Jerry Lee Lewis: "Live" at the Star Club, Hamburg
Genre: Rock and Roll	Dates: 1964

At the time this was recorded, the Killer had been blackballed from pop radio for over five years, which had destroyed his recording career and forced him to tour relentlessly for sustenance. In addition, he was not only mourning the death of his first son, but sliding into the alcoholism and drug addiction that would nearly kill him on several occasions in the coming years. In short, he was in desperate straits, and, as Jerry Lee himself would have said, headed for Hell. At the Star Club, which had just a few years earlier incubated the Beatles, he apparently saw the Devil in the audience and felt the flames on his soles—such is the maniacal intensity of the performance captured here. He roars through his own greatest hits, outdistances Little Richard, Elvis, Hank Williams, and Ray Charles (no mean feat) on demonic cover versions, spurs the future Nashville Teens into a superhuman instrumental performance, pounds the keys off the piano, and even pauses to join the crowd in chanting his name. Then he closes with a "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" that drives Ol' Scratch back down into his hole. Before you accuse me of hyperbole—check it out.

Playlist:

1. Mean Woman Blues
2. High School Confidential
3. Money (That's What I Want)
4. Matchbox
5. What'd I Say, Pt. 1
6. What'd I Say, Pt. 2
7. Great Balls of Fire
8. Good Golly Miss Molly
9. Lewis Boogie
10. Your Cheatin' Heart
11. Hound Dog
12. Long Tall Sally
13. Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On