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This box set is infinitely better an electrifying 106 tracks across four discs, charting Jerry Lee’s ride from his 50s beginnings at Memphis’ Sun imprint, and not letting up until well into the 80s. The last weighty career-spanning compilation of any real note was Rhino’s 1993 two-disc All Killer, No Filler, which did a good enough job but still left some niggling gaps. Yet, despite his guaranteed place at rock’n’roll’s top table, he’s been surprisingly poorly served by anthologists. Yes, Lewis was a larger-than-life personality from the get-go, but he’s also a hugely influential musical pioneer. The wild and sweaty red hair the madness in the eyes the boot heel crashing onto a piano keyboard the morally questionable underage cousin bride – any or all of them scream “caricature”, rather than “genius”.ĭennis Quaid’s shamefully lazy portrayal of The Killer in the 1989 biopic Great Balls Of Fire! almost exclusively drew on what today would be called the tabloid image of the man, with the thrill and the thump of the songs seemingly only tagged on as afterthought. Those singles are justly celebrated, but this proves that his sides for Smash and Mercury are equally stellar - maybe not as visceral or potent, but surely as musically satisfying.There’s always been a danger that younger rock’n’roll fans’ first impression of Jerry Lee Lewis might be one of an easily-dismissed novelty. The scope of this alone is to be admired, particularly because most listeners tend to concentrate on 'Crazy Arms,' 'Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On,' 'Great Balls of Fire,' 'Down the Line,' 'Breathless,' and 'High School Confidential,' overlooking everything else he did, even his string of number one country singles in the late '60s and early '70s. Prior to, no other collection attempted to tell this story, but this set does, taking it all the way into the early '80s, when wrapped up his career as an active recording artist. He continued to cut classics for Smash and Mercury well into the '70s, after he toned down the rock & roll and turned up the country. Since 's legacy is built on his scintillating sides for Sun - they're among the fiercest rock & roll ever recorded - that could seem to be a problem, but didn't stop making great music when he left the label. The Sun material stops 12 songs into Rhino's double-disc, 42-track collection.