Here’s Little Richard

De allereerste klanken van het eerste nummer op jouw eerste album uit de jaren '50 komen 70 jaar later nog steeds geregeld voorbij in andere muziek en via andere media-kanalen. Ook het gehele nummer is dan nog bij iedereen bekend. Dan heb je iets gepresteerd! Niet elk nummer op het album is even tijdloos. Als de achtergrondzang simpelweg de hoofdzanger herhaalt, kom je daar tegenwoordig niet meer mee weg (True, Fine Mama). Maar vooral de uptempo nummers als Ready Teddy komen goed door de jaren heen.

A legend, an album of classics. This is obviously a classic and innovative for its time, but I'm not sure it has stood the test of time. His vocals are outstanding and the instrumentals are bluesy, which I enjoy. For this, this is a 3* for me. Doesn't break into 4-5* territory because musically it follows a lot of well-known patterns to 21st century ears.

Something even the kids will like!

"A-wop-bop-a-loo-mop-a-lop-bam-boom!" is the first thing you hear and its still feels as invigorating as it must have felt 68 years ago... Dirty blues classics with a side of boogie-woogie and you're done in under 30 minutes, having had some fun tonight.

This man has ENERGY. A lot of the songs sound very similar in the beats and delivery, but they're still great.

3.5 rounded down.

Classic, one of the foundation stones for pretty much everything that followed. Clear influence on the Beatles and, through them as well as on its own merit, on everyone else.
One of the rare records which is great and interesting and influential and fun (an underrated but important aspect!)

This is decent enough but it really just feels like the same song over again at different tempos. Apart from the lyrics, could you tell the difference between Tutti Frutti and Ready Teddy?

tutti-frutti

Still holds up, kinda

The influence this has had is incalculable. Gotta pay my respects.

Little Richard! An album! Little Richard! An album! Whoop whoop whoop!
^ basically every song

I don’t think there’s ever been a better album opener than “Tutti Frutti”

The guys had so much dynamism in his voice. The lyrics to Tutti Frutti sound so alive! God he is so vivacious, that the record can barely contain his voice. His band really suffers from the recording tech of the time. What a treat live he must have been.

Was listening to this in the car with my kids. And at first they both didn't like it. By about the 3rd or 4th song they were both talking about how it started making their toes tap. And a half hour in, they were all in.

The album is just flat out fun!

Melkoinen hittiputki kyllä. Ei ehkä koko levyn mittaisena kantanut, mut yksittäiset biisit hyviä.

One of those all time great rock n roll records.

A bit of bop music, a bit of blues, and enough energy to bring even the most introverted wall flower onto the dance floor. The already infectious tunes are brought to life by raucous wails, punched up fills, and smooth rasp of Little Richard's vocals. In fact, you can hear in tracks like 'Jenny Jenny' that Little Richard is nearly overcome himself by the music trying to explode out of him.

This man's performances transferred the rock-n-roll energy into legions of artists to come. They heard something special in the full-throated expressiveness and they couldn't resist taking that idea and running with it.

It's all formulaic rock n' roll, but he was one of the primary "architects" of the formula and deserves a lot of credit. Super fun to listen to, but it's all basically the exact same song over and over. His voice and energy are definitely amazing. I'd give it a 3 for repetitiveness, but a 4 for being an original. Plus, I'm pretty sure Tutti Frutti is going to be stuck in my head for the next week.

Hitkavalkad! Ready Teddy!
Det finns en Little Richard biografi som är skriven av Charles White som heter The Life and Times of Little Richard. I den står det om en kväll då han och Buddy Holly spelade på samma ställe. Han satt i logen och hängde med sin väninna som annars jobbade som strippa, föga förvånande att hon hette Angel. För att göra sig redo för spelningen ville han dra en runk medans Angel suttade på hans bröstvårta, enligt Little Richard hade hon "the fastest tongue in the west". Och mitt i kalaset klampar Buddy Holly in i logen, istället för att vända på klacken och gå ut igen så ska han bara ha "halat" fram den och Angel svarade med en subtil invit och händelseförloppet var som följer "She opened up her legs and he put it in her. He was having sex with Angel, I was jacking off, and Angel was sucking me when they introduced his name on stage. He finished and went to the stage still fastening himself up. I’ll never forget that. He came and he went.”

Impossible not to love this stuff.