Customer Reviews

Killer Country

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It is something of a crime that of all the music JLL recorded during his Mercury Smash years, only the country ballads charted and entered the memory of the broader cultural maintstream. Because the rock and roll he was doing when he was doing it then was among the better stuff anyone ever recorded (see his London Session Album for example).
Having said that I realize that those ballads Another Place, What Made Milwakee Famous, She Even Woke Me Up, Once More with Feeling, and Middle Age Crazy, are simply masterpieces. The range, maturity, and feeling he put into them will make them last forever.
The other cuts on this album include some great stuff, particularly if you are into the entire JLL experience, because he lets himself go and be himself in a lot of the less serious cuts, shows what can be done in mixing wildness, wisdom and yes Rock and Roll. Working Man's blues is a real work of art and gives you the idea that perhaps that Jimmie Burton who played the guitar on Haggard's version of the tune and on JLL's (and I am not sure probably produced the cut as he did several later JLL records) is the person this song really belongs to.
If you like this, you ought to find the complete Mercury recordings that include some of the greatest cuts of rock and roll, blues, and both hot and cold country amid JLL's typical wildness, vanity, and various not so bright ideas by Mercury.
Or if you want the real Lewis Experience, see if you can find the two live Albums he did for Smash: The Greatest In the years these records came out, there is no doubt that JLL was one of the greatest artists doing rock and roll, country, and blues.
This is JLL 30 years ago. That he is still out there rocking now that he is in his late sixties says something great (although it also speaks to his inability to get along with the IRS LOL)

Hey, no question, the man has played his "Killer" rock 'n roll shtick into the ground, but the real deal is that Jerry Lee Lewis at one time could sing the bejeezus out of several damn good country songs. This collection is only partly representative of his C & W best, but what's here is primo. "What Made Milwaukee Famous," "She Even Woke Me Up To Say Goodbye" and "Think About it, Darlin'" are as good a set of ballad performances as he's ever given; "Pee Wee's Place" and his hi-tooled barrel through "Me and Bobby McGee" are Jerry Lee honky-tonk classics; and his empathy with that poor "Middle Age Crazy tryin' to prove he still can" is really hard to miss. Great rock 'n roller, to be sure, but Jerry Lee Lewis is probably an even better country singer and this collection goes a long way towards proving it.

Someone mentioned the first twelve songs as being all good, and that may well be, but, for my money it's the LAST four songs that really get to me. "Who's Gonna Play This Old Piano", "Middle Age Crazy", "You're All Too Ugly Tonight", and (especially) "A Damn Good Country Song" are by all means my favorite Jerry Lee (and I absolutely love his live performances and his classic Sun songs), but it just doesn't get any better than the honesty, humor, and fine vocal form Jerry is in when he belts out these alternately soothing and seething modern country classics. Jerry Lee takes songs that in other hands might be ordinary and, by virtue of his vocal and pianistic genius, turns them into all-time country classics. I'll take a country classic by Jerry Lee against anything recorded by anyone in the last nearly two decades. They just don't make 'em like they used to, and Jerry Lee, the very spirit of rock & roll personified, created some of the greatest rock, country, AND blues recordings of all-time. How many others can lay legitimate claim to mastery of all three of these musical genres, and not only that, he turns ANY style of music he sings into Jerry Lee Lewis music. A master, a genius, a hell-raiser, and an aspiring angel with broken wings (someone once said rock & roll is where God and the Devil shake hands, but it's always difficult when the pressure to choose one OR the other is seemingly omnipresent). Nevertheless, Jerry Lee, in all his glorious hard-living raucousness, has a heart of pure, if somewhat tarnished, gold, and you can hear it in these great country songs: beautifully done, classy (in a universe where "classy" and "trashy" can peacefully co-exist), heartfelt, and honest. You can't ask for any more than that. Enjoy the genius that is Jerry Lee Lewis.

If Jerry Lee Lewis were in his prime in 2003, as opposed to the 50s and 60s, he would be one of the biggest stars in the music business going. To me, it's an absolute crime to see all the success that Johnny Cash achieved in the 90s while Jerry Lee did not. Nothing at all against Cash. He was one of the best ever. But so is Jerry Lee Lewis. If Johnny Cash can sell millions of records, why not ol' Jerry Lee?

I say this because this compilation of Jerry Lee Lewis' country hits (and misses) is every bit the equal of Cash's "Live At Folsom Prison", Merle Haggard's "Mama Tried", Elvis' comeback TV special in 1968, the Byrds' "Sweetheart of the Rodeo", or Dylan's "Nashville Skyline". This man's voice consistently puts the listener's goosebumps at strict attention, in a way that propels him beyond singers like Cash and Gram Parsons, to a level just a shade below the King himself.

Jerry Lee's recordings for Sun are tremendous, but these tracks represent the Killer on an entirely different level. For me, the first 12 songs are you-don't-need-to-hit-the-skip-button-once. His voice is at once lonely and plaintive, then turns nasty and whiskey-soaked on a dime. He hits high notes and falsettos in the middle of phrases without effort, and his piano work on many of these tracks is stellar.

Highlights include "Me & Bobbie McGee", "Another Place, Another Time", "What's Made Milwaukee Famous", "There Must Be More To Love Than This" and "The Hole He Said He'd Dig For Me". This is stellar country-rock, delivered by one of the very best in the business. It's time for another ambitious Rick Rubin-style producer to take a chance on the Killer. He's one of the last ones standing.

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

Whether you like Rock & Roll, Boogie Woogie, Blues, Country,
Gospel, Honky Tonk or whatever other kind of genuine American
music, there are probably only 2 artists in the music industry
that were brilliant in each and every kind of these styles:
Elvis and Jerry Lee and the latter fortunately is stile alive
and still playing concerts and making it a never ending story.
Without any doubt this "Killer Country" compilation is the
best Jerry Lee Lewis' C&W CD you will find on the market. It has
20 of his greatest country hits from the first 10 years of his
country performing era (1968-1977). A real must for Jerry Lee
fans and for all of those who "just" like good-old honky-tonk
C&W music. By the way, Jerry Lee will be in Spain next month
and jam that piano again being only 71 years "young" .

I would love to see The Killer live, maybe in a smokey Southern honkey tonk on a Friday night where the guys drink Blue Ribbon Beer in tall neck bottles. I never will (since my wife would kill me), but I do have "Killer Country". There is a partial touch of the mellow Nashville Sound here but don't confuse the Killer with guys like Jim Reeves or Sonny James. This is earthy, Friday Night at 3 AM stuff, after the girls have all gone home but before last call. Don't the girls always leave too early? High points are "She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye", "There Must Be More to Love Than This" and (speaking of closing time), "Another Place, Another Time". There is a raw "Pee Wee's Place", a cynical "Middle Age Crazy" and an out rightly bitter (!) "You're All Too Ugly Tonight"-you won't believe what's on the streets! This reviewer believes it because he has been there. Any one who has been drunk and alone in a bar can identify with "Killer Country". If you are horrified at that thought, pass "KC" over. The rest of us (the majority, no doubt) will appreciate Jerry Lee and his special brand of irreverence. "Killer Country" may even depress you but since when did country music have to cheer anyone up? 5 stars, 6 if amazon would permit!

I always thought The Killer was a Rock n Roll artist until I heard one of his Country tracks. O boy does he know how to tell a story. This CD is my style of Country. Every track is good and his version of 'Me And Bobby McGee' is as good as any I have heard despite what others have said of it.

The ballads on this disc are very good. Some of the
faster songs really aren't that good. The second half
of the disc really doesn't have that much to offer
besides "Middle Age Crazy".

Not a bad Cd but not one that a person can't live without

THIS ALBUM IS AWESOME, IF YOU'RE A JERRY LEE FAN AND/OR A COUNTRY FAN (ESPECIALLY '70'S COUNTRY) YOU'VE GOTTA HAVE THIS CD. I HAVE THE TAPE AND LITERALLY WORE IT OUT BY PLAYING IT OVER AND OVER AGAIN.