Little Richard - Get Down With It: The Okeh Sessions
After the release of Brian Wilson’s Smile (for which fans had to endure a near thirty-year wait) one might think all musical Holy Grail had finally been reissued, that the vaults had finally been cleared of all hidden treasures. Wrong. The music fans at Columbia Records have gone ahead and done a wonderful thing. They have found a barely released Little Richard album (one recorded nearly thirty years ago), The Explosive Little Richard, and are making the historical tracks available for the first time. You might think re-releasing a Little Richard CD at this time to be a little anti-climactic in the scheme of things, but I assure you it is not. Not when the CD they have released is this damn good.
Though most known for his fifties hits (Tutti Fruity, Long Tall Sally, etc.) Little Richard Penniman is the possessor of one of the most exciting rock and roll voices of all time. The power, the energy, not to mention that otherworldly shriek sets Little Richard apart from all of the other fifties rockers. No one came close until James Brown and Otis Redding hit their respective peaks in the mid sixties. Interestingly, the songs on this CD come from the mid ’60’s, a period in Little Richard’s career when he was trying to make a comeback in the rock world. To keep up, he had to change with the times. Little did anyone know that he was as good at creating the type of soul Redding and Brown did as he was his old style fifties stuff.
Before the fifties closed, Penniman had abruptly given up his rock and roll career for a life as a preacher due to his inner turmoil about worldly success. Problem was, his aspirations in the ministry were leaving Penniman penny-less. Even though he had offers from several labels to record his gospel songs, the subsequent recordings either sold poorly or were so cheaply made they never even hit the music business radar. Penniman was at a crossroads. Soon after the Beatles hit (and covered his old hits) he decided to go back to what he knew best, rock and roll. After a few false starts (rerecordings of his old hits done on the cheap) and marginal new recordings, he hooked up with his old friend from Specialty Records, Larry Williams (a hitmaking artist himself), and made these recordings.
With Williams producing and contributing songs and other talent like Johnny Guitar Watson playing alongside, Penniman is full of fire and energy. Maybe the desperation of having much of his recent output ignored made him decide to channel everything he could into these songs. Though these too were ignored upon release thanks to changing times and false expectations of his output, these cuts are some of the most blistering ’60’s soul ever recorded. He is simply on point, and in a way few artists ever have been. Among the songs here are a transcendent recording of the Barret Strong song “Money” and an excellent song called “Function at the Junction” that should have been a monster hit. Some excellent bonus tracks from the same time period are included as well. Though it is all Richard here, he has modified his style from ’50’s rocker to ’60’s deep soul singer excellently and sounds extremely vital and relevant – as opposed to an over-the-hill artist trying to make a comeback. Although these tracks never accomplished Penniman’s goal of reigniting his rock career, they stand as a testament to his varied musical talents. Both fans of Little Richard’s and those who just want to hear one of the best vintage soul albums ever should check this out.
