One of the most important musicians for the modern rock and pop music i can't often enough say that this guy was the number one performer who influenced the performances of rock and pop musicians until today. All the wild rock shows you've ever seen in your life and musicians have done all over the world go back to this man from the south of the US. Just one example; Townshend's windmill guitar playin' was the copy of Richards feet hammering triplets on the piano. Jagger once sang ''What can a poor boy do...'' and yes what could this poor boy, this poor black boy, this poor black boy from the south of the US, this poor black boy who's gay from the south of the US with the friendly guys of the KKK in the neighbourhood do? Singin' rock'n'roll songs. And his performances was the hottest sexual charged shows teenager ever had seen. Sure there was Elvis without him the rock'n'roll maybe would have stay a black phenomenon. But the chief and master was definitely Little Richard in performance. Elvis was the good lookin' boy and way more important he was white. To make a long story short, i believe that this two guys from the south of the US made it possible that rock'n'roll came all over the whole world. This two guys definitely changed the world and not only in musical respect (or aspect? i'm not sure of the right word). Rock'n'Roll had so much impact also in social things of the society. It's still a phenomenon and i don't know if rock'n'roll will fade out of this world but i know that i am so grateful that it was and is a part of my life.
One of the original rock & roll greats, Little Richard
merged the fire of gospel with New Orleans R&B, pounding the piano
and wailing with gleeful abandon. While numerous other R&B greats of
the early '50s had been moving in a similar direction, none of them
matched the sheer electricity of Richard's
vocals. With his bullet-speed deliveries, ecstatic trills, and the
overjoyed force of personality in his singing, he was crucial in upping
the voltage from high-powered R&B into the similar, yet different,
guise of rock & roll. Although he was only a hitmaker for a couple
of years or so, his influence upon both the soul and British Invasion
stars of the 1960s was vast, and his early hits remain core classics of
the rock repertoire.
Heavily steeped in gospel music while growing up in Georgia, when Little Richard began recording in the early '50s he played unexceptional jump blues/R&B that owed a lot to his early inspirations Billy Wright and Roy Brown. In 1955, at Lloyd Price's suggestion, Richard
sent a demo tape to Specialty Records, who were impressed enough to
sign him and arrange a session for him in New Orleans. That session,
however, didn't get off the ground until Richard
began fooling around with a slightly obscene ditty during a break. With
slightly cleaned-up lyrics, "Tutti Frutti" was the record that gave
birth to Little Richard
as he is now known -- the gleeful "woo!"s, the furious piano playing,
the sax-driven, pedal-to-the-metal rhythm section. It was also his first
hit, although, ridiculous as it now seems, Pat Boone's cover version outdid Richard's on the hit parade.
Boone would also try to cover Richard's
next hit, "Long Tall Sally," but by that time it was evident that
audiences black and white much preferred the real deal. In 1956 and
1957, Richard
reeled off a string of classic hits -- "Long Tall Sally," "Slippin' and
"Slidin'," "Jenny, Jenny," "Keep a Knockin'," "Good Golly, Miss Molly,"
"The Girl Can't Help It" -- that remain the foundation of his fame.
While Richard's
inimitable mania was the key to his best records, he also owed a lot of
his success to the gutsy playing of ace New Orleans session players
like Lee Allen (tenor sax), Alvin Tyler (baritone sax), and especially Earl Palmer (drummer), who usually accompanied the singer in both New Orleans and Los Angeles studios. Richard's
unforgettable appearances in early rock & roll movies, especially
The Girl Can't Help It, also did a lot to spread the rock & roll
gospel to the masses.
Richard
was at the height of his commercial and artistic powers when he
suddenly quit the business during an Australian tour in late 1957,
enrolling in a Bible college in Alabama shortly after returning to the
States. Richard
had actually been feeling the call of religion for a while before his
announcement, but it was nonetheless a shock to both his fans and the
music industry. Specialty drew on unreleased sessions for a few more
hard-rocking singles in the late '50s, but Richard
virtually vanished from the public eye for a few years. When he did
return to recording, it was as a gospel singer, cutting a few
little-heard sacred sides for End, Mercury, and Atlantic in the early
'60s.
By 1962, though, Richard
had returned to rock & roll, touring Britain to an enthusiastic
reception. Among the groups that supported him on those jaunts were the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, whose vocals (Paul McCartney's especially) took a lot of inspiration from Richard's.
In 1964, the Beatles cut a knockout version of "Long Tall Sally," with McCartney on lead, that may have even outdone the original. It's been speculated that the success of the Beatles, and other British Invaders who idolized Richard,
finally prompted the singer into making a full-scale comeback as an
unapologetic rock & roller. Hooking up with Specialty once again, he
had a small hit in 1964 with "Bama Lama Bama Loo." These and other
sides were respectable efforts in the mold of his classic '50s sides,
but tastes had changed too much for Richard
to climb the charts again. He spent the rest of the '60s in a continual
unsuccessful comeback, recording for Vee-Jay (accompanied on some sides
by Jimi Hendrix, who was briefly in Richard's band), OKeh, and Modern (for whom he even tried recording in Memphis with Stax session musicians).
It was the rock & roll revival of the late '60s and early '70s, though, that really saved Richard's
career, enabling him to play on the nostalgia circuit with great
success (though he had a small hit, "Freedom Blues," in 1970).
He had
always been a flamboyant performer, brandishing a six-inch pompadour and
mascara, and constant entertaining appearances on television talk shows
seemed to ensure his continuing success as a living legend. Yet by the
late '70s, he'd returned to the church again. Somewhat predictably, he
eased back into rock and show business by the mid-'80s. Since then, he's
maintained his profile with a role in Down and Out in Beverly Hills
(the movie's soundtrack also returned him to the charts, this time with
"Great Gosh a-Mighty") and guest appearances on soundtracks,
compilations, and children's rock records. At this point it's safe to
assume that he never will get that much-hungered-for comeback hit, but
he remains one of rock & roll's most colorful icons, still capable
of turning on the charm and charisma in his infrequent appearances in
the limelight.(allmusic.com)
New Flac part 1 &
New Flac part 2 &
New Flac part 3 -
mp3@320 part1 -
mp3@320 part 2
