The story of Little Richard's rise to stardom in the 1950s is a textbook example of the vital role independent record labels played in the birth of rock 'n' roll in a world dominated by bigger players.
That's one of the highlights of the just-released "The Mono Box: Complete Specialty/Vee-Jay Albums" set (Specialty Records/Concord Bicycle Music), culling Little Richard's original Specialty and Vee-Jay albums on vinyl in a five-LP collection.
As noted in the essay by Bill Dahl, Little Richard (born Richard Penniman) had been signed in 1951 by RCA Victor.
Perhaps the world wasn't ready yet for a performer as wildly erotic as Richard. In any case, Richard was dropped. His music then came to the attention of Art Rupe, founder of Specialty Records, which at the time focused on the R&B scene.
Rupe teamed him with producer Robert "Bumps" Blackwell and commissioned them to work in producer Cosima Matassa's New Orleans studio. Out of those sessions came "Tutti Frutti," a song Richard had been using in his live shows. It was an unabashedly sexually provocative song whose lyrics were softened for release on record but still quickly found a massive national audience.
The joy in the new box set (listing for $99.98) comes from absorbing the full-dimensional sound of the original recordings in mono as they were intended.
The albums are packaged in individual sleeves with the original artwork and liner notes and serve up such hits as "Good Golly Miss Molly," "Lucille," "Rip It Up," "Ready Teddy," "Slippin' and Slidin'," "Jenny Jenny," "Ooh! My Soul" and "The Girl Can't Help It" but also album tracks that showed his range as a singer and pianist.
He signed in 1964 with Chicago-based indie label Vee-Jay, which issued a pair of albums _ "Little Richard Is Back" and "Little Richard _ His Greatest Hits," the latter surveying his biggest successes in newly recorded versions. At the time, those were considered inferior to the originals, but it remains illuminating to hear him go at them again years later.
Little Richard's influence has been wide and profound, seen and heard in the performance styles of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Elton John, David Bowie and countless others.
Listening to his own recordings once again, it's clear that he remains a rock 'n' roll original who has been widely imitated, but never fully duplicated.
