Little Richard - Here's Little Richard Review

Little Richard represents the most exciting and very best 1950s rock and roll. His appeal has stayed strong throughout almost six decades of making music. Now, Concord Music Group has re-released his first recording, originally on Specialty, Here's Little Richard.
I believe this recording illustrates how one recording could change the face of rock and roll, by bringing various styles together and adding a powerful and untamed voice to the rock and roll roster. Richard was influenced by gospel, blues, and R&B, but he melded those influences in a way that no one ever had before.
The actual original recording presented here is only 28 minutes long, but what a memorable 28 minutes! Of the songs presented here, "Tutti Frutti," "Rip it Up," "Long Tall Sally," "Ready Teddy," "Slippin' and Slidin'," and "Jenny Jenny" were all hits, and all have continued to be recorded by other artists through the years. Three other songs here, "Miss Ann," "She's Got It," and "True Fine Mama," charted, but are not as well known today.
...full text All around, seemingly everywhere, the music was happening. It was colliding and exploding over and over to form its own lusty and resilient genre—rock ‘n’ roll. It was the 1950s, and the music was all around, finding itself, finding an audience.

Rock ‘n’ roll, as many historians will argue, may in fact date back to Jackie Brenston’s (and Ike Turner’s) “Rocket 88”, recorded in 1951. Then there’s Little Richard’s “Tutti Frutti”, first recorded in 1955 in New Orleans at Cosimo Matassa’s studio and later released in 1957 on L.A.-based Specialty Records. (Matassa himself is an important figure in the development of early rock ‘n’ roll, by virtue of whom he recorded—Fats Domino, Ray Charles and others). Hearing “Tutti Frutti” today on Concord Music Group’s expanded reissue of the original, Here’s Little Richard it’s hard to argue that it is not the seminal rock ‘n’ roll song. Fifty years on, “Tutti Frutti” would seem, with this re-release, as strong a contender as any for “first” status....full text Fifty-five years after its initial release, Little Richard’s debut LP resounds with the primordial fire of rhythm ‘n’ blues’ jump to rock ‘n’ roll. Richard took everything up a notch – the tempos, the innuendo and above all, the volume and energy of his vocals. Recorded primarily at New Orleans’ legendary J&M studios, Richard was backed by the cream of the Crescent City’s musicians, including Lee Allen, Alvin Taylor, Frank Fields and Earl Palmer. Though the same crew could be heard on other artists’ records, with Richard in the lead, they heated up their New Orleans boogie-woogie as on few other sessions. There’s a level of fervor, abandon and outrageousness in both Richard’s singing and piano playing that none of his fellow founders could match....full text Little Richard represents the most exciting and very best 1950s rock and roll. His appeal has stayed strong throughout almost six decades of making music. Now, Concord Music Group has re-released his first recording, originally on Specialty, Here's Little Richard.

I believe this recording illustrates how one recording could change the face of rock and roll, by bringing various styles together and adding a powerful and untamed voice to the rock and roll roster. Richard was influenced by gospel, blues, and R&B, but he melded those influences in a way that no one ever had before.
Indeed, "Tutti Frutti," the song that convinced Specialty to record Little Richard in the first place, was chosen by Mojo magazine for the number one spot on their 2007 list, "100 Records That Changed the World." Rolling Stone magazine listed it as #43 on its list of "The Five Hundred Greatest Songs of All Time."
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