Mercury Smashes ..... And Rockin' Sessions

received two days later than expected but everything else was fine it was a christmas present. thanks

As the new decade of the 1970's started, the world looked pretty good to Jerry Lee Lewis. He was enjoying his most consistent period of success, and he had access to Nashvilles finest writers. Smash had folded into Mercury Records, and so this 10 CD Box Set neatly contains about 8 years of Mercury recordings. Good times....but. Jerry Lee Lewis has never been short of critics, and there was a conventional wisdom that this period of his career saw him coasting. He had done rock 'n roll with Sun in the 1950's, he had followed that with evolving into a hard country singer with Smash in the 1960's, and now it was said he was relying on formula. This is where you have to establish your own view. To my ear there was a formula, but with Jerry Lee you received such wonderful performances that they transcended less than first rate material. That is the hallmark of a real star, and the evidence is all over the 10 CDs. As the '70s progressed you hear Jerry Kennedy, the Producer, adding strings and chorus to the mix. This was fashionable, but added little and took away more. Jerry Lee rode this out however, and there are several standouts in the midst of studio muddle. That Kind of Fool, a Mack Vickery song can be found on CD 7. This is a typical example. Jerry Lee's performance is mesmerising. And the song gets thrown away on the back of a so-so single. A great loss at the time, but at least we have it here in great sound. The 1970's also saw a revival in rock 'n roll as public interest picked up. Jerry Lee Lewis was well placed to feed this interest, not being dead or retired. His stage work of the period was excellent, occasionally feeding back into songs he recorded, such as the Southern Roots session in 1973. This might well be the best album within the Box Set, certainly it ranks high, and bears repeated playing. Within the 10 CDs you are not going to get any surprises such as the electrifying energy of the Sun recordings, or the emergence of Jerry Lee's immaculate Country stylings. What you get is product that reflects his musical strengths and showcases his talent, rather than breaking new ground. Bear Family have done a great service by collecting together and re-issuing Jerry Lee Lewis' recorded output from the 1950's to the late 1970's. They have kept the highest standards in sound quality, produced wonderful booklets, and of course a discography to conjure with. This costs money, it cannot be done cheaply, but Boy! What an investment. If you buy the three Box Sets you will possess some of the greatest recordings made by an artist who is a Rock 'n Roll legend, and also a Country Music legend. There are not many artists like this about, and I believe his achievements are truly unique. We shall not see his like again; savour the music.

Although this review is several years late, mainly due to my lack of enthusiasm for this set, I still find it difficult to believe that I’m giving Jerry Lee Lewis and Bear Family less than 5 stars ... but even the 3 stars I’ve decided upon may be too generous. Admittedly, it must be said that the sound reproduction is well up to the usual Bear Family standard and the overall presentation equally so. What’s wrong then? First I’ll take the overall content. This is supposed to be the second part of Jerry’s studio recordings for Mercury, covering the years 1970-1977. The complete ‘Southern Roots’ is included but where are the ‘London Sessions’? Sure, Bear Family had the complete ‘London Sessions’ on vinyl but they’ve not put them out on CD. Meaning? That this set is NOT the complete studio output as claimed. Also included on the vinyl box sets but not offered here are the live albums ‘Live at the International, Las Vegas’ and ‘Church live recording, Memphis, 1970’. The church recording is, of course, at last available on an individual CD. However, the original ‘International’ album took up just one side of a Bear Family LP with the other side plus another full LP packed with previously unissued performances from those shows. So, for the actual content we don’t have the complete studio recordings and we don’t get everything that was offered on the vinyl issues. Oh, and wouldn’t you have thought that the usual LP-size book would have had enough space to list the questions from the bonus ‘Radio Special interview to promote “Southern Roots”’ so that we could make sense of Jerry’s answers which are all we get as the bonus ... apart from full versions of tracks from the album that already appear elsewhere on the box set! Secondly, there are Jerry’s own performances. Undoubtedly this set includes many tracks that show his superb talent. Sadly, and all too often, he treats his capabilities and his fans’ expectations with utter disdain. Alcohol, drugs, lack of rehearsal and downright ordinary tiredness and boredom shine through all too many tracks that should never have surfaced even as a bad joke. And these were songs that were selected for release on albums. Some, such as ‘Southern Roots’ outtakes, are so awful I don’t see how even the staunchest fans ... and I include myself among them ... can defend such dross. Thirdly, the final area of complaint. The booklet. No problem with the presentation; it looks very nice as do all Bear Family publications. But, do we have to always suffer Colin Escott who is not as knowledgeable as he claims to be. I shan’t waste much time, just offer one example. Of ‘The One Rose’ Mr Escott writes, “...was Jerry’s first attempt at what must have been one of his favourite songs. Written by Hawaiian guitarist Lani McIntyre, it was a hit for Bing Crosby back in 1936. Mawkish and sentimental it might have been, but Jerry liked it and (Jerry) Kennedy clearly had nothing better on offer”. Of course, anyone reading this review knows that Jerry almost worshipped the late, great Jimmie Rodgers. It was he who originally recorded this song in July 1930 but his version wasn’t released until several years later, December 1937, after Bing Crosby’s hit version. To further justify Jimmie’s claim to the song, he was backed on his recording by Lani McIntyre’s Hawaiians ... remember who wrote the song? Quite apart from all that, has Jerry ever claimed to be a Bing Crosby admirer? So, there are some undeniable highlights on this box set. Indeed, it would be impossible to have so much Jerry Lee Lewis in one place without at least some of it being wonderful. Overall, it’s a sad picture of the deliberate destruction of great talent. Do you want to prove how great he was? Just play the first Sun (London-American in Britain) LP ... and don’t forget the times that ‘Live at the Star Club, Hamburg’ is cited as the best live album of all time. Those are things that made this review so hard to write...

This works out to be a very expensive box set, but it is worth it. Most of JLL's Smash albums have been re-released on BGO Records, but the bulk of his output for Mercury remains available only on vinyl. This box set is the only place to find albums like I-40 Country. It should go without saying that the music here is fantastic. It is a bit of a misnomer to say that this was his "country period," for in these songs JLL blends country, rock, R&B, together with his boogiewoogie piano. To paraphrase a line from one his live albums, "Some people call it rock 'n' roll, some people call it country, I don't really know what it is. I just call it Jerry Lee Lewis music."

Beau coffret au format d’un 33 tours, mais peu pratique pour le classement de vos disques dans un meuble ou rayon (je préfère les box au format des CD). Le livret intérieur du fait de la taille est bien mais comporte quelques photographies couleurs de mauvaises qualités, similaires et sans grand intérêt. Contrairement à ce que l’on pourrait penser ce n’est pas une intégrale dans la mesure où quelques morceaux sont absents : « Turn on your love light », et, « Shotgun man », de l’album « The killer rocks on » ; « Little Peace and harmony », de l’album Boogie Woogie Country Man ; « You bélong to me », de l’album Country Class ; « Hurtin’ part », « Goodbye of the year » de l’album Would you take another chance on me ; « Mercy of a letter « , de l’album Who’s gonna play this old piano ; « Think I need to pray », « Mornin’ after baby » de l’lbum Sometimes a Memory ain’t enough ; « Alcohol of famé », « Picture from life’s other side » de l’album I-40 country. Ces absences font baisser considérablement la valeur de ce coffret. Regrettable aussi que les chansons ne sont pas toujours dans le même ordre que sur les LP originaux. Fort dommageable de ne pas bénéficier des photos des albums originaux (sauf une dans le livret); surtout que les photos des boitiers CD sont affreuses, on dirait des photocopies, alors qu’il aurait été si simple et logique de mettre les reproductions des pochettes 33 tours. Avec un prix relativement élevé on pouvait espérer posséder un coffret « collector » alors que celui-ci laisse un goût amer à l’amateur de ce grand artiste.

It's a hell of a peace of work.there is ten CD's with all the country and religous songs that charted between 1970-78. I really enjoy these recordings. No matter what he playes and sings I like it. The price maybe too steep at 140.00 but break it down $14.00 per disc.

Great Music.

I bought it for my husbands Christmas. He loves Jerry LeeLewis,but he didn't to much like this set. It was mostly gospel songs?