Jerry Lee Lewis Bear Family

A characteristically humongous (8-CD) box set from the wonderful obsessive-compulsives at Bear Family, documenting the Killer's '60s tenure at Smash Records. Lewis made consistently good music during this period, but the combination of his personal scandals and the British Invasion made him a pariah to radio programmers until mid-decade, when he returned to his country roots. Highlights of the set include the entirety of a Texas live show, with Lewis and his crack band rendering various early rock standards at dangerously high (i.e., proto punk) speed, some excellent duets with his (then) wife Linda Gail, and gorgeous renditions of standards like Willie Nelson's "Funny How Time Slips Away" and Merle Haggard's "Lonesome Fugitive." Lewis fans with deep pockets should grab this one immediately…

Let's call a spade a spade. Orion is an Elvis impersonator. No more, no less. That he's a good Elvis impersonator is important, since if he wasn't, Sun probably wouldn't have tried to promote his recordings as if they were genuine Elvis material, even going to the extremes of overdubbing Orion's voices on recordings by such Sun stalwarts as Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins. This doesn't make him any better, but it sure makes him fascinating, particularly because he is gifted at mimicry and these are pretty good evocations of Elvis at his peak…

It's a statement of Johnny Cash's longevity that the eight albums collected here – each one a concept collection devoted to American historical themes – were considered worthy and viable commercial releases back when, and that most were very successful. This four-CD set assembles Ride This Train, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Bitter Tears, Ballads of the True West, Mean as Hell! (Johnny Cash Sings Ballads from the True West), America: A 200 Year Salute in Story and Song, From Sea to Shining Sea, and The Rambler, all in one place. They fit together as a body of work, and he put a lot of heart into all of these songs individually…

Jerry Lee Lewis - At Sun Records: The Collected Works - "What the Hell Else Do You Need?" (2015) {18CD Box Set Bear Family}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 4.55 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 2.80 Gb
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© 2015 Bear Family Records | BCD 17254 RL
Rock & Roll / Country / Rhythm & Blues / Rockabilly / Honky Tonk

Sam Phillips didn't record anybody else the way he recorded Jerry Lee Lewis. With other artists, he pushed and prodded, taking his time to discover the qualities that made them uniquely human, but with Jerry Lee, he just turned the tape on and let the Killer rip. There was no need to sculpt because Lewis arrived at Sun Studios fully formed, ready to lean back and play anything that crossed his mind. Over the course of seven years, that's more or less how things were run at Sun: Lewis would sit at the piano and play, singing songs that were brought to him and songs that crossed his mind, and Sam never stopped rolling the tape.

Johnny Burnette - Johnny Rocks (2008) {Bear Family Records BCD16992AR rec 1956-1960}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 280 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 166 Mb
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© 1956-60, 2008 Coral / Imperial / Liberty / Bear Family Records | BCD 16992 AR
Rock & Roll / Rockabilly / Early Pop

The original rockabilly wildman, Johnny Burnette led the seminal Rock 'n' Roll Trio, which slightly predated Elvis Presley. Their raw, unfettered sound inspired several generations of rockers, and the best of their output is featured in this collection, along with a generous helping of material from Burnette's later (1957-1960) solo recordings. While some of the solo sides bear a bit more of a pop sensibility, there's always plenty of rock-&-roll abandon in Burnette's delivery, and the driving force of the Trio tracks is still a wonder to behold. Hardcore Burnette fans will be particularly impressed by the inclusion of 11 rare demo recordings, further illuminating the too-short story of Burnette, who died by drowning in 1964 at the age of 30.

Charlie Rich - Lonely Weekends: The Sun Years 1958-1962 (1998) {3CD Box Set, Bear Family BCD16152CI}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 942 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 512 Mb
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© 1958-62, 1998 Bear Family Records | BCD 16152 CI
Rock'n'Roll / Rockabilly / Traditional Country / Pop / Boogie Woogie

Of all the acts that came out of Sun Studios in the '50s and early '60s, from Howlin' Wolf to Elvis, from Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis to Carl Perkins and Bill Justis, none was more musically sophisticated and diverse in his writing, arranging, and performing than Charlie Rich. That's right, the same guy who had hits with "Behind Closed Doors," and "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World." Rich was equally adept at recording rockabilly, blues, R&B, jazz, country, gospel, and everything in between. This three-disc set of his years with Sun, from 1958-1962, point to that in a big way, that Rich was pretty much fully formed and wildly adventurous (often to the chagrin of Sam Phillips) when he began recording for the Memphis label.