Search - Little Richard :: Shakin' & Screamin' with Little Richard

Mostly easy-to-find tracks but at a nice price

plsilverman | USA | 04/21/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This recent offer of Little Richard's widely available re-recordings is a cut above. Most of these packages are drawn from the 1964 Nashville session. Here, only track number 10, "Ooh My Soul" represents that heavily revisited vault, although it's the only recut here offering a new *arrangement* of an old hit - the remainder are taken from the 1976 Nashville session which used the original '50s arrangements but in a high tech. setting. Their main value is for collectors and musicians to study the music in stereo and to enjoy a '50s originator showing he still could cut it after 20 years. There was some fear at the time that the Quasar (to use a baseball expression) lost a step goin' down the line and there were several early '70s tracks to support that concern.
The most interesting numbers are "covers" of Hank Williams - "Why Don't You Love Me?", probably from '72; Larry Williams - "Short Fat Fannie", a loose Rock-Jazz mix from '64, with substandard sonics; Lloyd Price - "Lawdy, Miss Clawdy", '64, a true stereo pressing featuring a classic vocal and piano; and Leadbelly/The Weavers/Jerry Reed/et. al - "Goodnight, Irene", '64, a joyfully erratic attempt at a Rock Waltz, heard on the soundtrack to Paramount Pictures' "Kiss The Girls", with Morgan Freeman.
The packaging is attractive and the (unexpected) notes are well-written."