Customer Reviews

Room Full of Roses / Gilley's Smokin

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Mickey Gilley, the piano-plunking cousin of rock'n'roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis, languished in the bottom rungs of the country scene for over a decade before the hits started coming in the mid-1970s. He had Jerry Lee's same lusty, boozy, down-home sound, but added a note of bluesy sincerity, and was a superior balladeer. This long-overdue twofer CD reissues two of his best albums made for the independent Playboy label (and later relicensed by Columbia) in the 1974 and '76. "Room Full Of Roses" is a delicious set of old country standards, such as "Faded Love," "Room Full Of Roses" and "I Overlooked An Orchid," delivered in a wry yet heartfelt style -- Gilley was a real good ole boy country singer who was also a sex-drenched '70s swinger, and this dual world view combined perfectly when singing these old-fashioned cheatin' songs. He also excelled at raunchy novelty material like "Plastic Saddle" or, on the "Smokin' " album, gems such as "Don't The Girls All Get Prettier At Closing Time" and "How's My Ex Treating You." If you want to check out Mickey Gilley at his absolute peak, snap this disc up as fast as you can

I've got both of these albums on wax. I'm glad to see them out on CD. Mickey Gilley, and his producer Eddie Kilroy, hit gold in the 70's with a Jerry Lee Lewis sound-alike formula on these albums. Mickey's version of Merle Haggard's "Swinging Doors" is far and away the best I've ever heard.