ALBUMS: Precious Lord (1985)
This is an interesting record from one of the founders of rock ‘n roll.
MVC Rating: 3.5/$$$$
Son of a church deacon, who severely punished Little Richard after catching his son wearing women’s clothes , Little Richard aka Richard Wayne Penniman clearly had some personal issues in his life — sexuality conflicts and substance abuse.
According to various sources including an autobiography, Little Richard’s father’s church duties in Macon, Ga., were augmented by a moonshine and nightclub business. So somewhere therein lies a reason or two why Little Richard bounced back and forth between being ‘born again,’ singing gospel and secular music that pushed the bounds that society had laid down for sexually explicit content at the time.
Long Tall Sally, Tutti Frutti, and Good Golly Miss Molly are three of his bigger hits whose vocal stylings influenced everyone from Paul McCartney to Wilson Picket.
The record company had to hire someone to clean up the lyrics forTutti Frutti, for example. This 1985 gospel record is not listed on Wikipedia’s discography although you can buy it on vinyl on Amazon for about $17. I bought this new back in 1985 after wandering into a store in one of Birmingham’s mostly black neighborhoods. That’s where I also found a Birmingham Community Choir record, which I feature earlier in my countdown.
This album is not well recorded and that’s why I give it a 3.5, rather than a 4 or better. It sounds like it was recorded in a cavernous empty church with one microphone dangling from the ceiling. An echo-ey and distant feel.
That said, the singer shows off an amazing voice and range. Glad I got it
ALABAMA NOTE: In one of his bounce backs to religion in the late 60s, he attended Oakwood College (now University) in Huntsville. It is a historically Black Seventh-day Adventist institution,