Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Should've been 4 discs - but great anyway!, June 23, 2006
Fantastic looking, excellent presentation, great contents and - overall - a fine summary of JLL's career.
..although there are a few 'buts'...
The Time-Life VP's introductory remark that there has 'never been a truly definitive JLL anthology' is, of course, nonsense and, leaving aside the obvious attraction of the 1952 recordings, this collection bears some comparison with an essentially similar project called ..er... 'The Jerry Lee Lewis Anthology' (aka 'All Killer No Filler') produced by Rhino in 1993. (Albeit the actual marketing is, of course, pitched at a different level, so one can perhaps forgive this 'oversight'). Rhino have, of course, also overseen this Time-Life issue, and the 1993 set would have made a good starting point for this project in terms of track selection, i.e. the 2 discs of 'All Killer No Filler' could have been complemented effectively by much of the third in the new collection.
To some of the particulars. Another reviewer has already commented on the absence of 'She Still Comes Around' and, as was the case with Universal's recent "Definitive Collection", another of Jerry Lee's biggest hits on Mercury, 'Touching Home' is yet again forgotten. Moreover, this set goes further and overlooks another #1 from the same era, 'Would You Take Another Chance On Me'. The collection is, in fact, hopelessly short of living up to the billing of including '..every JLL Top 20 Pop & Country Hit'. In truth, the only way of accommodating all the hits, and retaining the existing balance of lesser known tracks, would have been to expand the set to four discs with two CDs covering the Mercury era, thus also allowing for better coverage of the 'locust years' from '63 to '67, which are represented by a miserly total of four tracks. So this all begs the question 'why doesn't `A Half Century of Hits' include 4 discs?' - the packaging is consistent with a 4-disc set, and who would have begrudged another $8 or so on the list price?
But it goes beyond bizarre that the 'air-brush' has, far more seriously, been applied to 'Crazy Arms' - not simply excluded from the track list, but even ignored in the text. After 50 years we are now told that 'End of the Road' was JLL's first record. Period. No mention whatsoever of 'Crazy Arms'. This is tantamount to saying that Elvis' first record was "Blue Moon of Kentucky" making no mention whatsoever of "That's All Right, Mama", and who would think to do that?
I also think it unfortunate that in an essay spread over more than thirty pages no room could be found for a mention of Kenneth Lovelace, who has served loyally at Jerry Lee's side for no fewer than forty years of this 'Half-Century of Hits', both on stage and in the studio. Kenny is probably far too modest and unassuming to worry about it, but it is an unfortunate oversight to say the least. I suspect, however, that Colin Escott's words have been rather crudely edited at various points in his text.
These gripes apart, though, overall it is a fantastic collection. Terrific value for money!
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23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best concise career retrospective available, June 18, 2006
Time-Life managed to pull off a great feat by putting together a set that will not only be pleasing to the casual fan, but will also appeal to the die-hard JLL collectors. It consists of three disks, each focusing on a particular phase in his career.
The first disk consists of recordings from his 1956-1963 stint at Sun studios, where he became the biggest rock star this side of Elvis. The inclusion of the religious discussion is a nice touch. But the ommission of his first single, "Crazy Arms" and the instumental of "in The Mood" in favor of the so-so cuts "Night Train to memphis" and "I'm Feeling Sorry" is a bit puzzling. The last three, more country-oriented singles at the end of this disk make for a nice lead in to the second disk and phase of his career, the Smash/Mercury years.
Disk two contains what is probably the best single-disk collection of his smash/mercury era recordings I've ever heard. Its a great mix of his rockers and hard-lived country recordings, and doesn't skip over any of the hits. Its clear why the original vocals he recorded for "A Damn Good country Song" weren't used; his voice was in horrible shape. But in some strange way, they fit the song very well and it was a treat for time-life to include this version in the set.
The third disk is the true jem of this set- The Electra recordings! Just about every cut on this disk has been out of print for a while. It covers his stint at Electra and Sire records (and gracefully skips over the mediocre MCA sessions). I believe some of the Killers best work was from the three electra albums, and this disk has all the best cuts from them. While the killer had more or less passed his prime by the time he made the sire records, they prove he still has a ton of talent to share with the world. The final two tracks are the much-hyped New Orleans acetate sides he made for himself as a teenager. "Don't Stay Away" shows that Jerry was ready to shake up the world long before he made the trip to Memphis. What I found most interesting was the flip side- his "New Orleans Boogie". He became completely engrossed in the energy generated by the music and let the beat slip away from him several times. It painted a vivid picture of a young rebel who refused to be tamed by society's rules- the world's original punk rocker!
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jerry Lee Lewis - The Greatest of Them All, June 16, 2006
Thanks to Amazon I received this fantasic new release here in Scotland just two days after it came out in America.
It is only right that Jerry Lee Lewis - the greatest of them all - has been chosen to inauguarate Time Life's "Legends of American Music" series.
The biggest hits of Jerry's 50 year career are here together with a some never before seen Lewis family photographs.
54 years ago a seventeen year old Jerry and his friend from schooldays - Cecil Harellson - made a trip from Ferriday Louisiana to New Orleans. While there Cecil paid two dollars to cut a "demo" record. Cecil kept this "dub" and Time Life have made these two tracks available for the first time along with some later previously unreleased material.
Jerry Lee Lewis fans worldwide never ever thought that we would be able to hear Jerry's first ever recording. This is history!
The Boogie Jerry cut in New Orleans is fantastic - I have played it more than 100 times since receiving the package.
It is amazing to think that we can now hear a recording that Jerry made in 1952 - four years before he signed up with Sun Records in Memphis and went on to record all the million sellers.
This record is worth its weight in Gold!
Thank you Time Life and thank you Amazon for your excellent courier air service.
Graham Knight
Graham@knightsaberdeen.com
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~ Jerry Lee Lewis
~ Jerry Lee Lewis
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by Jerry Lee Lewis 
