Jerry Lee Lewis - Young Blood

We've had this 1995 release for quite a while now and I know that I have listened to it more than

once, but listening again with fresh ears (I guess) has given me new appreciation for this one. In fact, this is pretty damn "killer", as in Jerry Lee rockin' it and soundin' at the top of his game. No, it isn't the raw Sun Studios work, but it is raw and rockin' and well wroth havin'!

He has a number of different backing musicians on the different songs, so it is kinda hard to tell who did what, but overall, they smoke throughout and every song is fresh and vital.

No, it is not all rock'n'roll - as always, Jerry does some country, some ballads, and some of whatever the hell he wants to do, but it is all high quality.

He opens with an energetic reading of Hank Williams' "I'll Never Get Outta This World Alive", sounding like Jerry lee should! He continues with wildness in "Goosebumps", worth of something he would have done at Sun, with plenty of piano poundin', trills, slides, whoops, oohs and purrs. He slows to mid-tempo in "Things", a bit more county, before giving us a true ballad in "Miss the Mississippi and You", with some fine piano fills. The title track is one of my fave 50's songs ever and, of course, Lewis is groovily salacious in this bump'n'grind rocker. In "Crown Victoria Custom '51", he is back in the driver's seat in this 50's piece of r'n'r, and his git-player gets in some cool licks, as well. There's a cool reading of "High Blood Pressure", another C&W ballad in "Restless Heart" (JLL's patented melodic playing again strong here), his upbeat take on Billy Grammer's "Gotta Travel On" and his prerequisite Chuck Berry cover, "Down the Road Apiece". Another good bit of C&W in "It Was the Whiskey Talkin', Not Me" (dig the fiddle and pedal steel here), "Poison Love" is more pianny-pumpin' rock'n'roll, a ballad in "One of Them Old Things" before closing strong with "House of Blue Lights".

Really strong work here - about as good as it gets and with Jerry Lee, that's pretty freakin' good!