The Pop Corporation

Pearl Charles is one of our favourite artists and we’ve featured her on this site before and countless playlists, from the burning-hot disco of ‘Only For Tonight’ to the recent Lauren Canyon gorgeousness meets Muscle Shoals soul of ‘Step Too Far’.

A hugely talented song-writer, Charles will be playing some live shows in the UK very soon, starting May 31st in Scotland. You can check her imminent tour dates here, and you’d be very wise to catch her for fear of other people saying “told you so!” if you miss ’em.

For those new to Pearl, the great thing about her is that she’s channelling all the best bits of your record collection, whether she’s being a conduit of Cosmic Country, hitting you square in the chest like Bonnie Raitt, filtering kaleidoscopic psychedelia into her sounds, or letting you pick up on the echoes of great West Coast AOR records – and there’s a new album too?

Count us in!

We’re very excited to hear this new record, which goes by the name of ‘Desert Queen’, and that’s available to pre-order in a variety of lovely vinyl varieties, and CD too, if you’re still into firing up the CD changer in the boot of the car.

To celebrate good music and the release of the new LP, we let Pearl choose ten of her favourite songs of the moment, so pull up a chair like she’s invited us all back to her pad to sit around the kitchen table with a glass of something good and some strong words about the state of the world.

1. Did You Ever Love Me by Fleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac is my favourite band and Christine McVie holds her own amongst the greatest songwriters of all-time in my eyes. This song in particular has always struck me with its profound simplicity. “Do you ever wonder or worry about me? Did I ever love you, did you ever love me?”

It’s a feeling I think literally every single person in the world can relate to and it rips my heart out every time I hear it, just like it was the first time.

2. You Might Say by Browning Bryant

Browning Bryant was just a teen when he made this incredible album produced by Allen Toussaint and backed by The Meters.

The entire record is amazing because it really feels like a long lost Allen Toussaint record (you can hear his influence in the songwriting and literally his voice loudly in the background vocals), but this song in particular always spoke to me because of its resilient and positive message, something that is ever present in Allen’s songs, not to mention that funky bass line!

3. Diamonds and Rust – Live Version by Joan Baez

There’s a book called songwriters on songwriting, but this song is an exercise in songwriters ON songwriters. Joan and Bob’s relationship was clearly fraught, as relationships between two artists (and in this case, two of the greatest) are bound to be. Joan did Bob’s songs so well, but this is in my opinion her absolute best work – in both the songwriting and the performance.

The lyric “my poetry was lousy you said” perfectly exemplifies their complicated dynamic, the battle between love and hate, admiration and jealousy, and it’s never been encapsulated better in a song.

4. On and On by Ned Doheny

Ned Doheny is best known for his super smooth yacht rock tunes on his album ‘Hard Candy’, but I love this track from his debut eponymous record. Still super smooth and hinting at the yacht yet to come, this song has a bit more of an Americana, Eagles-y tinge to it which combines two of my favourite aesthetics and two I have tried to combine in my own musical style.

I also love the lyrical content of this track, it felt very in line with my own song ‘Does This Song Sound Familiar?’ touching on the cyclical nature of life and death.

5. I Mean To Shine by Linda Hoover

Linda Hoover, like Browning Bryant, was also just a young teenager when somehow she stumbled into the studio with a pre-Steely Dan Steely Dan. Becker and Fagen wrote a large chunk of this album that was produced by their early producer Gary Katz and had contributions from Skunk Baxter and Denny Dias.

It was shelved in 1970 over publishing disputes and never saw the light of day until 2022 and I wholeheartedly believe it is just criminal to rob the world of such brilliance for over 50 years, but thank god we have it now. The entire album is incredible and feels like a long lost Steely Dan album with a female singer, again, the inspiration I didn’t even know I was drawing on until it found me, but I chose the title track in particular because of the defiance and tenacity in the lyrics.

6.  Dallas by Steely Dan

Now that I’ve mentioned Steely Dan, I want to add one of their songs to my list, but it’s not a song you’ll find on any of their records. They were known for being so self-critical that they would record the same song over and over until it was up to their extremely high standards and if after all that, it still didn’t meet their standards they’d just never release it, but even the “worst” song Steely Dan that they would deem unreleasable is better than any song I could ever dream to write.

This particular tune is close to my heart because we used to cover it live, but check out any of their unreleased demos, they’re all great.

7. Tops by The Rolling Stones

‘Tattoo You’ is one of my favourite Stones albums, but I chose this song not because it’s my number one song on the record (that would have to be either ‘Heaven’, ‘Ain’t No Use In Crying’ or ‘Slave’), but because I wanted to point out the genre of “casting couch” songs.

Obviously Mick and Keith have never shied away from sensitive subjects, but there’s a song by the Eagles called ‘King of Hollywood’ about the exact same thing! I guess it truly is a tale as old as time.

8. Only You Know by Dion

I absolutely love the collision of worlds that make this album and this song in particular come together. Dion of ‘Runaround Sue’ and ‘The Wanderer’, early 60’s rock ‘n’ roll fame, singing a song by Gerry Goffin, Carole King’s husband and writing partner, on a Phil Spector produced record.

This is the album Spector produced right before he did Leonard Cohen’s ‘Death of a Ladies’ Man’ which has a very similar sonic palette and is also a personal favourite of mine, though rumour has it Spector’s psychosis was in full swing and he held a gun to Cohen’s head during the recording.

9. Man in the Station by Ian Matthews

Ian Matthews has had an illustrious career, from being a member of Fairport Convention to various other bands and incarnations of his solo project including a name spelling change (from Iain to Ian). His more folk/country rock leaning rock is actually how I got into his many projects (he did an album produced by Michael Nesmith of The Monkees), but my favourite album of his has come to be ‘Stealin’ Home’.

Ian creates his own unique brand of “too slow to disco” with many compelling and unexpected elements, for example the harmonica on this track which brings an almost raw bluesy/country influence to an otherwise super polished dance track.

10. A Lesson in Leavin’ by Dottie West

This was a song that changed everything for me. It came in on a staticky radio signal in the middle of nowhere somewhere out in west Texas and the trajectory of my musical direction completely changed.

Having grown up in Los Angeles, the child of two New York Jews, mainstream country music just was not in my vernacular at that time. This of course is a much funkier, 70’s brand of that, but I just fell in love with the marriage of country and funk and musically I never looked back!

Pearl Charles’ ‘Desert Queen’, available to stream and buy, May 2025.