The Smiley Smile Message Board

Happy birthday, Mr. Penniman!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bEmJW2sOUs

A true american original. 8)

I'm glad the pioneers like Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, and Jerry Lee Lewis survived and lived long lives so they could hopefully enjoy the praise and recognition they deserve.

He's definitely one of the greatest of early Rock&Roll. A true innovator, but not the best, as he likes to insist.  I'm reading his biography right now. I have an original 1983 edition that ends with him retiring. I'm not quite sure what to make of it.  :o

I agree Jay he may not be THE best but he is right up there.

Agreed, while I like Chuck Berry and I think Elvis is the greater all-round singer, for me, Little Richard is the single greatest rock and roll singer ever and will never be bettered in that field. He is rock and roll personified, outrageous, honest, spiritually/ sexually conflicted, simple but complex and with a big heart.

Lucille is imo probably his greatest, but I also love the less well known balled, Directly From My Heart To You, later covered superbly by Frank Zappa in the late '60s.

Richard's 'Wooo!' is the ultimate sound of rock and roll, copied by the Beatles and many others.

For me, Little Richard's records of the '50s, when everything's factored in - song, vocal and instrumental performance, production, engineering - still have more punch and visceral impact than anything else from that time. I think Chuck Berry's "Johnnie B. Goode" was the song Carl Sagan chose to be encoded on that thingy NASA sent out to Alpha Centauri or wherever.  But if I was looking to shock, awe, and impress the li'l green guys, "Keep A-Knockin'" is what I would have on there. No need for a backup tune. None at all.

I see a quite direct line from the production on Little Richard's records to Uncle Phil's Wall Of Sound to Brian's 1960s work. 

And the Dylan quote above reminds me that when he put down his career ambition for his high school yearbook, he didn't say he wanted to be Chuck Berry, he said he wanted to be Little Richard. He was playing piano, auditioning for Bobby Vee, before he ended up in college and those pinko folkies got him to take up geetar.

May Mr Penniman reach 90, then 100, then 120, as far as he can go, because I was born into a world where "Keep A-Knockin'" was blaring out of every radio, and I'd like to die in one where, somewhere, he's tearin' up that tune before a joyful crowd.

 I was lucky enough to see him play live in '76 before he entered his second temporary retirement from secular music. I seem to recall Lee Allen and some older bald guy playing saxes with him. He pulled up kids from the crowd and had them dance onstage. It was everything you'd hope a Little Richard set would be. Then it was time for him to leave, and the headliner came on....Uriah Heep.  (The very first band that night - Down Under SS'ers would recall them - was Skyhooks.)

And why for heaven's sake isn't this man recieving Kennedy Center Honors? I remember Richard singing for Chuck Berry when he was honored back in 2000. Chuck was visibly moved. I'm sure he would return the favor if they ever honor Richard. For pure visceral excitement, it's hard to top Good Golly Miss Molly, Keep a-Knockin', or Lucille. Glad he is still with us.

His 50s records hits are great but some of them sound dated. Although you can't beat "Lucille""Tutti frutti""Rip it up" and such, I like some of his 60s and 70s material better. His version of Hank Williams' "I'm so lonesome I could cry" is one of the best I've ever heard.

And this one is a favorite as well:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PIp4E9E6YI

The Big Five of that era -- Chuck, Elvis, Jerry Lee, Buddy, and Little Richard -- all contributed mightily to what followed.  For his androgynous, outrageous sexuality alone Mr. Penniman was a trailblazer.  And his showmanship.  Although he like the others is also part of a line -- one we can hardly follow in the pre-video ages. But he is definitely the one and the only.

Here are two lesser known ones I like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uad_QsCrTJQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4N1KInMPDs

Shut up!

I think I would put Fats Domino in that list before Buddy. He was cutting records that could be called rock and roll before any of these guys, had a long list of hits, great songs that were hit records. I have to include Carl Perkins as a personal favorite on my list of pioneer rockers. But I think the top 3 have gotta be Richard, Chuck, and Elvis.

Can't disagree on Fats but Buddy's influence was pretty big. Elvis of course was the biggest culturally and arguably musically, but of all of them I put number one as Chuck Berry.  His writing and music set the scene for Dylan and the Stones just for starters.

What about Bo Diddley? Bill Haley?

Well, Fats' influence probably was the biggest of all of them becaue Richard, Elvis, etc. have all cited Fats' as an influence.
All in all I think it's just as useless to make a top 5 as it is to try to call any record the first Rock'n'Roll recording; it's just not possible.

My off the cuff remark of a "Big 5" was not meant as definitive and even if it was so what.  We're just shooting the breeze here!  Nonetheless, my comment was based on my perception of the influence and popularity of major players from the early rock and roll era.  I completely acknowledge the importance of Fats, Bo, and Bill Haley.  We can make it a Big 8 if you like!

  "The Big 10": Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly, Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bill Haley, The Everly Bros, Carl Perkins

 "Freedom Blues" (1970) was Little Richard's best post-Specialty rock & roll record IMO.

And of course the Everly's....

Why the harsh sound? Didn't try to put you down or something.

I think we can ALL agree on that! Bill Haley is sometimes viewed as a one hit act these days, but he had others; and Rock Around the Clock, correctly or not, was long percieved to be the record that kicked off the revolution.

No harshness intended -- sometimes things don't translate well in these places.  I was trying to be breezy but see how it didn't come out like that.  Sorry bout that.

I see. No problem. I know what you mean. It's not that rare for my posts to not come across how they are meant.

Just my opinion, but I'd say Little Richard was the most influential of those early guys.  He also kind of 'owns' that period.  Look at the other guys mentioned:

Elvis - Elvis grew up, got fat, had different 'eras', had the comeback special, had the completely different style in the 70's, etc.  Elvis had longevity

Fats Domino - nothing about Fats is Rock & Roll.  I know he helped craft the sound, but he's not Rock & Roll, he's much more blues. 

Buddy Holly - Buddy passed away so early he didn't get much chance to innovate or give much to us in the time he was here.

Jerry Lee - although he had that great country career and is still kickin' ass, and was influential early, he kind of flamed out early too.

chuck Berry - I love me some Chuck Berry but hell his stuff from the 60's was better! 

When you think "1950's Rock & Roll" nobody embodies that more than Little Richard.  Some don't simply because they did stuff in the 60's and 70's, but he's the only one (besides Buddy) who seems stuck there, like that's his place.  You've all seen it, countless other musicians who's said he was their inspiration.  Everybody likes all these guys, but I've seen Little Richard mentioned much more often as being an artists reason for getting into the business. 

Plus there's the Beatles card.  The Beatles idolized him, and they were the most influential band of all time, his style lived through them. 

Long Tall Sally, she, built sweet.

Oh, and a quick story: I wanted one of his greatest hits CD's one time so I was at a record store, picked one up.  Popped it in, yeah! Man! This is great!  Now I've listened to Little Richard my whole life, I know all those songs.  When I got to about the 5th track, I noticed that it sounded cleaner than I remembered.  Knowing that it had to be old as hell, I couldn't figure out how they could have gotten it to sound so clean... so I looked in the booklet... the entire CD had been re-recorded in the mid 90's!  This motherfucker re-recorded all his songs (like lots of acts do) and did it so spot-on, well into his 60's, that it sounded almost indistinguishable from the stuff he recorded when he was 20.  "Jenny Jenny Jenny"... almost exactly the same.  "Good Golly Miss Molly"... almost exactly the same. 

sometimes I think when he and Jerry Lee die, all the radios will stop working or something dramatic.  I mean surely to god whatever makes Rock & Roll work has to be contingent on them being with us.  Our grandkids aren't even going to believe we lived with these people walking around amongst us, in the future people like Little Richard will be GODS that we build temples to. 

I'm not familiar with that particular re-recorded cd, although he did countless remakes of his hits during his comeback attempt in the 60s'. I do, however, have a recording of Good Golly Miss Molly from the film King Ralph, and Richard is just as compelling and convincing on that remake as he was on the original. He did quite a few recordings for movies in the 80's, 90's and 00's, there's some great stuff there. My favorite is Elevator Operator - I don't recall the film, but the song is on youtube.

I never understood why all of the older guys re-recorded all of their material. It makes things exceedingly confusing if you're trying to collect a complete discography.

Most "cheap" best-ofs I've seen of him feature those re-recordings. They are really great.




There are different reasons. One might be the change to another label and the first thing back then was to put out a best of (with titles as "Golden hits", etc.) on the new label. But since the new label didn't have the rights to the older recordings the artist re-recorded them.

Of course there are other reasons as well. Jerry Lee re-recorded some of his biggest in '88 for the "Great balls of fire"-movie and - hands down - he sang the sh!t out of those and bettered his original recordings. He re-recorded songs all through his carreer though.



That said, I have to respectfully disagree with you, Ron. I guess I see your point but I just can't agree with it.

The original recordings, they don't get anything from.  If you buy an original Little Richard album he gets 0 from it, because the record company owned the publishing rights, and he sold the songwriting rights. 

If he re-records an album, he still doesn't own the songwriting rights, but he owns (or the record company) the publishing rights for the new material.  So every album that sells, he gets a piece of. 

John Denver did a really good one about a month before he died, he re-recorded all his hits in 2 days at a studio at his home, then had a second CD of later material that I assume he may have still owned.  It's sad to hear though, although he was still a great singer, his voice had lost all of it's optimism, and youth, and happiness that was all over the original records.  Now they all sounded bittersweet and sad.  Probably my favorite re-recordings, though.

Here are some of those re-recordings:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wARtmuX3IRk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYr7I4gOSXk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMY4tNBGixg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j20_6WwF59Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc_F3PaYgl0


and something rare as hell:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PX3CDY2XJQw


and a nice TV report plus song from the 90s:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doq42dU4F6E

That is some smokin' stuff there! Just a theory here: Richard spent the late 70's and early 80's traveling as an evangelist and singing gospel. Gradually eased his way back into show biz after his book came out. Maybe the fact that he hadn't sung those songs in so long made him appreciate them more when he finally came back to rock and roll. Most of his peers had been traveling the oldies circuit, singing the same songs night after night, year after year. I got to see one of his comeback shows in 1989 at Bumbershoot in Seattle. When he came out and started playing the piano, and went into Good Golly Miss Molly, it was like an explosion going off! He still had it.

I don't know. Jerry Lee sounded just as good when he re-recorded his songs for the "Great balls of fire" movie in '88

Jerry Lee made vital music in the 60s and 70s and into the 80s -- of course a lot of it was in the country vein.  I saw him circa 1977 in south FL at a county fair type thing.  There were a mix of fans -- some old rock and rollers, then country music types, and just passerby.  Perhaps a handful of younger appreciators like me you might also see at a Kinks or Elvis Costello show (or Beach Boys!).  Anyway I mention this, because for about two thirds of the gig Jerry lee was on cruise control -- phoning it in which was still good.  Then during "Me and Bobby McGee" as he played the solo, he kept it going round after round, building it frantically and going places I have never heard a piano player go (okay barring Terry Adams).  For the next few songs it was some of the most transcendent music I have ever heard.  Then "Whole Lotta Shakin'" and goodbye.

Loved the book "Hellfire" by Nick Tosches btw, which captured perfectly his energy and aura and karma.  And I'd say Little Richard has a similar if less dark complexity.  Both are indispensable.

Pretty amazing the age he did those re-recordings in.  Wow, now I gotta go dig that c.d. out and put it in my car again. 

Ok, here's the million dollar question. Who did Lucky Old Sun better, Brian or Jerry Lee? My vote goes to Jerry Lee.  8)

Jerry Lee's '88 version is the best I've heard so far. Fantastic piano playing on that, too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbU-eTPYKbM


@Aum Bop Diddit:
Thanks for your report! Even in his drunkest form the Killer can blow away everyone and everything. It's remarkable. I don't think that most people really appreciate or understand what talent that boy has.

It's been up on youtube for some years but did any of you guys see this Little Richard show from '66? Anyone know the correct running order?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRSBh5ddlbA