Recording
Although competent, the remakes on The Golden Hits of Jerry Lee Lewis could never measure up to the magic found on his early Sun sides. In his book Jerry Lee Lewis: Lost and Found, biographer Joe Bonomo writes at length about the album's shortcomings: "The results were anemic and odd, even four decades down the line. The opening 25 seconds of 'Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On,' the first number tackled by Jerry Lee at the sessions, reveal the nature of the problem: so crude and essential as recorded by Jack Clement in 1957, the song is garlanded in Nashville with crispy-EQ'ed hi-hat percussion, an intrusive walking electric bass, and a syncopated rhythm guitar that feels like an annoying kid brother tagging along looking for some hijinks. The reverb applied to Jerry Lee's voice sounds contrived and artificial after Sam Phillips hands-on magic at 706 Union, and sweetened with chirpy female backing singers who were meant to complement but end up sounding as if they'd wandered into the wrong party." In an 2019 interview with Randy Fox of Vintage Rock, producer Jerry Kennedy lamented, "Jerry Lee was great in the studio, but to be honest, I felt we were desecrating something sacred. I've always been a fan of the original Sun recordings, and I've never felt remakes can match the magic of the originals."
Jerry Lee Lewis was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Nicknamed "the Killer", he was described as "rock & roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis made his first recordings in 1952 at Cosimo Matassa's J&M Studio in New Orleans, Louisiana, and early recordings in 1956 at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee. "Crazy Arms" sold 300,000 copies in the South, and his 1957 hit "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" shot Lewis to fame worldwide. He followed this with the major hits "Great Balls of Fire", "Breathless", and "High School Confidential". His rock and roll career faltered in the wake of his marriage to Myra Gale Brown, his 13-year-old cousin once removed.
Otis Blackwell was an American songwriter whose work influenced rock and roll. His compositions include "Fever", "Great Balls of Fire" and "Breathless", "Don't Be Cruel", "All Shook Up" and "Return to Sender", and "Handy Man".
"Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" is a song written by Dave "Curlee" Williams and sometimes also credited to James Faye "Roy" Hall. The song was first recorded by Big Maybelle, though the best-known version is the 1957 rock and roll/rockabilly version by Jerry Lee Lewis.
Class of '55: Memphis Rock & Roll Homecoming is a collaborative studio album by Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, and Johnny Cash. It was released on May 26, 1986, by America/Smash Records, a subsidiary of Polygram Records. The album was produced by Chips Moman.
Jerry Lee Lewis is the debut album by American musician and rock and roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis, released in 1958 on Sun Records.
The Sun Records Collection is a 1994 compilation album released by Rhino Records, compiling some of the finest recordings of the label Sun Records.
Great Balls of Fire! is a 1989 American biographical drama film directed by Jim McBride and starring Dennis Quaid as rockabilly pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis. Based on a biography by Myra Lewis and Murray M. Silver Jr., the screenplay is written by McBride and Jack Baran. The film is produced by Adam Fields, with executive producers credited as Michael Grais, Mark Victor, and Art Levinson.
Last Man Standing Live is an album recorded live 2006, by Jerry Lee Lewis in cooperation with other musicians. Released March 2007.
All Killer, No Filler: The Anthology is a 1993 box set collecting 42 songs by rock and roll and rockabilly pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis from the mid-1950s to the 1980s, including 27 charting hits. The album has been critically well received. In 2003, Rolling Stone listed the album at #245 in its list of "Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time", maintaining its rating in a 2012 revised list, and dropping to #325 in the 2020 update. Country Music: The Rough Guide indicated that "[t]his is the kind of full-bodied, decades-spanning treatment that Lewis's long, diverse career more than well deserves."
This is a detailed discography for American rock and roll, country, and gospel singer-songwriter Jerry Lee Lewis. One of the pioneers of rockabilly, Lewis had recorded over 40 albums in a career spanning seven decades. Lewis is a versatile artist, and has recorded songs in multiple genres. Lewis, in 1986, was one of the first inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and was the last surviving rock and roll pioneer of Sun Records. Some of his best known songs are "Great Balls of Fire", "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On", and "High School Confidential". His album, Live at the Star Club, Hamburg, is widely considered one of the greatest live concert albums ever. In his lengthy career in music, Lewis has had 30 songs reach the top ten on the "Billboard Country-and-Western" chart. Lewis was regarded as one of the greatest and most influential pianists of the rock and roll era, and was ranked number 24 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".
"High School Confidential" is a 1958 song written by Jerry Lee Lewis and Ron Hargrave as the title song of the MGM movie of the same name directed by Jack Arnold.
"Breathless" is a song composed by Otis Blackwell. It was the third record by Jerry Lee Lewis, whose version was released in February 1958 on Sun Records. It spent 15 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at #7 in April 1958. The song also reached #4 on the country chart, #3 on the R&B chart, and #8 in the UK. The B-side, "Down the Line", also charted in 1958, reaching #51 on the Billboard pop singles chart. It was re-released in 1979 as part of the Sun Records Golden Treasure Series as Sun #25 and on the Quality label in Canada in 1958. The song was also featured in the 1983 film Breathless starring Richard Gere and Valerie Kaprisky along with the Jerry Lee Lewis song "High School Confidential".
The Return of Rock is the fourth album by Jerry Lee Lewis released on the Smash label in 1965.
The Session...Recorded in London with Great Artists is a double album by Jerry Lee Lewis released on Mercury Records in 1973. It was recorded in London and features Lewis teaming up with British musicians, including Peter Frampton and Albert Lee.
The Greatest Live Show on Earth is a live album by the pianist and rock and roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis. It was released on Smash Records in 1964.
The Golden Cream of the Country is the 12th album by Jerry Lee Lewis. It was released by the Sun Record Company in 1969.
Original Golden Hits, Vol. 1 is an album by Jerry Lee Lewis released on the Sun Record Company in 1969.
"Baby, Hold Me Close" is a song written by Jerry Lee Lewis and Bob Tubert and released as a single by Lewis in the U.S. in February 1965 on Smash Records. The song was also released in the UK in 1965 as a 45 single on Philips Records.
The Rock & Roll Story, is an album by Conway Twitty, released in 1960. It contains covers of major rock and roll hits from the late 1950s.
Young Blood is the 38th studio album by Jerry Lee Lewis released in 1995. Musicians included James Burton on lead guitar, Buddy Harman and Andy Paley on drums, and Al Anderson and Kenny Lovelace on guitar.
