Little Richard knew exactly what he was doing in the early stages of rock & roll. He wrote songs that were kinetic, driving, and immediate, and delivered them with a frenzied vocal attack and with a full understanding that this was entertainment and that people love a show, and the flashier the better -- it’s almost impossible to imagine an artist like
Elton John, say, without the template that
Little Richard set way back in the mid-'50s. This brief ten-song set collects some of the frenzy of those early songs like “Lucille” and “Long Tall Sally,” but these aren’t the original versions -- most of them sound live and have lots of horns. Not that it matters much. It’s
Little Richard. ~ Steve Leggett