A Half Century of Hits (Box Set)

Disc 1
1	Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On 2:56
2	It'll Be Me 2:47
3	Hand Me Down My Walking Cane 2:20
4	You Win Again 2:56
5	End of the Road 1:49
6	I'm Feelin' Sorry 2:40
7	Great Balls of Fire 1:53
8	Lewis Boogie 2:01
9	It All Depends (Who Will Buy the Wine) 3:00
10	Breathless 2:44
11	Down the Line 2:14
12	High School Confidential 2:32
13	Big Leg Woman 2:27
14	Real Wild Child (Wild One) 1:55
15	Let's Talk About Us 2:09
16	Little Queenie 2:25
17	Bonnie B. 2:22
18	Night Train to Memphis 2:11
19	What'd I Say 2:27
20	Invitation to Your Party 1:57
21	One Minute Past Eternity 2:05
22	I Can't Seem to Say Goodbye 2:35
23	Carry Me Back to 'Ol Virginia 2:29
24	Jerry Lee Lewis and Sam Phillips: Religious Discussion 4:01
Disc 2
1	Hi Heel Sneakers 3:34
2	I'm on Fire 2:25
3	Green, Green Grass of Home 2:41
4	Memphis Beat 2:52
5	Another Place, Another Time 2:27
6	What's Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made a Loser out of Me) 2:37
7	Workin' Man Blues 2:56
8	She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye 2:41
9	Me and Bobby McGee 3:13
10	To Make Love Sweeter for You 2:50
11	There Must Be More to Love Than This 2:45
12	Think About It Darlin' 2:34
13	Chantilly Lace 2:50
14	Once More with Feeling 2:26
15	Drinkin' Wine Spa-Dee-O-Dee 3:44
16	Middle Age Crazy 3:52
17	Meat Man 2:47
18	A Damn Good Country Song Alternative Vocal / Alternate Take 2:08
19	That Kind of Fool 2:27
20	No Headstone on My Grave 5:26
21	Your Cheatin' Heart Bonus Track 3:07
22	Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On Bonus Track 4:29
Disc 3
1	Rockin' My Life Away 3:27
2	Rita May 2:44
3	Don't Let Go 3:08
4	I Wish I Was Eighteen Again 3:42
5	Folsom Prison Blues 3:43
6	Who Will the Next Fool Be 5:49
7	Rockin' Little Angel 2:03
8	I'd Do It All Again 2:53
9	Thirty-Nine and Holding 2:58
10	Rockin' Jerry Lee 2:35
11	Over the Rainbow 3:46
12	Down the Road a Piece 2:30
13	Miss the Mississippi and You 3:39
14	Crown Victoria Custom '51 3:04
15	It Was the Whiskey Talkin' (Not Me) 3:41
16	Good News Travels Fast previously unreleased 2:52
17	Money (That's What I Want) previously unreleased 2:38
18	Hadacol Boogie previously unreleased 3:24
19	Don't Stay Away ('Til Love Grows Cold) previously unreleased 2:23
20	New Orleans Boogie previously unreleased 2:02

Barnes & Noble

When it comes to charting the breadth and depth of Jerry Lee Lewis's musical legacy, this three-disc overview, long overdue domestically, has no competition. The Sun recordings from the '50s (which occupy all of Disc 1, including the famous snippet of debate between Sun founder Sam Phillips and Jerry Lee over whether rock 'n' roll is the devil's music) are as great as any rock 'n' roll from the first golden era. When he rebuilt his career as a country artist with Smash and Mercury from 1963 to 1978 (as heard on Disc 2), he cut timeless and tough honky-tonk-based gems that have become genre classics -- especially the melancholy "Another Place, Another Time," the quintessential drinkin' song "What's Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made a Fool Out of Me)," and the lilting, string-enriched lament "Middle Age Crazy," (most of these with the great Jerry Kennedy producing). Even others' hits, such as "She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye" and Kris Kristofferson's "Me and Bobby McGee," which Jerry Lee jacks up to a pumping fury, become new avenues of expression. Kennedy could even lay on the strings and silky pop background vocals, and Jerry Lee would respond with a tenderness rarely attributed to him, resulting in a love song made for swooning ("To Make Love Sweeter for You"). The hits came far less frequently during his tenures with Elektra and Sire in the '80s and '90s, but, as Disc 3 illustrates, that wasn't for lack of powerhouse performances: The first four cuts on this disc, especially the barnburning treatments of Bob Dylan's "Rita Mae" and Jesse Stone's R&B evergreen, "Don't Let Go," are about as potent as Jerry Lee ever got on record, the Sun years included. The real treat here comes with the final four tracks, all previously unreleased anywhere; two are the very first recordings the Killer ever made, all alone at the piano at the fabled J&M Studio in New Orleans. Suffice it to say that anyone who thinks Jerry Lee didn't pick up some tricks from Professor Longhair along the way needs to hear these rollicking, nimble-fingered workouts, especially on the instrumental "New Orleans Boogie," a rare Jerry Lee original. Supplement all this with some import-only live tracks and a concise career overview penned by Colin Escott (all that's missing is a listing of session personnel on these cuts, an unfortunate oversight), and you just might agree that Jerry Lee was correct when he ranked himself with Al Jolson and Hank Williams as one of the most original singers America has produced. Humility was never his thing, thank God. David McGee

All Music Guide

Billed as the "first-ever complete career retrospective," Time Life's triple-disc box set A Half Century of Hits is indeed the first Jerry Lee Lewis compilation to span his entire career, from his timeless Sun sessions in the '50s to his Andy Paley-produced 1995 comeback, Young Blood, for Sire. It even stretches back a little further than that, containing both sides of a newly discovered private recording from 1952, tacked on as a coda at the end of the 66-track set, along with three previously unreleased outtakes from 1981 -- a nice enticement for the hardcore fans who need a reason to buy another repackaging of familiar material. In fact, the entire third disc is tempting to hardcore fans, because the bulk of it contains selections from his late-'70s/early-'80s recordings for Elektra, many of which have yet to make it to CD. This is noteworthy, since this music is quite strong, on par with his acclaimed 1974 rock & roll comeback, Southern Roots, but also containing a healthy dose of the honky tonk that made his late-'60s/early-'70s Smash/Mercury recordings so good; hearing these 11 tracks makes it hard not to wish that all the Elektra recordings were out on disc, since the Killer manages to make the disco beat on "Folsom Prison Blues" sound like rock & roll. Then again, Jerry Lee's recordings were nothing if not consistent, as this triple-disc box proves. Some may shine brighter than others, but there were no bad moments: the big hits on Sun and Smash are pinnacles, but the rest of his sides for these labels are generally excellent. And that means that A Half Century of Hits is first-rate from beginning to end, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it is a definitive portrait of the Killer's career.

True, it is the first set to contain selections from all of his labels -- roughly breaking down to a disc of Sun, a disc of Smash/Mercury, a disc of Elektra and Sire -- and in doing so, it does present an accurate overall portrait of his career, but some of the song selection and sequencing is a bit amiss. To begin with, Jerry Lee's first Sun single, "Crazy Arms" (about as a perfect a debut single that there is), is inexplicably missing, and the second disc of Smash/Mercury sides emphasizes rock & roll over country, so such classics as "She Still Comes Around (To Love What's Left of Me)," "One Has My Name (The Other Has My Heart)" (which is present in a live version from 1981), "Don't Let Me Cross Over," "Invitation to Your Party," and "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone" are missing. And this points out that, contrary to the sticker on the front, this set does not contain every Top 20 pop and country hit from Jerry Lee Lewis. There are many country singles from the early '70s that are missing, and they would have been nice to have here. Another minor problem is the sequencing, with rare material tacked onto the end of each disc. Although this works well on disc three -- the excellent unreleased 1981 sessions follow the slick self-conscious Paley album nicely, and having the 1952 acetate end the set is a good grace note, since the sweet spin on Lefty Frizzell's "Don't Stay Away ('Til Love Grows Cold)" is the one time Jerry Lee ever sounded tentative, and it's balanced by "New Orleans Boogie," which points the way to the rock & roll to come -- having Jerry Lee and Sam Phillips' notorious religious discussion at the end of disc one strips it of context (hearing the Killer launch into "Great Balls of Fire" after this argument gives both the dialogue and the song more power), and while the two Star Club cuts from 1964 still sound incendiary at the end of the disc two, their placement after the '70s country sessions seems bewilderingly arbitrary.

For these reasons, A Half Century of Hits doesn't quite add up to the definitive Jerry Lee Lewis collection, yet it comes close enough to that billing to be useful for listeners who want a comprehensive collection without delving into the three Bear Family boxes. The now out of print 1993 Rhino double-disc set All Killer, No Filler may have a higher ratio of classics in a more digestible collection, but that's now hard to find -- and this also has a better selection of Elektra material than that, plus a handful of worthy rarities to rope in the hardcore. So, get this and then find a way to get the missing singles, and you'll wind up assembling the definitive Jerry Lee set that this almost is. Stephen Thomas Erlewine