The Session...Recorded in London with Great Artists
The Session...Recorded in London with Great Artists | ||||
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Studio album by Jerry Lee Lewis | ||||
Released | 1973 | |||
Recorded | January 8-11, 1973 | |||
Studio | London, England | |||
Genre | Rock and roll, blues, country | |||
Length | 1:15:30 | |||
Label | Mercury | |||
Producer | Steve Rowland | |||
Jerry Lee Lewis chronology | ||||
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The (Complete) Session Recorded in London with Great Artists | ||||
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Studio album by Jerry Lee Lewis | ||||
Released | August 2006 | |||
Recorded | January 8-11, 1973 | |||
Studio | London, England | |||
Genre | Rock and roll, blues, country | |||
Length | 1:33:13 | |||
Label | Mercury | |||
Producer | Steve Rowland | |||
Jerry Lee Lewis chronology | ||||
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The Session...Recorded in London with Great Artists is a double album by Jerry Lee Lewis released on Mercury Records in 1973. It was recorded in London and features Lewis teaming up with British musicians, including Peter Frampton and Albert Lee.
Background
After scoring a dozen country hits since 1968, Lewis returned to the pop charts with "Me and Bobby McGee" in 1971 and "Chantilly Lace" in 1972, and this turn of events, coupled with a revitalized public interest in vintage rock and roll, inspired Mercury to fly Lewis to London to record with a cadre of gifted British and Irish musicians, including Rory Gallagher, Kenney Jones, Albert Lee, Alvin Lee, Peter Frampton, Gary Wright, and Klaus Voormann. The concept was not new; Chuck Berry, Howlin' Wolf, and B.B. King had already done the same thing in the previous decade. The year before, Lewis had joined Chuck Berry and Little Richard as part of a historic rock and roll show at Wembley Stadium, the first concert ever in that arena. Having toiled in obscurity for most of the '60s, Lewis was the most bankable country star in the world by 1973, living the rock and roll lifestyle to the hilt; according to Rick Bragg's authorized biography Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story, Jerry Lee was commanding $10,000 per show and had his own plane, first a DC-3, with "room for all manner of hangers-on and amiable drunks and pretty women with no particular place to go," and later a Convair 604.
Lewis's son, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jr., also made the trip and participated as a drummer.
Recording
By all accounts[from whom?], the sessions were tense. Part of the reason for this may have been the fact that Lewis had rarely ever recorded outside of Tennessee and, feeling out of his comfort zone and surrounded by a bevy of long-haired musicians, he masked his insecurity by ramping up his already considerable bravado. "I seen all these cats standing around," Lewis recalled in the liner notes to the 2006 box set A Half Century of Hits. "Real long hair and everythin’. I turned to Junior and I said, 'Boy, have I made a mistake comin’ over here.'" His temper, always infamous, was not helped by the booze and pills that sustained him, and although the musicians (who were actually only a few years younger than him, for the most part) were reverential, Lewis's flippant attitude comes across. "So much for that," he says wearily at the conclusion of "Sea Cruise." "Next?" (this was, in reality, spliced from a stray comment made during the recording of the album; the upcut of ambiance, reverb and clipped voices can be heard in the background.)
Produced by Steve Rowland, the album consists mostly of '50s rock and roll remakes, but does contain a couple interesting contemporary cuts: a foot-stomping version of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Bad Moon Rising" and the Gordon Lightfoot classic "Early Morning Rain." The remake of Lewis's old Sun cut "Drinking Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee" would be the album's hit single, reaching number 20 on the Billboard country chart and peaking at number 41 on the pop chart. Another noteworthy cut, Charlie Rich's "No Headstone on My Grave," would become a concert staple as a sort of anthem for Lewis and his God-fearing, hell-raising persona.
Lewis would later confess that he was impressed by the British musicians and their professionalism, stating in A Half Century of Hits, "I sat down at the piano, put the headphones on and started to record. These kids, there wasn’t any one of them smokin’ pot, takin’ any pills or liquor. They were clean. Real nice, and they were the greatest musicians I ever heard." According to Colin Escott's essay found in the 1995 Mercury compilation Killer Country, "When Jerry Lee returned, he brought his London rhythm section of Tony Cotton, Albert Lee and Chas Hodges with him. They wrote a song about 'Jack Daniels Old No. 7,' a product they considered quintessentially American, and one near and dear to Jerry's heart." It became the B-side of "No Headstone On My Grave," Lewis's first record in several years to bomb completely.
Reception
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Christgau's Record Guide | B+[1] |
The Session would be Lewis's highest pop charting album since 1964's Golden Hits of Jerry Lee Lewis, hitting number 37. It did far better on the country albums chart, rising to number 4. In his Rolling Stone review of the album, Jon Landau conceded that The Session "wasn't a bad idea" and "a great party record" but noted, "the album suffers from a surfeit of hysterical Alvin Lee guitar, extraneous organ accompaniment, and prolonged and aimless riffing and jamming. Good backup or bad, it doesn't seem to matter to Jerry Lee, who plows through everything with nearly the same mixture of nonchalance and enthusiasm. When he shouts 'Play it, son,' I have a feeling he doesn't care which son or how long he plays, just as long as the spotlight returns to where it belongs when the son is finished." AllMusic gives the album 3 out of 5 stars and contends that the album only lacks when "compared to his early classic rock & roll recordings."
Track listing
- Side 1
- "Drinking Wine, Spo-Dee O'Dee" (McGhee, Williams)
- "Music to the Man" (T. Colton)
- "Baby What You Want Me to Do" (Reed)
- "Bad Moon Rising" (Fogerty)
- "Sea Cruise" (Smith)
- Side 2
- "Jukebox" (Colton, Hodges, Lee)
- "No Headstone on My Grave" (Charlie Rich)
- "Big Boss Man" (Dixon, Smith)
- "Pledging My Love" (Robey, Washington)
- "Memphis" (Berry)
- Side 3
- "Trouble in Mind" (Richard M. Jones)
- "Johnny B. Goode" (Berry)
- "High School Confidential" (Lewis, Hargrave)
- "Early Morning Rain" (Lightfoot)
- Side 4
- "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On" (David, Williams)
- "Sixty-Minute Man" (Ward, Marks)
- "Movin' On Down The Line" (Orbison, Phillips)
- "What'd I Say" (Charles)
- "Rock & Roll Medley":
- "Good Golly Miss Molly" (Marascalo, Blackwell)
- "Long Tall Sally" (Johnson, Blackwell, Penniman)
- "Jenny, Jenny", "Tutti Frutti" (Penniman, LaBostrie)
- "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On" (David, Williams)
Charts
Chart (1973) | Peak position |
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Australia (Kent Music Report)[2] | 36 |
Personnel
- Jerry Lee Lewis - vocals, piano
- Albert Lee, Alvin Lee, Chas Hodges, Joe Jammer, Mick Jones, Peter Frampton, Rory Gallagher - guitar
- Drew Croon, Gary Taylor, Kenny Lovelace, Raymond Barry Smith - acoustic guitar
- Delaney Bramlett, Rory Gallagher - bottleneck guitar
- B.J. Cole - pedal steel
- Kenny Lovelace - violin
- Chas Hodges, John Gustafson, Klaus Voormann - bass
- Andy Bown, J. Peter Robinson - electric piano
- Andy Bown, Gary Wright, Matthew Fisher, Tony Ashton - organ
- Kenney Jones, Mike Kellie, Pete Gavin - drums
- Brian Parrish, Gary Taylor, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jr., Matthew Fisher, Mike Kellie, Pete Gavin, Raymond Barry Smith, Steve Rowland, Tony Ashton, Tony Colton - percussion
- Brian Parrish - harmonica
- Casey Synge, Dari Lalou, Keren Friedman, Thunderthighs - backing vocals
- Technical
- Charles Fach - executive producer
- Martin Rushent - engineer
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.
- ^ 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.
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- 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
- "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"
- "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
- Kenny Lovelace
- Mack Vickery