#95: Jerry Lee Lewis - Live at the Star Club, Hamburg (1965)

Lewis is also known as the Killer and his compilation "All Killer, No Filler" is one of Rolling Stone Magazine's top 500 albums of all time. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of fame. However, he is widely known for marrying his young cousin, which put a giant kink in his career. The music that he made throughout his life has proven that despite any social context around which he lives his life - he's one of the best in his field.

Money (That's What I Want)
This track stands out as one of the better tracks on the album just because it's one of the best written songs. I still prefer the Beatles version to Lewis', but Lewis does a wonderful job with it putting his own spin on it. At some point, I'll definitely cover this song and this will be my blueprint.

What'd I Say
What this does is take Ray Charles' original and strip all of the blues away - filling it back in with more rock and roll. While there may have been sexual innuendo in the original, this does not mask it at all it's much more aggressive.

Great Balls of Fire
It's a great piano part, driving blues line, and lyrics that don't necessarily mean anything... but it's just got a ton of attitude. I'm sure you've heard it, but in a live setting it does incredibly well. It's Lewis at his finest. It feels like other songs on this album are trying to recreate the magic that this song provides and while I don't believe that is the case I think this is just the culmination of a perfect Jerry Lee Lewis song.

All in all, it's a good album, I enjoyed it. It's nothing I would listen to over and over, but it's good to hear Lewis in a live setting. Hearing other covers such as 'Good Golly Miss Molly' and 'Hound Dog' really expands his appeal to me. While he sticks in his style of rock and roll piano and doesn't stray too far away from it, he has truly mastered his style of playing. If there ever becomes a point for me to study early rock and roll piano, Jerry Lee Lewis will be the first guy I look towards.

Tomorrow's album: KT Tunstall's Drastic Fantastic.