Thursday, September 09, 2010

Mean Old Man -- Jerry Lee Lewis

I like the title of this new CD, which is also the name of the first track, and I like just about every song on it. Who but Jerry Lee Lewis could put together a line-up of collaborators like the ones here. There are Rolling Stones. There's a Beatle. There's Eric Clapton, Slash, John Fogerty, Willie Nelson, and lots of others.

Let's get the bad news out of the way first. Lewis's song with Fogerty, "Bad Moon Rising," flops. Lewis sounds almost bored, and the song lacks the driving energy that it has in the original. That being said, there's plenty of driving energy to go around, and it shows up in a fine rendition of "Whiskey River" and a pounding "Rockin' My Life Away." "Sweet Virgina" and "Dead Flowers" are fine, too, and when Jerry Lee reprises his big hit "Middle Age Crazy," it's at least as good as the original. Maybe better because he sounds so much wearier now.

Jerry Lee Lewis was there when rock 'n' roll was born, and 55 years down the line, he's still capable of showing the whippersnappers how it's done. Great stuff.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I didn't want to mention it until it was a fait accompli, but...we've been wanting to see Million Dollar Quartet since it opened on Broadway. Apparently, after the show ends the cast does a "jam session" with occasional guests.

Tomorrow night's announced guest is The Killer himself, so we are trying to get half-priced tickets (they've been available every day) for the show.

Can't wait.

Jeff

PS - the CD sounds pretty good.

Unknown said...

Good luck. I hope that if you get the tickets and the Killer shows up, he puts on a good show.

Todd Mason said...

And who would've begun to guess that Lewis would be the Survivor of the Quartet...or for that matter of the whole Sun Records gang?

Anonymous said...

OK - ordered the CD.

Will let you know on the tickets.

Jeff