Little Richard's ultra-flamboyant style and over the top stage presence prefigured later figures like Elton John, and if Richard used the piano as much as a prop as he used it as an instrument, the fact remains that he had a big hand in casting the template for rock & roll piano. His songwriting, too, a delightful mix of lust and nonsense, helped shape rock's self-image as music of pure kinetic fun and freewheeling, rebellious abandon. This set has classic performances of some of his biggest and most enduring hits like "Long Tall Sally," "Lucille," "Jenny, Jenny," and "Good Golly Miss Molly" in the original single versions. Richard is in full vocal flight here, and if he has been viewed more as a character than as a musician in recent years, the proof that he knew how to burn down the house at the piano is on full display here.
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