"Country Class/Country Memories" by JERRY LEE LEWIS (2016 Beat Goes On CD Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Georgia On My Mind..."

Beat Goes On of the UK continue their extensive reissue campaign of the Killer’s Country albums for Mercury Records in the sixties and Seventies – this time whomping us with "Country Class" from 1976 and "Country Memories" from 1977 onto 1CD.

After a steady diet of musical mediocrity, personal scandal and the occasional nasal operation – "Country Class" and "Country Memories" at least seemed to provide long-suffering fans with some 'very brief' moments worth cheering. But the problem with both albums is that they contained much that was risible too - and time hasn't been kind to either. Here are the 'one rose you left in my heart' details...

UK released Friday 19 February 2016 – "Country Class/Country Memories" by JERRY LEE LEWIS on Beat Goes On BGOCD 1222 (Barcode 5017261212221) offers 2LPs Remastered onto 1CD and plays out as follows (69:08 minutes):

1. Let's Put It Back Together Again

2. No One Will Ever Know

3. You Belong To Me

4. I Sure Miss Those Good Old Times

5. The Old Country Church

6. After The Fool You've Made Of Me

7. Jerry Lee's Rock & Roll Revival Show [Side 2]

8. Wedding Bells

9. Only Love Can Get You In My Door

10. The One Rose That's Left In My Heart

11. The Closest Thing To You

Tracks 1 to 11 are the album "Country Class" – released October 1976 in the USA on Mercury SRM-1-1109

12. Middle Age Crazy

13. Let's Say Goodbye Like We Said Hello (In A Friendly Kind Of Way)

14. Who's Sorry Now

15. Jealous Heart

16. Georgia On My Mind

17. Come On In

18. As Long As We Live

19. (You'd Think By Now) I'd Be Over You

20. Country Memories

21. What's So Good About Goodbye

22. Tennessee Saturday Night

Tracks 12 to 22 are the album "Country Memories" – released November 1977 in the USA on Mercury SRM-1-5004

There’s the usual card slipcase and a 12-page booklet with excellent ANDREW McRAE liner notes that tell it like it is about the musical content. ANDREW THOMPSON has done the new 2016 Remasters and they sound amazing. I wish the music warranted it...

"Country Class" opens with some genuinely awful schlock – "Let's Put It Back Together Again" – cheesy strings and even cheesier arrangements make it the kind of Country crud even Country fans hate. Things improve with "No One Will Ever Know" and his respectful cover of Jo Stafford's 1952 hit "You Belong To Me" isn't bad. But songs like "I Sure Miss Those Good Old Times" and "The Old Country Church" (associated with Hank Williams) feels tired - like Presley reaching for something safe rather than the fire of old. There's a brief moment of respite with "Jerry Lee's Rock & Roll Revival Show" where those brass and piano rolls sound more John Fogerty than Hank Snow – and in a good way. "Country Memories" only offers up more of the same – songs like "Let's Say Goodbye Like We Said Hello (In A Friendly Kind Of Way)" has a half decent melody and lyric but its drowned in syrupy backing vocalists and the ever present Pedal Steel. His boogied-up "Who's Sorry Now" is o.k. but far better is "(You'd Think By Now) I'd Be Over You" – a genuinely pretty melody that Jerry Lee sings well.

Fans will love the Audio and the Quality presentation – but everyone else should get a listen first before they buy... 

"1-40 Country/Odd Man" In by JERRY LEE LEWIS (2015 Beat Goes On CD Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...The Alcohol Of Fame..." 

Two long-forgotten American LPs from the Killer’s Pure Country period at Mercury Records – "1-40 Country" from 1974 and "Odd Man In" from 1975 (neither of which received a UK release). Both are chockers full of society outcasts, habitual sinners, randy barroom trysts with cheating ladies of the night and alcohol-fuelled misdemeanours that chill the bones of the motel receptionist in the cold light of dawn (nice). Here are the other sides of life....

UK released November 2015 (December 2015 in the USA) – "1-40 Country/Odd Man Out" by JERRY LEE LEWIS on Beat Goes On BGOCD 1216 (Barcode 5017261212160) features 2 LPs onto 1CD and plays out as follows (62:40 minutes):

1. He Can't Fill My Shoes

2. Tell Tale Signs

3. A Picture From Life's Other Side

4. I Hate Goodbyes

5. I've Forgot More About You (Than You'll Ever Know)

6. Tomorrow's Taking Baby Away [Side 2]

7. Cold, Cold Morning Light

8. The Alcohol Of Fame

9. Where Would I Be

10. Bluer Words

11. Room Full Of Roses

Tracks 1 to 11 are the album "1-40 Country" – released 1974 in the USA on Mercury Records SRM-1-710

12. Don't Boogie Woogie (When You Say Your Prayers Tonight)

13. Shake, Rattle And Roll

14. You Ought To See My Mind

15. I Don't Want To Be Lonely Tonight

16. That Kind Of Fool

17. Goodnight Irene

18. A Damn Good Country Song [Side 2]

19. Jerry’s Piece

20. When I Take My Vacation In Heaven

21. Crawdad Song

22. Your Cheatin' Heart

Tracks 12 to 22 are the album "Odd Man in" – released 1975 in the USA on Mercury Records SRM-1-1064

There's an outer card slipcase that lends the release a classy feel, the 16-page booklet has liner notes from ANDREW McRAE with album credits and there's new 2015 Remasters by ANDREW THOMPSON licensed from Phonogram. As usual with all BGO releases - it sounds great as always.

I was determined in many ways to hate these records. My memories of these string-laden LPs are that of horrid Country pap – the kind of piano-rolling pedal steel schlock Lewis could run off in his sleep. And in some respects on re-hearing these contractual filler albums those initial assessments haven't changed. But as ever with The Killer - both have their moments and remain stubbornly likeable precisely because of his languid delivery on boozy tales of infidelity and the headache-filled aftermath (and actually there's not a truck in sight). There's a knowing wink in the hit single "He Can't Fill My Shoes" and the sly stab of "I've Forgot More About You (Than You'll Ever Know)". But stuff like "Where Would I Be" and "I Hate Goodbyes" with their lonesome fiddle and paint-by-number pedal steel whines just feel like elevator music – and even a good melody like "Bluer Words" gets utterly drowned in strings and sappy backing vocals. And all that trucker CB Radio crap depicted on the cover was only pandering to the fad of the day...

At least the "Odd Man In" LP resurrected some of that old Rock 'n' Roll swagger and wit. The doctor tells old Jerry Lee to lay off the booze and pills – to which he promptly goes into a Rock 'n' Roll piano chorus which includes pleads to Jesus as he lashes the keys. It’s followed by a updated cover of Joe Turner's "Shake, Rattle & Roll" – boogie that feels more alive than the entire "1-40 Country" LP. Back to the honky-tonk swing with the excellent "You Ought To See My Mind" and he even sounds drunk as he sings "I Don't Want To Be Lonely Tonight". Side 1 ends on a rambunctious "Goodnight Irene". He returns to real world problems with "...I took enough pills for the whole damn town..." as he tells us that "...my life would make a damn good Country song..." His stay at Sun Records finally comes through with "Jerry's Place" where he boogies through a song about a favourite watering hole - a bar where the girls don't have to worry about romance (peopled by nice guys and decent chappies). The same spirit of Fifties R&B permeates "Crawdad Song" - but it ends not surprisingly with a Hank Williams standard "Your Cheatin' Heart" - right back to the safety of his Country musical bread and butter of the day.

Neither album is a winner by any stretch of the imagination – but at least "Odd Man Out" shows traces of that old magic and some of the Country ballads on "1-40" put a grin on your face. Fans will love the presentation, the quality Audio and the chance to have these lesser-seen albums on their shelves. All others should hear first before they buy...