The Return of Rock
The Return of Rock | ||||
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Studio album by Jerry Lee Lewis | ||||
Released | 1965 | |||
Recorded | 1965 | |||
Genre | Rockabilly, blues | |||
Label | Smash | |||
Producer | Shelby Singleton | |||
Jerry Lee Lewis chronology | ||||
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The Return of Rock is the fourth album by Jerry Lee Lewis released on the Smash label in 1965.[1]
Background
This was the first studio album on Smash to feature new material by Lewis, with the pianist having recorded remakes of his Sun hits for Golden Hits of Jerry Lee Lewis the year before. Lewis had not enjoyed much chart success since becoming an industry pariah after the news of his marriage to his 13-year-old cousin Myra came to light in 1958, but he retained a loyal fan base in Europe, which showed great enthusiasm for his wild shows. Lewis had also recorded Live at the Star Club, Hamburg in 1964, an album that many consider one of the wildest performances ever. Lewis had been touring non-stop since the scandal and his ability to play ferocious rock and roll had remained undiminished in the face of dwindling sales. Hoping to recapture his past success, Lewis and producer Shelby Singleton began work on a new rock and roll album.
In the liner notes, Robert Tubert wrote: "Rock is the music which vibrantly records the time in which we live ... and Jerry Lee Lewis is one of its greatest exponents." Rock is "the voice of the young". Jerry Lee Lewis was one of the founders of the new musical idiom in the 1950s. He should be listened to by the 1960s generation because he is "telling it like it is." It was a sales pitch to the new generation by a legendary musician present at the creation of Rock and Roll.
The single released from the album was "Baby, Hold Me Close" backed by "I Believe in You".[2][3]
Recording
The album featured "Baby, Hold Me Close", a song composed by Jerry Lee Lewis and Bob Tubert. "Baby, Hold Me Close" was the song released as the A side 45 single from the album with "I Believe in You" as the B side. This was the only single from the album. The single reached no. 129 on the Billboard Bubbling Under the Hot 100 Chart. Jerry Lee Lewis performed the song live on the musical variety TV series Shindig! in 1965.[4]
The album includes three Chuck Berry songs, "Maybellene," "Roll Over Beethoven," and "Johnny B. Goode." Although the two rock and roll icons had been rivals in the past, they did have a mutual respect for one another and Lewis would return again and again to Berry compositions throughout his career. (In the 1987 documentary Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll!, Lewis states, "He's the King of rock and roll. Even my mama said that.") Lewis also performs Big Joe Turner's "Flip, Flop and Fly" and the old blues "Corrine, Corrina" in his patented boogie-woogie style. His reading of Hank Ballard's "Sexy Ways" was particularly racy for the time, containing lines like, "Come on darlin', now, I want you to get on your knees one time and shake for Jerry Lee Lewis, honey - yeah!"
Reception
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The album was released on June 4, 1965, and cracked the Top 200 but stalled at number 121, lacking the breakout song for a comeback. In 2014 Lewis biographer Rick Bragg observed, "The problem, as always, was material, not technique." In his 2009 book, Jerry Lee Lewis: Lost and Found, Joe Bonomo, while praising "Baby, Hold Me Close", "Maybellene" and "Sexy Ways", notes that the album came out "as Barbra Streisand, Herman's Hermits, the Supremes, and Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass were chumming it up on the Billboard album chart. The bespangled commercial ceiling was dropping fast." The perception that Lewis was out of step with the times was not helped by the album cover, which Bonomo derides: "The Return of Rock is nearly done in before the needle drops by an atrocious cover: decked out in a mummified paisley tux and frilly shirt, smiling wanly, Jerry Lee looks like Liberace's sickly younger brother, while a few teenagers dance in mild bewilderment as if they'd been teleported from the set of Shindig!" Bonomo, however, characterized the self-penned single from the album "Baby, Hold Me Close" as "a cool studio-concocted groove".[6]
Track listing
Side A
- "I Believe in You" (Frank Brunson)
- "Maybellene" (Chuck Berry, Alan Freed, Russ Fratto)
- "Flip, Flop and Fly" (Chuck Calhoun, Lou Willie Turner)
- "Don't Let Go" (Jesse Stone)
- "Roll Over Beethoven" (Chuck Berry)
- "Herman the Hermit" (Rink Hardin, Marian F. Turner)
Side B
- "Baby, Hold Me Close" (Jerry Lee Lewis, Bob Tubert)
- "You Went Back on Your Word" (Brook Benton, Bobby Stevenson)
- "Corrine, Corrina" (Armenter Chatmon, Mitchell Parish, J. Mayo Williams)
- "Sexy Ways" (Hank Ballard)
- "Johnny B. Goode" (Chuck Berry)
- "Got You on My Mind" (Howard Biggs, Joe Thomas)
Sources
- Bonomo, Joe (2010). Jerry Lee Lewis: Lost and Found. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing.
- Bragg, Rick. (2014). Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story. New York: Harper.
- Tosches, Nick (1982). Hellfire. New York: Grove Press.
- Gutterman, Jimmy (1991). Rockin' My Life Away: Listening to Jerry Lee Lewis. Nashville: Rutledge Hill Press.
- Lewis, Myra; Silver, Murray (1981). Great Balls of Fire: The Uncensored Story of Jerry Lee Lewis. William Morrow/Quill/St. Martin's Press.
References
- ^ Jerry Lee Lewis --- The Return of Rock.
- ^ Smash Records. 7" Singles/EP collection.
- ^ Jerry Lee Lewis - Baby, Hold Me Close. Discogs.com.
- ^ Shindig! Season 1. Episode 24. February 17, 1965. IMDB.
- ^ Jones, Peter; Jopling, Norman (14 August 1965). "Jerry Lee Lewis: The Return Of Rock" (PDF). Record Mirror. No. 231. p. 8. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 April 2022. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
- ^ Bonomo, Joe. Jerry Lee Lewis: Lost and Found. New York: Bloomsbury, 2010.
- 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