Time Life Records
2006
A Half Century Of Hits
About This Album
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.
Track List

Disc 1 (try tracks 1,2,3,5,6,8,9,11,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20 and 23)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.

Disc 2 (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,17,18,19 and 20)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.

Disc 3 (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,12,13,14,15 and 16)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.

 
report abuse