Little Richard's Greatest Hits: Recorded Live!

Little Richard's Greatest Hits - Recorded Live! is the second and last album from Little Richard for the Okeh label. A live album, it was recorded in the CBS Studios at Hollywood .

History

After the release of the album Richard himself noted (^[2], page 130) "I was in the second year of the Okey (sic) contract and there was still no hit record. So I tore it up. The contract gave me no say in the material I recorded with them or in what was released. Larry Williams was the worst producer in the world. He wanted me to copy Motown and I was no Motown artist. [...] The Okeh stuff didn't sell at all because Okeh was an R'n'B label - a black label. I should have recorded on the Epic label, because I'm not primarily a black artist. It would have done a lot better." It is worth noting that 'Poor Dog' made #41 on the R&B chart and 'Commandments of Love' made #30 on The Cash Box Black Singles chart. All Okeh 45's are highly regarded in Europe where they were released on the Epic label.

After the recording sessions for this album, (actually the result of then-Richard Manger, Robert A. "Bumps" Blackwell's effort to convince European fans to petition Okeh Records to cut a live album), Richard recorded three more tracks for Okeh on May 17, 1967, one issued in 2004 ('Golden Arrow'), leaving the other two unreleased; then recorded six tracks in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago for the Brunswick Records label the same year. The Brunswick tracks were released between December '67 - September '68, none of which were hits. Meanwhile, Little Richard saw out 1967 with an appearance in the film Catalina Caper.

From this point on Richard was out of the recording studios, not returning until March 1970 with the Reprise Records label.

Track listing

1. "Lucille" - 2:30
2. "The Girl Can't Help It" – 1:34
3. "Tutti Frutti" – 1:29
4. "Send Me Some Lovin'" – 2:48
5. "Get Down With It (aka Do The Jerk)" – 6:24
6. "Long Tall Sally" – 1:43
7. "True Fine Mama" – 3:04
8. "Jenny, Jenny" – 1:55
9. "Good Golly Miss Molly" – 2:37
10. "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On" – 3:03
11. "Baby What You Want Me to Do (listed as Anyway You Want Me)" – 2:54
12. "Don't Fight It (listed as You Gotta Feel It)" – 4:22

Personnel

• Little Richard – vocals, piano
• Billy Preston - organ
• Eddie Fletcher - bass
• Glenn Willings - guitar
• Johnny "Guitar" Watson – guitar

Drummer unknown; no records kept by Okeh

Charts

Album

References