney Jones. The band finally broke up in 1978, followed by reunion shows in 1988, 1996, and 1999,
Discography
Black PearlAtlantic 1969; CD reissue Wounded Bird, 2007 Black Pearl - Live! Prophesy, 1970
