Search - Jerry Lee Lewis :: The Locust Years and The Return To The Promised Land

The Forgotten Bluesman

06/29/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The later work of Jerry Lee Lewis is among the the greatest music ever made.His 1963 - 1969 years (which this truly superb box set covers) reveal the only really blues-based white rocker of the '50s revolutionizing the genres that first influenced him. This set starts off with bluesy versions of his old hits ("Great balls of fire",etc.) but then it gets really good: Lewis pours out his soul on such blues as "Mathilda" & "Got you on my mind" and shows he's the only white man of his times to sing black with such songs as "It's a hang-up baby" and "Turn on your lovelight".This is classic R&B & blues at its very best. Like his idols Moon Mullican & Jimmie Rodgers -who are the only artists who could equal him - Lewis is 100% bluesman and this fuels all his other genres.The latter CDs on the box set include Lewis' late '60s country hits (classics like "Another place another time" & "She even woke me up to say goodbye").Lewis' position as a blues and country midas are very under-rated - but this box set is an ideal introduction to the later work of Jerry Lee."