Back in the early 1960s Jerry Lee Lewis recorded THE definitive live rock ‘n’ roll album at a famous bar in Hamburg, Germany. Live at the Star Club, Hamburg wasn’t even released in the states for twenty years. If you’ve ever wondered why preachers condemned rock ‘n’ roll and why kids went crazy over it, this recording explains it all.
Some twenty years later, Lewis recorded a series of live shows at the legendary Palomino Club in North Hollywood.
Jerry Lee had (barely) lived every minute of the twenty years in between the two recordings. He’d gone from rock ‘n’ roll to country, had several personal tragedies, lasted all of about a week at Betty Ford, and was still rockin’ his life away in his late forties.
Most artists have a different persona offstage than they do when they’re under the spotlight, but not The Killer, much like the Waffle House, he’s wide open twenty-four seven, 365 days a year. This album shows him at his absolute best, and enjoying every minute of it. He trades banter with the audience, makes a few mildly (actually extremely) suggestive remarks to some of the ladies in the house, makes several off-mike jokes to the band, which features James Burton on guitar (Go call your favorite rockabilly guitarist and ask him about James Burton) and generally lets it be known that The Killer is in charge, and he’ll play what he damn well pleases. If you find him brashly egotistical, a bit crude and unrefined, not to mention obviously intoxicated, you are cordially invited to kiss his Ferriday, Louisiana, hindquarters .
This two-CD set covers the entire spectrum of American music from 1945 to 1985. Unlike Elvis, he never drifts into mediocrity or maudlin covers of MOR standards. Jerry Lee F—ckin’ Lewis doesn’t follow a smokin’ bump-and-grind version of “Johnny B. Goode” with some piece of slop like “Wind Beneath My Wings.”
Hell no, this is a master at his absolute best.
(By the way, I know I rave about most of the albums I write about, but that’s the point, these are not reviews, they are all five-star, must-haves, especially for certain genres.)
This album just gets better with every song. Damn it, this man can still play the blue-eyed piss out of a piano, and as you hear him end “Brown Eyed Handsome Man,” by slamming the piano cover against the piano for emphasis, you realize you are listening to a true American original at work. … And, trust your Uncle Billy on this, nobody, nobody, and I do mean nobody, can wring more emotion out of two-minute songs than The Killer.
Need proof?
Check out “Another Place, Another Time.”
By the way, Lewis freely admits that he and his first cousins first learned how to brush the elephants’ teeth (play the piano) by listening to the black piano players, including Memphis Slim, Little Brother Montgomery, andSunnyland Slim, at Haney’s, Bar, in Ferriday, Louisiana. Although they weren’t allowed inside, they soaked up every eight-to-the-bar, big-legged bass note of grease-drenched boogie-woogie, combining it with the phrasing of southern gospel Hovie Lister to redefine the piano, taking it from the stage of the concert hall to the back seat of a ’59 Caddie.
(I’m listening to “Chantilly Lace” while writing this, now he’s doing a straight-ahead, third-base-on-the-first-date version of “Little Queenie.”)
For all of you fellow piano players that thought Mr. Lewis was pretty much limited to bashing minor thirds and running arpeegios should live so long as to match his solo on “ I Can’t Stop Loving You.” No one plays with this much command and originality, and pure, unadulterated soul.
His piano playing ranges from in the pocket to truly jaw-dropping, W.T.F.!! Jerry Lee doesn’t play the piano, he just uses it to sing in another voice.
You want Blues?
Try “Who Will the Next Fool Be?
After that, see if you can even make it through the saddest and most painful song I’ve ever heard a man sing: “She Even Woke Me To Say Goodbye.”
Have I made my point yet?
When all is said and done, these are the reason you should order this album right away:
1) The band is phenomenal; James Burton plays truly inspired solos.
2) The material ranges from “Great Balls of Fire” to “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”
3) Jerry Lee is in total command from beginning to end. He sings every song as if it were his last.
4) He finishes “Don’t Put No Headstone On My Grave” by stopping the band and declaring, “ Hell, I don’t want a headstone, I want a f—ckin’ monument.” After listening to Live At The Palomino, you’ll agree that he damn sure deserves one.
No comments:
Post a Comment