Which Jerry Lee Sound Do You Like Best?

[Tim in St. Louis]

For me it's the pure Nashville styled hard country when he first committed all out to country (1968-1969?) and the horn driven style of "Southern Roots". I love the early rockabilly stuff and other variations in backing instrumentation, but not as much as the other two.

I also really enjoy just Jerry with his piano. Too bad the trends in music
toward acoustic etc. wasn't in vogue in those days. It would have been great to see him do a complete solo, one-man show type of tour once in his life. I'm sure his showmanship would have come to the fore and been a sensation.

What was it like in his post concert hotel jam sessions?

[Perk]

I always find these things hard to say. It´s always so difficult to decide. It´s much easier to say what sound i don´t like at all. That´s the Great Balls Of Fire movie soundtrack, Youngblood & At Hank Cochrans.

The rest goes down fine with me

Perk

[bailbath]

. I love the early rockabilly stuff and other variations in backing instrumentation, but not as much as the other two.

Thats Rock n Roll not Rockabilly Son.
Ian

[W_Skinner]

Hi folks, I'm back in civilisation

Here's what I like best:

Studio:
The early / middle Smash recordings (esp. The return of rock & Soul my way")
Southern Roots & Outtakes
All Elektra Recordings (esp. JLL and Caribou)

Speaking of live recordings, there is still soooo much to discover, so I just pick Starclub '64 and Hammersmith '83

[Forrest Mayer]

Studio: Southern Roots

Live: With the Memphis Horns (Chicago '73 and Newport '74)
-AND-
'82-'83 With Bill Strom on organ (Happy New Year America '82)-- probably my most favorite

[Perk]

It seems many likes the Southern Roots. I for one thinks the sound was bad. It´s so strange that Meat Man & Just A Little Bit sounded much better on the original promotion album with that interview.

Bear family released for instance "Haunted House" in an extended version in the 80´s which sounded marvelous! I wish the original album had sounded like this!

And it should! Who´s to blame? Mercury?

Perk

[Tommy]

Thats Rock n Roll not Rockabilly Son.
Ian

Was that a quote from the Killer himself?

I agree with Tim on Jerry with just his piano. I´ve always wanted to see him touring alone with only his piano. I think it would suit him fine to do it that simple, clean way like Johnny Cashs later albums.

[Key_Okuna]

Thats Rock n Roll not Rockabilly Son.
Ian

Was that a quote from the Killer himself?

I agree with Tim on Jerry with just his piano. I´ve always wanted to see him touring alone with only his piano. I think it would suit him fine to do it that simple, clean way like Johnny Cashs later albums.

There's a video with Jerry alone on the piano playing GBOF and WLSGO:

http://jerryleelewis-spain.com/spain.html

Click in the video from 1990.

[ChrisdeB]

I like the early SUN sound with the three muciams backing Jerry Lee. Thats the best 4 me,

[Svein]

I like the early SUN sound with the three muciams backing Jerry Lee. Thats the best 4 me,

I agree!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The early SUN had an EXPLOSIVE energy in almoust all tracks!! BUT!!! His voice and piano playing was better in the late 60's and early 70's.. But the early SUN recordings beats it all!!! Most of all, I like the tracks with ONLY JLL... only his voice and piano... that's DYNAMITE!!

[ChrisdeB]

I like the early SUN sound with the three muciams backing Jerry Lee. Thats the best 4 me,

I agree!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The early SUN had an EXPLOSIVE energy in almoust all tracks!! BUT!!! His voice and piano playing was better in the late 60's and early 70's.. But the early SUN recordings beats it all!!! Most of all, I like the tracks with ONLY JLL... only his voice and piano... that's DYNAMITE!!

I love that solo session that he id at SUN prior to his UK tour some great performances from it. Of course "That lucky Old Sun" is an awesome solo track.

[Svein]

I like the early SUN sound with the three muciams backing Jerry Lee. Thats the best 4 me,

I agree!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The early SUN had an EXPLOSIVE energy in almoust all tracks!! BUT!!! His voice and piano playing was better in the late 60's and early 70's.. But the early SUN recordings beats it all!!! Most of all, I like the tracks with ONLY JLL... only his voice and piano... that's DYNAMITE!!

I love that solo session that he id at SUN prior to his UK tour some great performances from it. Of course "That lucky Old Sun" is an awesome solo track.

Yes it is! I've always liked that song..

BUT!!! My ABSOLUTE favorite JLL-track does not come from SUN... My favorite track is "I'm On Fire"!! That's the song that made me a JLL fan in the first place, and STILL.. after ALL these years, it's my absolute favorite!!! But... if it comes to a period, I am a "SUN-man".. I also like the "newer" JLL stuff, of course

By the way.. I REALLY love(!!) the star club LP/CD.. AND!!! The Greatest Live Show On Earth... Those are worth a LOT to me.. SO MUCH great music can not be found elsewhere!!!! JLL is the greatest of them all... NO doubt about that!!!

[ChrisdeB]

I like the early SUN sound with the three muciams backing Jerry Lee. Thats the best 4 me,

I agree!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The early SUN had an EXPLOSIVE energy in almoust all tracks!! BUT!!! His voice and piano playing was better in the late 60's and early 70's.. But the early SUN recordings beats it all!!! Most of all, I like the tracks with ONLY JLL... only his voice and piano... that's DYNAMITE!!

I love that solo session that he id at SUN prior to his UK tour some great performances from it. Of course "That lucky Old Sun" is an awesome solo track.

Yes it is! I've always liked that song..

BUT!!! My ABSOLUTE favorite JLL-track doe not come from SUN... My favorite trackis "I'm On Fire"!! That's the song tha made me a JLL fan in the first place, and STILL.. after ALLthese years, it's my absolute favorite!!! But... as a period, I am a "SUN-man".. I also like the "newer" JLL stuff, of course

By the way.. I REALLY love(!!) the star club LP/CD.. AND!!! The Greatest Live Show On Earth... Those are worth a LOT to me.. SO MUCH great music can not be found elsewhere!!!! JLL is the greatest of them all... NO doubt about that!!!

Yes I agree!!! They are amazing Cds/lps. when I first got ibto Jerry Lee in the early 70's I spent ages tracking thoese albums down.It was well worth the effort.
rThe complete show on the Bear family Locust years box set is pretty amazing as well. The complete version of "What I say" is fab!!

I like "I'm on Fire" a lot, and it was a real shame it was not a hit.

The SUN material is still my fav though!!!

[Svein]

Apart from ´"I'm On Fire", the Sun stuff is my favorites as well as yours I always think of "I'm On Fire" as a Sun track... even if it's not It has the same energy, and could very well fit in amoungst his Sun recordings...

You know.. at the same time Elvis was fooling around with movies like "Blue Hawaii", JLL showed the world who the REAL King was (and still is!) by recording "I'm on Fire"!!! That means a lot!! It is a GREAT song.. it's a KILLER!!!!!!!!! and....THEN some...

[peterchecksfield]

I've always particularly liked the 1961-1963 SUN recordings. They had lots of instruments (organ, sax, etc + backing singers) yet they were very well mixed with JLL to the fore. The 1963-1967 Smash recordings were great too, but sometimes badly mixed (the drums on 'I'm On Fire' especially sound bad!).