It really doesn’t get much better than this…
Richard Penniman, aka “Little Richard,” through a heat seeking missile at the pop world with his introductory album, reissued here in 2 discs with a collection of outtakes and extra takes.
At this stage, what eventually became known as “rock and roll” was essentially a New Orleans style of R&B with guys like Lloyd Price and Larry Williams slowly transitioning over to the white-pop side of life. Little Richard kept the Crescent City feel in his piano, and with the smoldering saxes of Lee Allen/ts and Red Tyler/bs he patented a swinging style all his own with his histrionic singing and cackling. It worked to perfection.
Gospel themed pieces like “Slippin’ and Slidin’” and “True Fine Mama” are secularized in meaning, but not in spirit, while Richard and company stroll their grooves on “Miss Ann” and “I Can’t Believe You Wanna Leave.” What exploded on the scene and influenced bands like the Beatles were the hard driving and frenetic “Long Tall Sally” and “Jenny Jenny” while the opening of the album, with the declaratory “Wa-wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-wop-bam-boom” grabbed you by the throat and threw you not only into the song, but the album, and the entire genre in one fell swoop. Then, a piece like “Reddy Teddy” is the apotheosis of an air tight stop-go-stop sock hopping swinger that never loses its power after 3 score years.
The album of outtakes and demos includes a piano/vocal of Richard on “Miss Ann” and “Slippin’ and Slidin” with a series of pieces from the latter that show its evolution, while extra taces of “Long Tall Sally” are simply a gas. Seek high and low for this one. Ooh, my soul!