Killer Country

In the late 1960s Jerry Lee Lewis moved back to the music he grew up with--country music. This disc brings together 2 of his very best country albums for Smash/Mercury plus few cuts from a third. The music is fine late 1960s honky tonk style, with excellent readings of some Merle Haggard, Webb Pierce, and Jimmie Rodgers songs. Some of Lewis' finest country titles are here, including "Another Time, Another Place." I especially enjoy his performance with Linda Gail Lewis on "We Live In Two Different Worlds," simply one of the best songs Fred Rose ever wrote. Of course some rockabilly rowdiness slips in, it would not be the Killer without it. Essential country music for the true country fan.

A Great Cd

It's Sad that "The Killer" is always over looked, but this cd makes his statement of "Elvis may be the greatest, but I'm the best." true. "There stands the glass," and "Waiting for a train." Is enough reason to buy this cd alone. The problem of why he is often overlooked may have to do with the amount of poor quality bootleg cds that bares his name. Unlike Elvis who's estate clamped down on the bootleg and poor quaility music, Jerry Lee Lewis's bootlegs are all over the place and his great studio work is hard to find. This is impart do to the many different labels that he has been signed to. I hope at some point he will get control of his music catalog and re-release his great studio work from the sun records era and those of his country recordings era, but until that happens this cd is a great place to start.

Some of his best work, and thus among THE BEST

These recordings are among the most commercially successful country records ever done. Moreover, they are among the most artistically successful recordings done by anyone doing straight bar brand country music. JLL just kills these songs, he makes them all personal, he makes them all live, and makes you believe he has lived them.
Contrary to what some others say, JLL has been doing his own interpretations of the country classics since his original sun records the 1950s. His version of Crazy Arms (from 56 or 57 I believe) redefined the song. his version of You Win Again did something rare. He took a song away from Hank Williams. Today if you played or sang Hanks version of the song anywhere, it wouldnt be recognized, and wouldn't be as good as the standard way JLL does it. He did all kinds of country standards during the late 50s and early 1960s when Sun had him doing hundreds of recordings to be salted away until he made a come back.
JLL's work in the 1960s before these country recordings was not "in the wilderness." Some of the rock albums he did for Mercury Smah and Mercury represent some of the best rock and rockabilly recordings ever made, more mature musically, but wilder than things he did in the 1950. Get the two live recordings, one from Panther Hall in Houston, the other from Birmingham if you want to see the light.
It is interesting that these country side are a triumph of JLL as a singer. he barely plays the piano on some selections, on the last selections he plays no piano at all, but these are all classics. Anyone around anywhere where any music was coming off a radio or a juke box anywhere during the late 1960s and eary 1970s heard these songs.
This is among Jerry's best. That means it is among the world's greatest.
Dont forget JLL is still rocking his life away at 66 years old he is still pounding that piano!