Little Richard

About

“All around the world, rock ’n’ roll is here to stay,” Little Richard sings on the hit “All Around The World.” But by the time his self-titled sophomore LP was released in 1958, Little Richard himself was on his way out of the soaring genre: The 25-year-old had just retired from rock ’n’ roll to join the ministry and make gospel records (getting out of his record deal was just a bonus). His record company Specialty, of course, had other ideas and forged ahead with gathering this array of mostly previously released singles from the pioneering rocker. As an LP, it didn’t do much. But the singles—and they are almost all single, with nine A-sides and three B-sides on the album—were huge. They span a four-year period, from 1956 to 1959, and while they offer just a fraction of the singer-songwriter’s famous onstage theatric, the fervent, teeming energy of the era still seeps through the rollicking songs — many of which Little Richard either wrote or adapted so fully that he had a writing credit for. The wail, the growl, the yelps that would be cribbed by the singer’s peers are all etched into wax, proof positive of a dynamism so electric that it helped create a century-defining genre. .

via Apple Music

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