The Killer Rocks On
The Killer Rocks On | ||||
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Studio album by Jerry Lee Lewis | ||||
Released | 1972 | |||
Recorded | Nashville, Tennessee | |||
Genre | Rock | |||
Label | Mercury | |||
Producer | Jerry Kennedy | |||
Jerry Lee Lewis chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Christgau's Record Guide | B[1] |
The Killer Rocks On is an album by Jerry Lee Lewis that was released on Mercury Records in 1972.
Background
After an uninterrupted string of country smashes, The Killer Rocks On was a return to Lewis's rock and roll roots. He had attempted this in the mid-'60s with albums like The Return of Rock and Memphis Beat without commercial success but, as is pointed out in the liner notes to the 2006 compilation A Half Century of Hits, by the early '70s the time was right: "Vintage rock ‘n’ roll was experiencing a rebirth. It had been less than 15 years since Buddy Holly’s death was heralded as the symbolic finale of the rock ‘n’ roll era. The music had changed beyond all recognition since then, and the revival was for those who couldn't stomach the new stuff." In addition, the original rock and roll spirit would be celebrated in the next few years in films like American Graffiti and in television shows like Happy Days. For original rockers like Lewis, Little Richard, and Chuck Berry, this was a godsend.
Recording and reception
The album is best known for its version of "Chantilly Lace," which had been written by J.P. Richardson, better known as the Big Bopper, who perished in a plane crash with Buddy Holly in 1959. Lewis had his doubts about recording the song but, as he explains in the A Half Century of Hits essay, his manager convinced him: “Sam Phillips’s brother, Jud, was managing me. He was well oiled on that session...I told him I didn’t even know 'Chantilly Lace.' He said, ‘Well, make it up.’ I did one take on it.” Producer Jerry Kennedy recalled of the sessions to Lewis biographer Nick Tosches, "He wanted everybody there. He didn't want anything overdubbed later. It was a mess. We had an acre of people there - voices, strings, everything. And, as always, Jerry Lee started changin' keys, and the arranger was goin' crazy, havin' to rewrite stuff for the string section..."[2] According to Rick Bragg's authorized biography Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story, the conductor of the string section was astonished when Lewis informed him what he had thought was just a rehearsal would be the one and only take. Adds Bragg: "For many loyal fans, the record captured everything they loved most about him. When he sang the old rock and roll, it reminded them of a time when there would be no such music without that little bit of hillbilly in it; and so it reminded them of being young." Years later Lewis added a lascivious swagger to the song, which had merely been a novelty in the Bopper's hands. It would spend three weeks at the top of the country charts, also becoming a Top 50 pop hit in the United States and a Top 40 hit in the United Kingdom.
The Killer Rocks On also includes Jerry Lee's amped-up version of Kris Kristofferson's "Me And Bobby McGee." In the liner notes to the 1995 Mercury compilation Killer Country, Colin Escott marvels that Lewis "destroyed the essence of the song, but - at the same time - created a new one." It made the Top 40 on the pop charts, the first time a record by Lewis had done so since "What'd I Say" in 1961. Despite producer Jerry Kennedy sweetening the sound with increasing "countrypolitan" accoutrements, Lewis storms through Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel," Charlie Rich's "Lonely Weekends," and Fats Domino's "I'm Walkin'." Two Joe South songs helped give the album a contemporary edge, including the well known "Games People Play."
Track listing
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Don't Be Cruel" | 1:58 | |
2. | "You Can Have Her" | William S. Cook | 2:22 |
3. | "Games People Play" | Joe South | 2:33 |
4. | "Lonely Weekends" | Charlie Rich | 1:45 |
5. | "You Don't Miss Your Water" | William Bell | 2:31 |
6. | "Turn On Your Love Light" |
| 2:30 |
7. | "Chantilly Lace" | J.P. Richardson | 2:50 |
8. | "C.C. Rider" | Traditional | 2:52 |
9. | "Walk a Mile In My Shoes" | South | 3:02 |
10. | "Me and Bobby McGee" | 3:11 | |
11. | "Shotgun Man" | Cecil Harrelson | 2:43 |
12. | "I'm Walkin'" | 2:09 | |
Total length: | 30:26 |
Charts
Chart (1972) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australia (Kent Music Report)[3] | 30 |
Personnel
- Jerry Lee Lewis - vocals, piano
- Chip Young, Dale Sellers, Harold Bradley, Pete Wade, Ray Edenton, Jerry Kennedy - guitar
- Pete Drake - steel guitar
- Kenny Lovelace - fiddle
- Bob Moore - bass
- Bill Strom - organ
- Buddy Harman - drums
- Charlie McCoy - marimba; arranger on "Turn on Your Love Light"
- Dolores Edgen, Hursel Wiginton, Joe Babcock, Millie Kirkham, Rickie Page, Trish Williams - backing vocals
- Cam Mullins - arrangements
References
- ^ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: L". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 1, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
- ^ Tosches, Nick (1982). Hellfire. New York: Grove Press. p. 220. ISBN 9780802135667.
- ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 177. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
- v
- t
- e
- Jerry Lee Lewis
- Jerry Lee's Greatest!
- Golden Hits of Jerry Lee Lewis
- The Return of Rock
- Country Songs for City Folks
- Memphis Beat
- Soul My Way
- Another Place, Another Time
- She Still Comes Around
- Sings the Country Music Hall of Fame Hits, Vol. 1
- Sings the Country Music Hall of Fame Hits, Vol. 2
- The Golden Cream of the Country
- She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye
- In Loving Memories: The Jerry Lee Lewis Gospel Album
- There Must Be More to Love Than This
- Touching Home
- Would You Take Another Chance on Me?
- The Killer Rocks On
- Who's Gonna Play This Old Piano?
- The Session...Recorded in London with Great Artists
- Sometimes a Memory Ain't Enough
- Southern Roots: Back Home to Memphis
- I-40 Country
- Boogie Woogie Country Man
- Odd Man In
- Country Class
- Country Memories
- Jerry Lee Keeps Rockin'
- Jerry Lee Lewis
- When Two Worlds Collide
- Killer Country
- My Fingers Do the Talkin'
- I Am What I Am
- Young Blood
- Last Man Standing
- Mean Old Man
- Rock & Roll Time
- Together (with Linda Gail Lewis)
- Million Dollar Quartet (with Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley)
- The Survivors Live (with Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins)
- Class of '55 (with Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Roy Orbison)
- Live at the Star Club, Hamburg
- The Greatest Live Show on Earth
- By Request: More of the Greatest Live Show on Earth
- Live at the International, Las Vegas
- Last Man Standing Live
- Jamboree (1957)
- American Hot Wax (1978)
- Great Balls of Fire! (1989)
- Dick Tracy (1990)
- Original Golden Hits, Vol. 1
- Original Golden Hits, Vol. 2
- Rockin' Rhythm and Blues
- A Taste of Country
- Best of Jerry Lee Lewis
- All Killer, No Filler: The Anthology
- A Whole Lotta...Jerry Lee Lewis: The Definitive Retrospective
- "Another Place, Another Time"
- "Baby Baby Bye Bye"
- "Baby, Hold Me Close"
- "Break-Up"
- "Breathless"
- "Chantilly Lace"
- "Cold, Cold Heart"
- "Come as You Were"
- "Crown Victoria Custom '51"
- "Crazy Arms"
- "Don't Let Me Cross Over" (with Linda Gail Lewis)
- "Down the Line"
- "End of the Road"
- "Fools like Me"
- "Great Balls of Fire"
- "Hi-Heel Sneakers"
- "High School Confidential"
- "How's My Ex Treating You"
- "I Can't Seem to Say Goodbye"
- "I'll Make It All Up to You"
- "I'm on Fire"
- "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry"
- "In the Mood"
- "Invitation to Your Party"
- "It'll Be Me"
- "Jackson" (with Linda Gail Lewis)
- "Lewis Boogie"
- "Me and Bobby McGee"
- "Meat Man"
- "Money (That's What I Want)"
- "Old Black Joe"
- "Once More with Feeling"
- "One Has My Name (The Other Has My Heart)"
- "One Minute Past Eternity"
- "Pen and Paper"
- "She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye"
- "She Still Comes Around (To Love What's Left of Me)"
- "She Was My Baby (He Was My Friend)"
- "Sixteen Candles"
- "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"
- "Seasons of My Heart"
- "Sweet Little Sixteen"
- "Teenage Letter"
- "There Must Be More to Love Than This"
- "To Make Love Sweeter for You"
- "Touching Home"
- "Turn On Your Love Light"
- "What's Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made a Loser Out of Me)"
- "What'd I Say"
- "When He Walks on You (Like You Have Walked On Me)"
- "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On"
- "Who's Gonna Play This Old Piano?"
- "Wild One"
- "Would You Take Another Chance on Me"
- "You Win Again"
- Jamboree (1957)
- High School Confidential (1958)
- Be My Guest (1965)
- 33⅓ Revolutions per Monkee (1969)
- American Hot Wax (1978)
- Myra Gale Brown (cousin/wife)
- Linda Gail Lewis (sister)
- Mickey Gilley (cousin)
- Carl McVoy (cousin)
- Jimmy Swaggart (double first cousin)
- Discography
- Great Balls of Fire!
- Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind
- Walk the Line
- Jerry Kennedy
- Kenny Lovelace
- Mack Vickery