Search - Little Richard :: B.O. Vee Jay Years 2

More rejectable to great "Comeback" tracks.

plsilverman | USA | 09/10/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"As the story goes, Little Richard got a few bucks from Vee Jay in the early '60s to support his first U.K. tour(s) and sometime later paid them back with recording sessions. Or something like that. His career was an enigma even then. At any rate, the tours were incredibly successful, as Little Richard completely overshadowed his supporting acts: the Beatles, the Stones, the Everly Brothers, Bo Diddley, et. al. The Fab Four had their first 45rpm to feature John, Paul, George, and Ringo and it was doing okay. We all know what happened as a result of that crucial tour. Richard packed 'em in for everybody - he even had two Top 40 numbers in the U.K. charts during that time: "He Got What He Wanted" and "Bama Lama Loo" ["Bama Lama, Bama Loo" in the USA]. It appears he still considered him primarily a Gospel singer then (at least back home), but when he decided to re-enter the secular field he gave it his all, and all those cuts are in Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 of this series. His energy and enthusiasm is summed up in the "Unedited unreleased version" of "Whole Lot of Shakin'...", where he prefaces the verse with a short tour recap. Another '50s tune from the session, "Hound Dog", in a slightly lopsided way, also conveys the message - the True King is Back! Shut Up!! Too bad that (on disc anyway) he was not able to keep up the pace. The December, 1964 session in Nashville yielded 16 sides, mostly new arrangements of the old hits, and though they contain alot of riproaring rock and rythym (LR's new term for his music at the time), they are often the antithesis of the '50s approach - where the originals were tight and powerful, the remakes were loose and often tired - "The Girl Can't Help", despite an interesting, ahead-of-its-time horn chart, never should have seen the light of day. The music is out of sync and the lead vocalist is out of breath. He did much better with "Tutti Frutti", actually surpassing his '55 classic in excitement. "Baby Face" is highly listenable in its new presentation, in fact it should be heard by those hipsters who can hear the LR influence on Tom Jones. On a few lines you would think you're hearing an outtake from the "It's Not Usual" album. "Jenny, Jenny" could also persuade one to get up and get down (not released until 1974!). Another cut not issued for nine years is "My Wheels Are Slippin'" [aka "My Wheels Been Slippin'"], an interesting sort of rock 'n country story song presented here in an alternate mix which practically nullifies the sustaining horns. Perhaps it was shelved because of the roughness in Richard's voice. A new song recorded that day was the novelty dancer "It Ain't Whatcha Do", a tune very much in the Major Lance "Monkey Time" vein. Sadly, Richard's hoarseness makes this one only marginal. (He did lip-sync it on a Dick Clark TV show in early '65). Track #15 is the alernate take of "I Don't Know What You've Got", the version sans Don Covay vocal harmony. Reportedly, it came out first in Europe in '67 on a single, then found its way to a European album in '71. It is not the recording another Amazon reviewer said made #92. [By the way, it went higher on other national and R & B charts]. Yes, the alternate take is also a true soul classic, which absolutely should have seen the National Top 20. It has been suggested that Vee Jay was in the process of folding and up and presumeably could not put more into promotion of the sides. A real oddbad in the collection is the instrumental "Funky Dish Rag", a solid guitar-organ interplay which is about 1:30 too long. Thankfully, the track is in mono here, where places the lead guitar, minimal as it is, front and center. It has been reported that Richard did cut instrumentals for the label - "Come See About Me" is listed in various publications - but the above-mentioned presumed Macon Greyhound Bus Station restaurant kitchen reflection sounds to this reviewer to be from circa. '72. One track has a special significance for me: the recut "Good Golly, Miss Molly". I heard thunder coming from my living room radio set. It was...somebody...doing...Mitch Ryder's song? Whatever, it was, it didn't need "Devil With A Blue Dress" as a lead-in. It was something greater than "Jailhouse Rock" - Elvis fans forgive me."

A great later period sampler of Little Richard

Murray's-Pomade-Greaser | 06/16/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This cd has a great version of Money Honey as well as interesting remakes of his specialty hits, there are several dated songs, hence the 4 stars, but this is mostly wild and lively swinging and boogie woogie piano playing, with big band, similar to his Specialty sides. Fun if not really essential music."

Essential If Only For One Track

Steve Vrana | Aurora, NE | 03/04/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Don't be misled. These are 1964-65 recordings Little Richard did for the Vee-Jay label. The songs you recognize are all re-recordings and not the original Specialty hits. What makes this CD worth owning is the Vee-Jay single that should have put Little Richard back on the charts--the soulful "I Don't Know What You've Got But It's Got Me." It is perhaps Richard's best vocal performance of his career--it's that good! The song also features an up-and-coming guitarist by the name of Jimi Hendrix. The song spent a week at No. 92; it should've went to No. 1. Buy this and find out what you missed."