Little Richard - Get Down With It - The OKeh Sessions (2004 + Booklet) Epic Legacy - Rare Soul (FLAC 580 MB)

Richard was such a talent he could do any genre of music. But on this canadian only released CD is my own personal Favourite  SOUL!. Here we have all his okeh recordings under one roof, all the rare stuff that collectors like myself had been hunting out for years on that beloved labels 45,s. The entire CD is consisted mainly of his Rare Dancers with just a few ballads included. His mega rare Northern version of "Hound Dog" which was unissued (apart from a few acetates doing the rounds in the northern clubs) is also here. While Little Richard Penniman is well known for his Specialty, Mercury, Veejay, and Modern recordings (though many of the sides on the latter two labels were merely redos of his Specialty hits), he is little celebrated for these wonderful sides recorded for Okeh in 1966 and 1967. The Little Richard on these sessions is a seasoned R&B singer whose feet are deeply rooted in modern-era Southern soul (or Northern to us here in the UK). Despite the fact that the material was all recorded in Hollywood. For Okeh, Little Richard recorded devastatingly fine versions of "Function at the Junction," "I Don't Want to Discuss It," Berry Gordy's "M-O-N-E-Y," "Poor Dog," "Hurry Sundown," and Sam Cooke's "Well All Right" to mention a few. To help him pull it all off  this was seen as a last ditch survival effort for the singer. Little Richard's sidemen for these dates include Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Larry Williams, Eddie Fletcher, and Glen Willings a crack studio band if there ever was one. In sum, the Okeh material yielded one fine, 11-track album in "The Explosive Little Richard" released in 1967, and three issued B-sides for its singles. Appearing on this CD for the very first time are three leftover tracks that include smoking raw versions of Fats Domino's "Rocking Chair" and Leiber & Stoller's "Hound Dog." For those who are contemplating a Little Richard CD, the Specialty sides should come first because they contain the original versions of his classics. For those who already have that material, this set is an excellent addition to the Penniman shelf. There isn't a loser in the bunch, and these performances are truly inspired, burning from start to finish, they are still startling even today. In addition to the great music, soul expert Charles White's liner notes are thorough and authoritative and offer the same kind of exuberance Penniman put into these performances. This is the richard i go for..Northern Soul Style!

AMM

                                                                         The Tasters!