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| The Golden Cream of the Country | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Compilation album by | ||||
| Released | 1969 | |||
| Recorded | Memphis, Tennessee | |||
| Genre | Country | |||
| Length | 26:56 | |||
| Label | Sun | |||
| Producer | Shelby Singleton | |||
| Jerry Lee Lewis chronology | ||||
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The Golden Cream of the Country is the 12th album by Jerry Lee Lewis. It was released by the Sun Record Company in 1969.
In June 1969, Sun Records founder Sam Phillips sold the entire Sun catalog to Shelby Singleton, which included a treasure trove of unreleased Lewis recordings. With Jerry Lee's rebirth as a country star for Smash Records, Singleton began releasing these older songs and packaged them in such a way that many buyers assumed they were recent recordings. Under the terms of the deal between Singleton and Phillips, the Sun International Corporation was formed with Phillips as a minority share holder, ensuring that Phillips would continue to get a piece of the pie and that the Sun name would remain relevant. As Colin Escott observes in his essay for the 1986 retrospective The Killer: The Smash/Mercury Years, "After only seeing two Sun albums by Jerry Lee Lewis between 1957 and 1969, the market was suddenly flooded with three or four a year and even more recycled into budget compilations on Pickwick Records." Consequently, Lewis found himself competing with his own past. Much like Johnny Cash, his masters had also been a part of the Singleton/Phillips deal. Singleton would milk these unreleased recordings for years, following The Golden Cream of the Country with A Taste of Country later in 1970.
"The Killer" was so hot in 1970 that Singleton issued one of Lewis's latter unreleased Sun recordings, "One Minute Past Eternity", as a single and it climbed to number two on the country chart, following on the heels of Lewis's recent Mercury smash "She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye". The album also includes two songs by Hank Williams, one of Lewis's biggest influences, as well as the George Jones-penned "Seasons of My Heart," which Jerry Lee performs as a duet with his sister Linda Gail Lewis.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Invitation to Your Party" | Bill Taylor | 1:54 |
| 2. | "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)" | Hank Williams | 1:58 |
| 3. | "Ramblin' Rose" | 3:17 | |
| 4. | "Cold, Cold Heart" | Williams | 3:05 |
| 5. | "As Long as I Live" | Dorsey Burnette | 2:25 |
| 6. | "Seasons of My Heart" (with Linda Gail Lewis) |
| 2:59 |
| 7. | "One Minute Past Eternity" |
| 2:02 |
| 8. | "I Can't Trust Me in Your Arms Anymore" |
| 2:11 |
| 9. | "Frankie and Johnny" | Traditional (Arranged by Jerry Lee Lewis) | 2:32 |
| 10. | "Home" | Roger Miller | 1:57 |
| 11. | "How's My Ex Treating You" | McAplin | 2:36 |
| Total length: | 26:56 | ||
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Nicknamed the Killer, he has been described as "rock n' roll's first great wild man and one of the most influential pianists of the 20th century." A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis made his first recordings in 1956 at Sun Records in Memphis. "Crazy Arms" sold 300,000 copies in the South, but it was his 1957 hit "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" that shot Lewis to fame worldwide. He followed this with the major hits "Great Balls of Fire", "Breathless", and "High School Confidential". However, his rock and roll career faltered in the wake of his marriage to Myra Gale Brown, his 13-year-old cousin.
Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee in February 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash. Prior to that, Sun had concentrated mainly on African-American musicians because Phillips loved rhythm and blues and wanted to bring it to a white audience.
Sun Studio is a recording studio opened by rock-and-roll pioneer Sam Phillips at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, on January 3, 1950. It was originally called Memphis Recording Service, sharing the same building with the Sun Records label business. Reputedly the first rock and roll single, Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats' "Rocket 88" was recorded there in 1951 with song composer Ike Turner on keyboards, leading the studio to claim status as the birthplace of rock & roll. Blues and R&B artists like Howlin' Wolf, Junior Parker, Little Milton, B.B. King, James Cotton, Rufus Thomas, and Rosco Gordon recorded there in the early 1950s.
Shelby Sumpter Singleton, Jr. was an American record producer and record label owner.
"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.
Another Place, Another Time is the eighth album by musician Jerry Lee Lewis, released in 1968 on Smash Records. It was Lewis's "comeback album" and features a stripped down, "hardcore" country sound that yielded two top 5 country hits, the icon's first major chart success in a decade.
She Still Comes Around is the ninth album by Jerry Lee Lewis. It was released on Smash Records in 1969.
Together is an duet album by Jerry Lee Lewis and his sister Linda Gail Lewis. The album was released in 1969 on the Smash record label.
She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye is the 13th album by pianist and singer Jerry Lee Lewis. It was released on Mercury Records in 1970.
Sings the Country Music Hall of Fame Hits, Vol. 1 is the 10th album by Jerry Lee Lewis released on Smash Records in 1969.
Sings the Country Music Hall of Fame Hits, Vol. 2 is the 11th album by Jerry Lee Lewis released on Smash Records in 1969.
A Taste of Country is a compilation album by Jerry Lee Lewis, released on the Sun Record Company label in 1970.
The Golden Hits of Jerry Lee Lewis is the third studio album by musician Jerry Lee Lewis that was released on Smash Records in 1964. It was Lewis's first album with the label after leaving Sun Records.
Soul My Way is the seventh album by Jerry Lee Lewis released on the Smash label in 1967.
Country Songs for City Folks is the fifth studio album by Jerry Lee Lewis released on the Smash label in 1965.
The Killer Rocks On is an album by Jerry Lee Lewis that was released on Mercury Records in 1972.
Original Golden Hits, Vol. 1 is an album by Jerry Lee Lewis released on the Sun Record Company in 1969.
"End of the Road" is a song written and performed by musician Jerry Lee Lewis. Recorded in 1956, and released as a single in December of that year on Sun Records, the single was backed with Lewis' cover of the Ray Price song "Crazy Arms". The recording was reissued in 1979 as a 7" 45 single as Sun 14 as part of the Sun Golden Treasure Series. The song was also released in Canada in 1956 as a 45 single on Quality Records.
"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.
"I Can't Seem to Say Goodbye" is a song written by Don Robertson and originally recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis during his time with Sun Records.
