[.ca] Red Hot: The Best of Billy Lee Riley

Sun's Failed Replacement For Elvis:
Billy Lee Riley, a multi-instrumentalist with a raw, rockabilly sound, was to be the Sun label's replacement for Elvis after they sold the latter's contract to RCA. He could certainly belt out a jump tune with the best of his contemporaries like Charlie Feathers, Johnny Carroll, and Mac Curtis but, also like them, hit single status eluded him. His best, obviously, was the pounding Red Hot but even that, while played extensively throughout the South, could not crack the national charts. He did finally get a hit of sorts in 1962 when his self-penned instrumental Shimmy, Shimmy Walk Part 1 struggled to # 88 pop by the group he then headed called The Megatons \oBilly Lee on guitar and harmonica, Jimmy Wilson on piano, and Martin Willis on sax and drums\c. This had actually been released in 1961 on the Dodge label, but only became a charter after being picked up and distributed by Checker. Further such success would elude him until 1972 when, for the Entrance label, I Got A Thing About You Baby just made the Top 100 at # 93 in November. Riley tried his hand at everything and for a multitude of labels, doing pure Country for Mojo, Pen, Hip, Sun, and Entrance, soul for Fire, Fury, Smash, and Myrl, and backwoods blues for Dodge, R & B and his own Rita label. None made any impact. In this CD, Collectables has chosen to concentrate on the rockabilly sides, although it would have been nice had they found room for the only two cuts he did that ever made the national charts. Still, if you're seeking a sampling of the raw acoustic rhythm and heavy backbeat that was the beginning of the genre known briefly as "rockabilly" in the late 1950s, this is as good a place as any to start.

a rockin' "mother":
Like Sam Phillips said, Billy Rilley was a rockin' mother. If all the songs on this collection were as good as "Flying Saucers Rock N' Roll" and "Red Hot" I would rate it five stars plus. Overall it was somewhat uneven. But Riley has to rank among the rockabilly and rock n' roll greats. His luck was always bad when it came to reaching for stardom, but coming across his best stuff in Sun collections is such a kick. No white man ever rocked harder.

• Red Hot
• Pearly Lee
• Flyin' Saucers Rock & Roll
• Baby Please Don't Go
• Searchin'
• Betty & Dupree
• Trouble Bound
• Wouldn't You Know
• College Man
• Got the Water Boiling
• I Want You Baby
• Swanee River Rock
• Rock With Me Baby
• Open the Door Richard
• No Name Girl
• That's Right
• Down by the Riverside
• Come Back Baby (One More Time)
• Lookin' for My Baby
• Tallahassee
• Workin' on the River
• Gallows Hill