The Fabulous Little Richard
| The Fabulous Little Richard | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Little Richard's studio album | ||||
|
Publication |
1959 |
|||
|
admission |
September 1955 to October 1957 |
|||
| Label (s) | Specialty Records | |||
|
Format (s) |
LP |
|||
|
Title (number) |
13 |
|||
|
running time |
30 min 37 s |
|||
| occupation |
New Orleans ( The Studio Band )
Los Angeles:
Overdub session
|
|||
|
Studio (s) |
J&M Studio , New Orleans |
|||
|
||||
The Fabulous Little Richard is the third music album by rock 'n' roll musician Little Richard . It was published in April 1959 and primarily combines blues songs from the archives of the Specialty Records label , which Little Richard had left two years earlier in order to train as a priest.
Music genre
The Fabulous Little Richard is first and foremost a blues album, whose singer borrows from gospel through his emotional and haunted singing style , which in this combination anticipates the later soul . Above all , Richard starts Lonesome and Blue and Wonderin ' with melismatic and therefore plaintive intros, which reveal Little Richard's religious-musical training and his enthusiasm for spiritual music. The slow pieces, all held in 12/8 time, are immanent with the triplet piano or guitar accompaniment, as was popular in the New Orleans style of blues and rhythm and blues at the time. In addition to Fats Domino , this lively, rhythmic peculiarity should especially open up Little Richard for the rock 'n' roll of the mainstream. On the one hand, the female vocal accompaniment anticipates the girl group sound that was being announced at the time the album was released , and on the other hand, the management of Specialty Records is reminded of church choir singing in the album's liner notes . The instrumental solos are alternately contributed by the piano, the electric guitar and the tenor saxophone.
The two standards Kansas City and Whole Lotta Shakin 'Goin' On are presented as rock 'n' roll, i.e. in fast 4/4 time with a distinctive backbeat and wild instrumental arrangement and with intensive vocal use. The other two faster numbers on the album Chicken Little Baby and She Knows How to Rock fall behind in terms of recording quality and can barely convey the driving rock beat.
History of origin
After a few unsuccessful single recordings for RCA Records and Peacock Records, Little Richard switched to Specialty Records , where he was looked after by producer Bumps Blackwell . Little Richard had become aware of Little Richard through a demo tape with the titles I'm Wondering , He's My Star and Chicken Little Baby , which the extravagant artist had sent him to Los Angeles in February 1955 . The first recording session took place on September 13 and 14, 1955 in Cosimo Matassa's J&M studio in New Orleans , for which his renowned studio band was booked. Blackwell was not satisfied with the blues- heavy titles of his new protégé, only Tutti Frutti was released as a single promptly and marked the breakthrough for rock 'n' roller.
I'm Just a Lonely Guy was used as the B-side , which was created next to The Most I Can Offer on the first day of the double session. Maybe I'm Right and Lonesome and Blue were recorded on the second day on which Little Richard performed Directly from My Heart to You, the only track that he had taken from his Peacock repertoire and which, however, remained unreleased in this version . Kansas City was recorded in at least three takes, which resulted in at least five versions through remixing, but which were only gradually made available to the public - sometimes also on bootlegs . The take with the recording matrix 5200 is a snappy version of the blues title written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller three years earlier for Little Willie Littlefield , which, due to the same underlying blues scheme, could seamlessly merge into Birmingham , a title later known as Hey-Hey -Hey-Hey should be replayed .
After his success with Tutti Frutti , Richard charted a number of rock 'n' roll numbers over the next two years, all of which became the standards of the young genre and had a decisive influence on its sound. After a troubled flight during a tour of Australia, Richard swore by rock 'n' roll and temporarily opted for a career as a preacher. Two weeks later, on October 9, 1957, he returned to the studio with his live band The Upsetters . Blackwell would have preferred the session musicians from New Orleans, but Richard was convinced of the qualities of his band, so that the producer, under time pressure of the announced resignation, accepted this constellation in the Master Recorder in Hollywood . Was again Directly from My Heart to You recorded, to Early One Morning and Shake a Hand and She Knows How to Rock . With Whole Lotta Shakin 'Goin' On , the decision was made to cover a current chart hit by Jerry Lee Lewis .
Hardly any material from this session was released in a timely manner, as Specialty Records still had strong recordings from the productive rock 'n' roll phase of the past two years available and was thus able to help over the departure of the selling artist. In November 1958, a year after recording, She Knows How to Rock and Early One Morning appeared on Specialty 652, a first single of the material from the Hollywood session. In February 1959, the stocks of hit-suspicious recordings had become so scarce, that Specialty decided to the unpopular blues recordings of the double session of 1955 and the remaining songs from Hollywood with a female choir track overdub . In April 1959, the eight pieces appeared together with the two songs from the early single release and the early recordings on Richard's application demo under the title The Fabulous Little Richard as his third album. John Ewing was responsible for the design of the record cover. It wasn't until 1964 that the star returned to the Specialty Records recording studio for a comeback attempt.
Track list
Page 1:
- Shake a Hand ( Joe Morris )
- Chicken Little Baby ( Richard Penniman )
- The Most I Can Offer (Richard Penniman)
- Lonesome and Blue (Richard Penniman)
- Wonderin ' (Richard Penniman)
- She Knows How to Rock (Richard Penniman)
Page 2:
- Kansas City ( Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller )
- Directly from My Heart to You (Richard Penniman)
- Maybe I'm Right (Richard Penniman)
- Early One Morning (Richard Penniman)
- I'm Just a Lonely Guy ( Dorothy La Bostrie )
- Whole Lotta Shakin 'Goin' On ( Dave Williams , Sonny David )
Publications and chart successes
The album, numbered Specialty SP 2104, was re-released several times in the United States . Specialty also handled the country-specific issues in Japan and the Netherlands . The British , French and Italian markets were served by the distribution partner London Records . An Australian release was on Stateside Records .
The album missed the charts in all relevant music markets. Only Kansas City could climb as a single on Specialty 664 to number 95 on the American Billboard charts and to number 26 on the British charts. William Ruhlmann from the All Music Guide follows the judgment of the buyers and confirms that the album is well-made rhythm and blues , but sees a clear drop in comparison to the previous rock 'n' roll releases Little Richards. As an exception, he only highlights Kansas City in its function as the original for the Beatles' cover piece, which they "copied note for note".
Web links
- The Fabulous Little Richard on Allmusic (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c The fabulous Little Richard . Specialty Records, Hollywood 1959 (Liner Notes from Specialty LP-2104).
- ^ A b Charles White: The Life and Times of Little Richard. The Authorized Biography . Omnibus Press, London, New York, Paris, Sydney, Copenhagen, Berlin, Madrid, Tokyo 2003, ISBN 0-7119-9761-6 , Tutti Frutti, p. 55-79 (first edition: 1984).
- ↑ a b c d John Garodkin: Little Richard Special . 2nd Edition. Mjoelner Edition, Praestoe 1984, ISBN 87-87721-14-7 , Specialty Records, pp. 23-66 .
- ^ Charles White: The Life and Times of Little Richard. The Authorized Biography . Omnibus Press, London, New York, Paris, Sydney, Copenhagen, Berlin, Madrid, Tokyo 2003, ISBN 0-7119-9761-6 , Don't Knock The Rock, pp. 80-95 (first edition: 1984).
- ↑ John Broven: Rhythm & Blues in New Orleans . Third edition. Pelican Publishing Company, Gretna 1995, ISBN 0-88289-433-1 , The Best Selling New Orleans Singles 1946-72, pp. 228-237 (first edition: 1974).
- ^ William Ruhlmann: Te Fabulous Little Richard. Allmusic, accessed on August 6, 2010 .