★★★★★
"If I look like a mean old man," Jerry Lee Lewis sings on the title track of his latest album, Mean Old Man, "That's what I am." A glance at the album cover, showing a smiling Lewis surrounded by beautiful women clamoring for his attention, might cause a listener to disagree with that self-assessment. While The Killer may be up there in terms of years--his 75th birthday is coming up this month--he still sings with the same emotion and ferocity that first launched his career...
- www.americansongwriter.com
2013-04-25
★★★★★
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 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". Dennis Quaid's shamefully lazy portrayal of The Killer in the 1989 biopic Great Balls Of Fire...
- recordcollectormag.com
2013-04-02
★★★★★
Like almost all the first generation rock'n'rollers, the hits had dried up for Lewis in the mid-60s, but there was a healthy living to be made on the live circuit. This collection of 60 tracks comprises four shows which offer a broad illustration of his talents, even when record buyers' interest had waned...
- recordcollectormag.com
2013-04-02
★★★★★
Four-disc monument to the Killer, containing no filler... What with one thing and another, it took the Grand Ole Opry a while to invite Jerry Lee Lewis to make his debut. Sixteen years, in fact, from his first hits ("Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On", "Great Balls Of Fire") to finally ushering the Killer onto the stage of Nashville's Ryman auditorium in January 1973. The high temple of the country music establishment had their reasons for hesitating...
- www.uncut.co.uk
2012-04-30
★★★★★
Brother EJ Davis' Church on Highway 61, just outside Memphis, was the regular place of worship for Jerry Lee's then-wife Myra, making it a suitable venue for a repentant Killer to give thanks to the lord for giving him a second chance in 1970. Cleaned up and latterly pursuing a country career, Lewis and modest band charge through 20 hymns and spirituals (Amazing Grace, My God Is Real, The Old Rugged Cross) to a grateful congregation of pew-punchers...
- www.recordcollectormag.com
2011-05-23
★★★★★
Nick Tosches wrote a whole book on Lewis and proclaimed him elsewhere, "the last man to have been touched by the Holy Ghost of Gnosis." Does that leave everybody else (even Sun Ra) stumbling in the Spiritual Dark for the Light Switch? Tosches goes on to say that Lewis has never made a great album. Mean Old Man won't change that man's mind, but the main attraction sings over, under and through all those potentially saggy guest artists...
- www.offbeat.com
2011-01-03
★★★★★
Cut from the same cloth as The Killer's 2006 duets collection Last Man Standing, Jerry Lee's second set of superstar collaborations has a decidedly more country bent than its predecessor. Consequently, the laidback and less-rocking material makes fewer demands on the 75-year-old's voice, which has settled into a sturdy and statesmanlike oaky drawl...
- www.recordcollectormag.com
2010-12-21
★★★★★
The new album from Jerry Lee Lewis is called "Last Man Standing" for a reason. The Killer is the last living member of the inaugural class of rockers from the 1986 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the disc is a reminder of why Lewis remains one of the genre's greats. You might think the cast of fellow hall-of-famers alone--from BB King and Eric Clapton to Neil Young and Ron Wood--is what makes "Last Man Standing" a must-have. You'd be wrong. What really makes this disc worthwhile is the music...
- www.soundspike.com
2010-12-07
★★★★★
An album of Jerry Lee Lewis doing duets Neil Young, Mick Jagger, Willie Nelson and Bruce Springsteen sounds like a good idea on one level?it'll sure get attention and maybe sell?but on another, it sounds horrible. As contributor Michael Hurtt said when he heard about the project, "Jerry Lee doesn't need help from anybody." In ways, Last Man Standing is pretty great. Lewis' vocals are as full of piss and vinegar as ever, and he pounds his piano as if that's the thing that'll keep him alive...
- www.offbeat.com
2010-11-09
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