1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die - #48. Jerry Lee Lewis - Live at the Star Club, Hamburg (1965)

Jerry Lee Lewis - Live at the Star Club, Hamburg (1965)

Label - Phillips
Producer – Siegfried E. Loch
Art Direction – Uncredited
Nationality-USA
Running Time – 37:48

Track Listing (standout tracks listed in bold)

1. Mean Woman Blues
2. High School Confidential
3. Money
4. Matchbox
5. What'd I Say
6. Great Balls Of Fire
7. Good Golly Miss Molly
8. Lewis Boogie
9. Your Cheatin' Heart
10. Hound Dog
11. Long Tall Sally
12. Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On
13. Down The Line

Now THIS is what rock and roll is all about! The performance captured on “Live at the Star Club, Hamburg” contains the very essence of rock & roll and Jerry Lee Lewis in all his rock and roll glory.
Oddly – when the concert that became this album was recorded - in the spring of 1964, his career was probably at its lowest point ever. His scandalous marriage to his teenage cousin had virtually blacklisted him in the U.S. – and by this time almost six years had past since his last real hit single. Worse yet for Jerry Lee, America had fallen in love with the Beatles and the British Invasion leaving him behind. How ironic it is that he wound up in the Beatles' old haunt of the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany, in the spring of 1964!
It was actually quite interesting reading about this recording. Jerry Lee is backed by the Nashville Teens. They had been touring on and off with Jerry Lee and actually had been playing at the Star Club nightly for two weeks, but was only joined by the Killer (Jerry Lee’s nickname) for just this one night – and it was this night that was captured on this fantastic recording.
You’d never know he was at the lowest point in his career the performance was that good. One wonders if he was angry that night taking his aggression out on the piano, or maybe this is the way he sounded on an average night in 1964!! Whatever the reason “Live at the Star Club” is extraordinary.
He tears into "Mean Woman Blues" at a fast tempo and he never, ever lets go from that moment forward. He actually increases the tempo on each song! It is so relentless that you can't even appreciate how fast it is after the first couple of tracks, because you get used to the sound. He joins in with the audience chanting his name, sounds possessed, hitting the keys on the piano with a fierce force.
Is it a stretch to call this the greatest live album ever? Maybe. But it is damn close and one I recommend everyone seek out and play today as it truly has to be heard to be believed.
Absolutely HIGHLY recommended


You can purchase the CD here.

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ABSOLUTE ROCK BIRTHDAYS FOR JANUARY 21
Richie Havens is 68; Mark Trojanowski from Sister Hazel is 39; Chris Kilmore from Incubus is 36;

On this date in 1966 George Harrison married Patti Boyd, in 1990 MTV Unplugged premieres with Squeeze, and 5 years ago, in 2004, the recording industry sued 532 computer users it said were illegally distributing songs over the Internet.