Not long ago, I wrote about Little Richard's performance at this year's Avila Beach Blues Festival. During that show, he exhibited the raucous rock 'n' roll energy that inspired decades of rockers to follow. Specialty's upcoming The Very Best Of Little Richard captures all his hollering hits and some rarities.

Not to be confused with another release of the same name, The Very Best features a whopping 25 original recordings. All the great songs are here, from "Long Tall Sally" to "Jenny Jenny." Of course, you'll also find the undeniable hits like "Good Golly, Miss Molly," covered by Fantasy recording artist Creedence Clearwater Revival, and "Tutti Fruitti" which, way back in the day, had much more racy lyrics and the bold title "Tutti Fruitti, Good Bootie."

This disc also has a few tracks that offer a peek behind the scenes of Little Richard's frenetic career such as a rehearsal take of "Hound Dog" and a live medley of "Ain't That A Shame," "I Got A Woman" and "Tutti Fruitti," recorded in 1964 at the Olympia Theatre in Paris. There's even a demo version of "Baby" from the original recording Little Richard sent to Specialty in the hopes they would take him on as an artist.

The Very Best is the quintessential compilation not just for fans of the self-appointed "Architect of Rock 'n' Roll," but for fans of simply great music. It hits stores July 29.

PERMALINK • • RSS