Richard's Early Years
Ron Heck | 01/07/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"While not quite as good as the compilation Have "Louie" Will Travel this is still a worthy companion to it. It is clearly obvious that Ace Records intended it to be. Like the other album, it has an astounding number of songs and biograhical information, all mixed with family and wedding pictures. However, it just seems that the songs aren't as good as the ones on Have Louie and the biography doesn't seem as interesting. This is partly due to the fact that this came out after Have Louie, and this covers the earlier parts of his career. A lot of the songs just sound the same as other songs on the record. Also, the best songs aren't quite as good as the best songs on Have Louie. There are some definite throwaways like Big John, Hey Henry, At Last, and even the title track which is a very obvious (attempted) cash-in on Little Richard's success. Nonetheless, there are some very bright spots on this CD. Particularly, The Wallflower, which is classic, just about all his material with The Dreamers, and it shows his solo work develop into his own very unique style. There are also a few alternate takes, but according to the liner notes only a couple of words and phrasing is changed from the original releases, making the other compilation of this same period of his career, Get Out of the Car, obsolete. I would definitely recommend buying Have Louie first and if you can't get enough of him (which you probably won't) I recommend picking this up. Now, if only Ace will put out a CD compiling recordings made after Have Louie, if there is any."
Track Listings (28) - Disc #1
