JERRY LEE LEWIS Live & Rare!
Readers would be surprised how many LPs I have—and I have more by JERRY LEE LEWIS than any other solo artist. I love the unpredictability of JLL’s live performances, so I also have a lot of radio shows & boots from which the tracks on LIVE & RARE were taken.
There are tracks recorded in locales from Los Angeles to Pasadena (Texas). JERRY LEE manages to “play nice” in the family friendly environments of Knott’s Berry Farm, and Neil Young’s Bridge School Benefit, but he cuts loose in a big way in Nashville. The Grand Ol’ Opry lifted his ban on the condition that Jerry play his country hits, only to have The Killer perform one of the most raucous versions of Rockin’ My Life Away I’ve encountered. Jerry Lee was always at his best when he was giving someone the finger, breaking the rules, or burning something to the ground, & JLL’s wreckless abandon inspires longtime guitarist Kenny Lovelace to play one of the best solos I’ve heard from him.
I’m as enthralled by his stage patter & the asides directed at bandmembers as I am his music. During Blue Suede Shoes he says on mic that: “Drummer lost a little beat, but don’t worry, he’s hip enough, he’ll catch up!”
And Jerry didn’t always restrict himself to the truth in his intros & outros. He restarts Blue Suede Shoes, saying: “Carl Perkins wrote it, Carl Perkins sang it along with a bunch of others… Elvis did NOT have that record first, CARL PERKINS had the record… and he sold three million records on it. Elvis Presley recorded the record when Carl was laying in the hospital nearly dead, from a wreck… I think he tried to steal it from him... I’m just telling’ ya what Carl said, I ain’t got nothin’ to do with it!”
Along the way he made stops in Alabama, London, & Bridlington (wherever that is) and there are a few tracks that even I don't remember where they were recorded. There’s even a rock medley of Matchbox/Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On/Blue Suede Shoes performed with his old friends CARL PERKINS & JOHNNY CASH. Ladies & gentlemen, please welcome: The Three Quarters Of A Million Dollar Trio!
The Elvis History Blog includes this passage on the famous MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET pairing of Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, & Elvis Presley: Jerry Lee & Elvis took turns singing. When Lewis sang a bit of “Crazy Arms,” Elvis said, “The wrong man’s been settin’ here at this piano.” Jerry Lee responded, “Well, I been wantin’ to tell you that. Scoot over!” In Robert Johnson’s newspaper article the next day, Elvis praised Jerry Lee. “That boy can go,” he said. “I think he has a great future ahead of him. He has a different style, and the way he plays piano just gets inside me.” (http://www.elvis-history-blog.com/elvis-jerry-lee-lewis.html)
If Jerry Lee can be believed, just before Elvis went into the army, a decision many felt might end his reign as The King Of Rock & Roll, Presley handed it all over to him, telling Lewis to “Take it. Take it all.” True or not, what is true, is that more than any other artist, JLL was poised to do so.
I accidentally left the logo off, but it's Another Stinky Production, & I'm tellin' ya every fan of JERRY LEE LEWIS needs this compilation. In the words of The Ferriday Fireball: “If I tell you it’s gonna rain, you'd better bring your umbrella!”