Quite recently, Omnivore Recordings reissued a pair of long out-of-print Little Richard albums, The Rill Thing<\/i> and King of Rock and Roll<\/i>. The first was an impressive updating of Little Richard\u2019s style into soul, and the second was an only-sometimes-successful attempt at making a thematically cohesive album.<\/p>\n
But there exist more albums from that era of Little Richard\u2019s work. And Omnivore\u2019s arrangement sees them bringing those other albums to market, and even adding some bonus tracks.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/little_richard_2nd.jpg\")
The Second Coming<\/b><\/i> (1972)
\nCalling your album The Rill Thing<\/i> takes a kind of audaciousness. Crowning yourself the King of Rock and Roll<\/i> takes twice that much chutzpah. But hey, if you’ve taken things that far, anointing yourself The Second Coming<\/i> doesn\u2019t feel like much of a stretch.<\/p>\n
Far better than its predecessor. The <\/i>Second C<\/i>oming<\/i> leans more toward Richard\u2019s early rock\u2019n\u2019roll side than the (tantalizingly interesting) The Rill Thing<\/i>. But the playing feels more assertive, standing in contrast t the somewhat listless King<\/i> album. With a backing band that features Chuck Rainey on bass, Sneaky Pete on slide and drummer Earl Palmer (among others, it\u2019s no surprise that the music has a muscular feel.<\/p>\n
What is a bit arresting is that the songs\u2019 arrangements coupled with Bumps Blackwell\u2019s production ends up sounding a but like the George Harrison\/Phil Spector production of All Things Must Pass<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Not that that\u2019s a bad<\/i> thing, but it\u2019s undeniably different<\/i>. Listen closely in the mix and all manner of subtleties will reveal themselves. That may or may not be what one expects or looks for in a Little Richard album, but it has an appeal all its own.<\/p>\n
Little Richard does most of the writing here, though lyrically this stuff ain\u2019t poetry. \u201cSecond Line\u201d is from the kind of hope-we-launch-a-dance-craze school, though how that could have been though potentially successful in 1972 remains an unanswered question.<\/p>\n
But Little Richard is in fine voice, and some of the stylistic left turns \u2013 like the amazing, single-worthy \u201cIt Ain\u2019t What You Do, It\u2019s the Way How You Do It\u201d \u2013 are nothing short of amazing. Taken at breakneck pace, \u201cThe Saints\u201d is a good-natured yakety-sax goof, but it\u2019s fun. Far weirder is the ultra-funky \u201cNuki Suki,\u201d with a bass line that should have found the Eastmans or Allen Klein on Line one to Little Richard\u2019s publisher. Coming back to the All Things Must Pass<\/i> analogy, the nominally instrumental \u201cNuki Suki\u201d would have been on Apple Jam<\/i>, the third LP.<\/p>\n
Richard sounds a bit winded on \u201cRockin\u2019 Rockin\u2019 Boogie,\u201d but he\u2019s back in control for \u201cProphet of Peace.\u201d That latter tune takes a few pages from the Stax\/Isaac Hayes playbook.<\/p>\n
As a title, The Second Coming<\/i> might be shooting a bit high, but the album remains an essential part of any Little Richard collection that extends beyond his early heyday.<\/p>\n
The Second Coming<\/i> was the third in a series of records Little Richard released on Reprise. Blackwell produced a 1974 followup, Right Now!<\/i> But as it came out on a very small label, it disappeared without a trace. Then the man born Richard Penniman headed back to gospel \u2026 for a while, anyway.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/little_richard_southern.jpg\")
Southern Child<\/i> <\/b>(previously unreleased)
\nBut it turns out he has recorded another entire album\u2019s worth of music, intended for release in 1972. It\u2019s never been entirely clear why Southern Child<\/i> wasn\u2019t released as planned. It\u2019s country-rock flavor is an interesting hybrid. It rocks harder and funkier than classic c&w (at least on \u201cCalifornia (I\u2019m Comin\u2019),\u201d but the music still has the production and arrangement values of Nashville. If one mixed Little Richard’s voice out of the songs, plenty of other country singers\u2019 pipes would fit seamlessly. And the two blend, if not comfortably, than effectively. Thanks in great part to the guitar work of Mike Deasy, the pedal steel of Sneaky Pete and the wonderfully busy bass work of Chuck Rainey, Southern Child<\/i> is a worthwhile listen. It doesn\u2019t fit neatly into Little Richard’s canon, and one suspects that\u2019s part of the reason for its non-release in the \u201870s. But it\u2019s a fun and interesting listen nonetheless.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/little_richard_lifetime.jpg\")
Lifetime Friend<\/b><\/i> (1986)
\nAfter years in the (commercial) wilderness during which he played the gospel angle, Little Richard returned for a 1986 one-off, Lifetime Friend<\/i>. Working with Billy Preston, ace guitarist Travis Wammack and others, he cut an album that bears most of the era\u2019s sonic trappings: dense production, massed backing vocals, fretless bass, cheesy keyboard presets, and insistent saxophone (you can almost picture the mulleted, sleeves-rolled-up \u201880s MTV-type players). The album is predictably slick, and Richard occasionally sounds lost amidst the too-stuffed-by-half arrangements. Even Wammack\u2019s often fiery playing can\u2019t punch through the mess. Te deserved better. For completists \u2013 or those who are nostalgic for the overproduced \u201880s vibe \u2013 only.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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