2 LPs on 1 CD.
Personnel: Jerry Lee Lewis (vocals, piano); Charles Freeman (guitar); Dan Daniels (organ); Herman Hawkins (bass); Morris "Tarp" Tarrant (drums).
Reissue producer: Richard Weize.
Recorded live at Municipal Auditorium, Birmingham, Alabama on July 1, 1964 and Panther Hall, Fort Worth, Texas on September 7, 1966.
THE GREATEST LIVE SHOWS ON EARTH combines two 1960s Jerry Lee Lewis concert albums, one from 1964 and another from 1966. These were the years when Lewis was absent from the pop charts, after his marriage to his thirteen-year old cousin caused the media to ban Lewis' records and before his late-'60s revival as a country recording artist. Judging from these two concerts, the sales slump had no noticeable effect on Lewis' self-confidence; his performances are full of the same fire and bravado that mark his great records of the late Fifties.
Of the two shows, the earlier one is more up tempo, with only two ballads (including a great version of Charlie Rich's "Who Will the Next Fool Be?") breaking up a set of flat-out rockers. The 1966 show contains more ballads and more country songs, foreshadowing the direction Lewis' recording career would soon take. Among the many highlights are a blistering "Mean Woman Blues," a lurid "What'd I Say Part 2," and, of course, a show-stopping "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin'On."