The Music Jockey

Amazon.com
Fifty years after a 21-year-old Elvis Presley first shook the world comes a reissue of the famed Million Dollar Quartet recording, the off-the-cuff Sun Records jam session where Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash joined Presley for a loose-jointed romp through 46 songs. Except that's not quite right--Cash either put down his part off-mic or rolled out his big baritone-bass when the tape wasn't rolling (the more likely explanation). So that, as Colin Escott writes in his liner notes, technically makes this a $750,000 Trio. And while this new edition is billed as the "complete" quartet--since 12 more minutes surfaced on a tape of superior sound quality found in Elvis's private collection, and the session is now in its right sequence--it obviously isn't the whole thing. (The 12 extra minutes are essentially four short instrumentals and "Reconsider Baby" at the start, as well as bits and pieces at different points throughout the CD.) But what survives is nevertheless fascinating, of course, not only for the historical record but for the fervor the three bring to a handful of spirituals (their finest moment) and how young Presley--who is already recording for RCA, and has just been dropped by Sun--presents himself. His new notoriety brings out a cocky charm, as he devotes much of these renditions of "Don't Be Cruel" and "Paralyzed" to an imitation of Jackie Wilson imitating him (Elvis knows Wilson only as one of Billy Ward's Dominoes), and boasting that Pat Boone recorded a song that Elvis wouldn't even audition. This fly-on-the-wall voyeurism should appeal to any student of rock 'n' roll history. But serious Elvisphiles will especially enjoy hearing Presley talk about the seeds of recording "That's When Your Heartaches Begin," mimic Hank Snow on "I'm Gonna Bid My Blues Goodbye," and express bemused ire over Faron Young, who had sent him a song ("Is It So Strange") he hoped Elvis would record. "He didn't want to give me none of it--he wanted it all, you know," Elvis says with a chuckle, supposedly referring to the publishing/writing credit, something Elvis's manager, the iron-fisted Colonel Tom Parker, demanded. As the trio moves through a plethora of material--Christmas songs, gospel, blues, R&B, country, pop, Dixieland, cowboy, and bluegrass--they become the hammer, anvil, and steel, forging a new form of music. What you have here, then, is no less than the sound of it, taking shape. --Alanna Nash

 

 

 

1. Rock And Roll

2. Before The Night Is Over

3. Pink Cadillac

4. Evening Gown

5. You Don't Have To

6. Twilight

7. Travelin' Band

8. That Kind Of Fool

9. Sweet Little 16

10. Just A Bummin' Around

11. Honky Tonk Woman

12. What's Made Milwakuee Famous

13. Don't Be Ashamed Of Your Age

14. A Couple More Years

15. Old Glory

16. Trouble In Mind

17. I Saw Her Standing There

18. Lost Highway

19. Hadacohl Boogie

20. The Irish Heart Beat

21. The Pilgrim Ch.33

 

 

How do you drum up interest in a Jerry Lee Lewis record, since the Ferriday Fireball is 71 and hasn't put out an album since 1996? First, you pair him with 22 of the biggest stars of rock (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards), country (Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard), and blues (Buddy Guy, B.B. King), to show how he put his stamp on nearly every genre. Then, you hire the dean of music chroniclers, Peter Guralnick, to give the liner notes heft. And--oh, yes, you also make sure the piano-pounding pioneer displays the best finger form he's shown in 25 years. Throughout, the Killer crows, struts, and self-mythologizes with the brio of youth, and who could resist him? At times, one may question the wisdom of turning an obvious guitar tune (Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll") into a piano-dominated performance, just as it seems odd to not make the best use of such guests as Toby Keith or Delaney Bramlett. But Lewis never yields the throne for a second, even surrounded by the likes of Robbie Robertson, Neil Young, and Eric Clapton. For that reason, most of these aren't true duets--the star instrumentalists take their solos, and the harmonies of some of the most legendary vocalists (Don Henley, Little Richard) stay too far in the background. But when things really work--as they do with Bruce Springsteen (the rave-up "Pink Cadillac"), Neil Young (a crackling rendition of "You Don't Have To Go"), Kid Rock (an even blacker "Honky Tonk Woman"), George Jones (the novelty-framed "Don't Be Ashamed of Your Age"), and Kris Kristofferson (an especially poignant take on "The Pilgrim: Chapter 33"), the rock of ages cleaves for thee and me. Last Man Standing refers to the famous cover of Million Dollar Quartet, on which he's pictured with fellow Sun artists Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Carl Perkins, all now jamming in the great beyond. Yet in a spoken-word reprise at the end of the Kristofferson song--"From the rocking of the cradle / To the rolling of the hearse / The going up was worth the coming down"--the Last Man seems to suggest his own fine epitaph. It's hard to argue with a hellraiser extraordinaire. --Alanna Nash

Product Description
Twenty-two rock and country legends duet with Jerry Lee Lewis on this incredible package, celebrating The Killer's impact on American music. Among the luminaries igniting these all-new recordings of seminal rock 'n' roll are Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Willie Nelson, Toby Keith, Little Richard, Merle Haggard, Neil Young, and more.