Best Live Record Ever!
The title of my review does not exaggerate. This record makes "Live at Leeds" or "Get Your Ya-Ya's Out" sound like total garbage. Lewis recorded this record at the low point of his career, when he had been marginalized by The Beatles and all the other British Skiffle groups musically (It should be noted that The Star Club was one of the old hangouts of The Beatles), and his marriage to his 13 year old cousin had ruined his personal life and professional prospects.
So how did Lewis exact revenge? With this truly stunning record. The piano sounds like it's on fire, the drums crash along with incredible speed, the vocals howl like a wounded wolf, and the attitude was undeniably punk, thirteen years before punk even existed. It is no exaggeration to call this easily the best live record ever, and maybe not too much to call it the greatest rock and roll record ever.
The song set is incredible as well. Lewis has his way with all his rivals: Elvis (Hound Dog), Ray Charles (What'd I Say), Hank Williams (Your Cheating Heart), Little Richard (Long Tall Sally/Good Golly Miss Molly), Carl Perkins (Matchbox), and he blows all of them out of the water. All throughout the record you can just see it: Lewis pounding his piano, eyes shut, beads of sweat on his forehead, his incredibly outmatched band (The Nashville Teens) struggling to keep up with The Killer.
One of very few records that can be called perfect.
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