Do you think Jerry Lee Lewis better retire or keep on playin

[wolfgangguhl]

We've probably got a new album coming out this year, so he's hardly retired. Given the choice, I'd much rather he releases a new album every couple of years and very rarely performs than tours more but doesn't release new recordings (even though I wasn't over-impressed by 'Mean Old Man'). Johnny Cash had the right idea.

Johnny Cash was VERY sick!

[PeterC]

We've probably got a new album coming out this year, so he's hardly retired. Given the choice, I'd much rather he releases a new album every couple of years and very rarely performs than tours more but doesn't release new recordings (even though I wasn't over-impressed by 'Mean Old Man'). Johnny Cash had the right idea.

Johnny Cash was VERY sick!

True, but he also rediscovered his passion for the studio and stockpiled many songs (admittedly not all of them suitable for him).

[Tommy]

Sick or not, Johnny Cash`s laste recordings is one of his best.

[lucasjenke]

Sick or not, Johnny Cash`s laste recordings is one of his best.

I absolutely agree on that !

But i am quite unsure wether there are people around Jerry who can motivate him to do a lot of studio work and also am unsure wether the Lewises would be able to find a producer who can really get the best out of Jerry. Personally I think Mean old Man would have been a better album with a producer who knows how to do his Job AND knows Jerry´s music and style and lets Jerry do the songs in the way he wants to

Lucas

[Piet]

Sick or not, Johnny Cash`s laste recordings is one of his best.

I absolutely agree on that !

But i am quite unsure wether there are people around Jerry who can motivate him to do a lot of studio work and also am unsure wether the Lewises would be able to find a producer who can really get the best out of Jerry. Personally I think Mean old Man would have been a better album with a producer who knows how to do his Job AND knows Jerry´s music and style and lets Jerry do the songs in the way he wants to

Lucas

My guess is that JLL (more the relatives) are only in it for the money. Producers (read companies) are not willing to spend shiploads of money without the guaranty they wil get their money back with interest

[martin bates]

Sick or not, Johnny Cash`s laste recordings is one of his best.

I don't get the recurring comparrisons with Johnny Cash ; but it keeps coming up so I have to live with that. However, much as I personally love Johnny & enjoyed The Man Comes Around, Jerry is never cut the same slack here by his own fans.
That album has to be listened to with the knowledge this great man is near his end; the pain & hurt in his voice work very well on many songs ,(particularly if you see the Hurt video) and some of the songs are extremely good songs (Man Comes Around- I Hung My Head-Hurt). Others, for me, like Bridge Over Troubled Water or The First Time Ever...are ordinary covers of songs that have been done to death. The album also includes 5 songs he has recorded before; no problem for me -but something Jerry would be critised for on here.
I take it by Johnnys last recordings you mean TMCA, and not the 'stockpile' Peter referred to, which IMO are not nearly as good and are mostly fairly run -of -the -mill covers. Great listening for fans, and theraputic for Johnny, but Jerry would be hammered for similar recordings.
I would love to hear Jerry in the studio again, minus guests, and doing what he wants- but there has to be a commercial edge and unfortunatley the 'guest' thing seems to work. (I loved LMS - but that's enough for me) The next album ('Rock and Roll Time' ?) will be interesting.

Martin.

[PeterC]

I've never been that enthusiastic about Johnny Cash's later recordings; of course his voice was past his best, but also I can't stand that modern very "dry" production that everyone seems to use these days. Give me some reverb on the vocals!

It's interesting that so many people (particularly younger fans) rate these so highly though. How many people genuinely believe that Jerry's last two albums are amongst his very best, despite LMS being his best-seller?

[Rocky]

Actually, I liked LMS. It was MOM I did not care for. Only 7 new tracks and the rest were all songs he had recorded previously and was better on none of them. I thought the last couple of Cash albums were terrible and I have everything he has recorded, but it was the young people who re-discovered him in his final recordings and made him a hit all over again.

[PeterC]

I liked much of LMS too, but would you go as far as saying that these were amongst his best ever recordings? I wouldn't, with the possible exception of 'Evening Gown'. The general consensus amongst JLL fans (old & young) is that he did his last really great recordings for Elektra in 1979-1980.

[niek81]

Sick or not, Johnny Cash`s laste recordings is one of his best.

I absolutely agree on that !

But i am quite unsure wether there are people around Jerry who can motivate him to do a lot of studio work and also am unsure wether the Lewises would be able to find a producer who can really get the best out of Jerry. Personally I think Mean old Man would have been a better album with a producer who knows how to do his Job AND knows Jerry´s music and style and lets Jerry do the songs in the way he wants to

Lucas

To me it also sounds like there's a big contrast in quality of the mixing on MOM. If you listen to the way the song Mean Old Man is produced and the quality of the sound and compare that to the mix and sound of some of the other songs, it almost sound like you first listen to Mean Old Man as a proper song and than you're listening to some cheap below MP3 quality songs. Never understood this.

[rockin532000]

I fully agree on the Elektra record being great but i definitely also very much liked the Great Balls of Fire soundtrack. And believe it or not I did like "Rocket 88"

Best Wishes
Joerg

[lucasjenke]

Sick or not, Johnny Cash`s laste recordings is one of his best.

I absolutely agree on that !

But i am quite unsure wether there are people around Jerry who can motivate him to do a lot of studio work and also am unsure wether the Lewises would be able to find a producer who can really get the best out of Jerry. Personally I think Mean old Man would have been a better album with a producer who knows how to do his Job AND knows Jerry´s music and style and lets Jerry do the songs in the way he wants to

Lucas

To me it also sounds like there's a big contrast in quality of the mixing on MOM. If you listen to the way the song Mean Old Man is produced and the quality of the sound and compare that to the mix and sound of some of the other songs, it almost sound like you first listen to Mean Old Man as a proper song and than you're listening to some cheap below MP3 quality songs. Never understood this.

The Mixing on Mean Old Man was actually rather pure. I don´t think it was bad but the style of mixing just doesn´t fit to Jerrys Music in my oppinion. There is to less piano which is his propably the biggest reason people go to see him today. And the overdubbed guests really sound overdubbed. It is not a great album for fan but a good one for the average person

[PeterC]

And believe it or not I did like "Rocket 88"

Me too! It's the last studio album where he actually sounds like he was playing live in the studio with a band (though there may have been some overdubs) with no digital "enhancements" to make him sound younger, unlike GBOF soundtrack, Youngblood, LMS...