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Jerry Lee Lewis
Last Man Standing
(Artist First)
First Appeared in The Music Box, September 2006, Volume 13, #9
Written by John Metzger
At first glance, Last Man Standing might appear to be a
run-of-the-mill bid at resurrecting the career of Jerry Lee Lewis. After all, in
following the prototypical roadmap to a Grammy nomination — and hence,
blockbuster commercial success — the collection boasts 21 tracks that were
penned or made famous by the rock, country, and blues artists — Eric Clapton,
Merle Haggard, Little Richard, Buddy Guy, and Kris Kristofferson, among them —
with whom the legendary piano player has been paired. Instead of showing extreme
deference to one another as they render the material in a tastefully pristine
fashion, however, Lewis and his collaborators push each song to its limit, and
the result is that the entirety of the set is delivered with all of the primal
urgency that rock ’n‘ roll has to offer.
There’s no denying that Last Man Standing is carried by Lewis rather
than by his accompanists, and although hints of Robbie Robertson and The Band
lurk beneath the surface of Twilight; Willie Nelson’s Latin-tinged twang
filters through A Couple More Years; and That Kind of Fool
encapsulates the boozy swagger of Keith Richards’ work with the Rolling Stones,
the outing is remarkably devoid of pretense. Without the clash of egos that
typically undermines such similarly constructed collections, the music is given
plenty of room to breathe. Stripped bare and recast as a Memphis-born,
rockabilly classic, Led Zeppelin’s Rock and Roll showcases the
exuberantly joyous give-and-take that occurred between Lewis and guitarist Jimmy
Page; while the ragged and raw treatment that is applied to Bruce Springsteen’s
Pink Cadillac significantly improves upon its original incarnation.
Elsewhere, Lewis and Neil Young revel in the barroom blues of Jimmy Reed’s
You Don’t Have to Go; he and B.B. King sufficiently ignite Ben Peters’
Before the Night Is Over; and with the help of John Fogerty, he rips into
Travelin’ Band with a vengeance.
For the record, Lewis’ voice isn’t quite what it once was, and as a result
some of the slower selections — such as a cover of Evening Gown with Mick
Jagger and Ronnie Wood; a rendition of Hank Williams’ Lost Highway with
Delaney Bramlett; and an interpretation of What’s Made Milwaukee Famous
with Rod Stewart — are a little rougher around the edges than they need to be.
Even so, the enthusiasm that both he and his collaborators brought to the
project not only marks Last Man Standing as one of the more successful
star-studded sets, but it also proves that Lewis can still rock with the same
fiery intensity as he did 50 years ago.  ½
Last Man Standing is available from Amazon.com.
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28th Annual Blues Music Award Winner:
Comeback Album of the Year
Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2006 The Music Box
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