Jerry Lee Lewis "Young Blood" 1995

"Shut your stupid mouth before I splatter your brains all over the floor!" This was Jerry Lee Lewis’s response to a fan at North Shore Music Theatre who shouted for one request too many. Spoken under his breath with a no-joke tone, Lewis’s retort offered one possible explanation of why he’s called the Killer.On Young Blood, Lewis' first album in nearly a decade, he straddles rock & roll and country as easily as he does his piano bench. Whether reclaiming Hank Williams' wry "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive" or bragging about his hot rod – or is it his woman? – on "Crown Victoria Custom '51," Lewis is in high gear. He revels in the signatures of his fine madness, tossing random glissandi from his piano and shouting lyrics in a voice scuffed yet steel tipped.
These 14 songs are mostly chestnuts, but they're roasting. James Burton, who defined rock lead guitar, and ex-NRBQ fret burner Al Anderson get their licks in, and Lewis works like a demon – hammering a fanged solo into a racing overhaul of "Poison Love," turning loose his best Professor Longhair on "High Blood Pressure," spraying hot boogie-woogie all over "Down the Road a Piece."
In a nod to Lewis' Sun years, producer Andy Paley – who also aided Brian Wilson's resurrection – gets a little heavy-handed with reverb. Its slavered-on antiquity is occasionally distracting (hey, pal, Sun is a museum now). But that's nitpicking. With just one sentimental ballad, this is a party album – and Lewis remains one hell of a host. TED DROZDOWSKItrax:
1. I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive 2. Goosebumps 3. Things 4. Miss the Mississippi and You 5. Young Blood 6. Crown Victoria Custom '51 7. High Blood Pressure 8. Restless Heart 9. Gotta Travel On 10. Down the Road a Piece 11. It Was the Whiskey Talkin' (Not Me) 12. Poison Love 13. One of Them Old Things 14. House of Blue Lights