Killer Country Customer Review: A Curious Mix For Sure
Believe me when I say that there is no bigger fan of Jerry Lee Lewis than I. I have everything he put to vinyl (and new stuff on CD since) and am always on the lookout for something either new or previously unreleased. However, like some of the other reviewers I’m sort of ambivalent when it comes to this CD. I can’t be my usual hyper-critical self in attacking it for including non-hits from his country years at Mercury since, after all, it doesn’t offer itself as a “best of” or “greatest hits” compilation.
And yet, when you consider that he chalked up 35 charters for Mercury and their Smash subsidiary between his first in 1964 [Pen And Paper - # 36 Country] and his last for that label combination in 1982 [I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry - # 43 Country in 1982], you’d think they could have provided a hit for each track instead of including the likes of uncharted B-sides like Walking The Floor Over You [which backed Another Place Another Time in 1968], and Jack Daniels Old No. 7 which was the flip of No Headstone On My Grave - a # 60 Country in 1973 and itself omitted here.
Also, indifferent non-charters which weren’t even the flips of hits, like The Hole He Said He’d Dig For Me, Waitin’ For A Train [the 1970 hit version was done while at Sun and released in 1970 to go to # 11 Country b/w the wicked Big Legged Woman], and You’re All Too Ugly Tonight, could have been left off in favour of selections like Pen And Paper, Would You Take Another Chance On Me? - the A-side to Me And Bobby McGee and a # 1 Country in 1971/72, and - a real hard-to-find Jerry Lee country hit - I Can Still Hear The Music In The Restroom - # 13 in 1975.
Then again, they do include probably the best version ever recorded of Merle Haggard’s Workin’ Man Blues, and the pounding Pee Wee’s Place - both of which SHOULD have charted. Also, there are three pages of informative liner notes written by Colin Escott covering his Mercury/Smash years, although they do not provide a discography of the contents.
It’s hard for this die-hard JLL fan not to award 5 stars, but the fact remains this compilation could have been so much better.
Customer Review: Jerry Lee - The Original and Only Killer !
Back in 1969 I was 15 years old. I lied my age and got a job working on a National Brewery Beer truck making deliveries in the west Baltimore section of that city. At the end of the work day the Driver I worked with stopped at a joint on West Baltimore St to fill out the manifest, the name of the place was “Fred’s Sports Bar”. While waiting I would drink pony bottled of National and play the juke box. In 1969 there was a lot of good Country out. I remember many of my favorates like “Never more quote the Raven” by Stonewall Jackson or “I got stripes” by Johnny but what I dug the most was Jerry Lee Lewis who in ‘69 was pure honky tonk country. I was already a huge fan of Jerry’s Rock & Roll music and had many good 45’s and LP’s but when I first heard stuff like “What’s made Milwaukee famous (has made a loser out of me) I was again hooked on the Killer. Being a die hard Classic Country and Western Swing fan I thought Jerry was right up there with the likes of Bob Wills and Moon Mulligan (Jerry’s own original idol). This set is so Outstanding that 5 stars don’t cut it. Those country hits he did while at Mercury are some of the Best Country ever recorded. If you are even just a Rock fan of Jerry’s you will love this collection as do the rest of us Hillbillys!
“Enjoy” Joe Kopeck Parkville/MD