Billy Riley

Mojo Albums Plus Billy Riley

The late Billy Lee Riley was one of the titanic but unsung pioneers of rock'n'roll. He was better looking than Carl Perkins, hismulti-instrument ability surpassed Elvis's, his confidence equalled Jerry Lee Lewis's. And he was important to Sun Records in ways other were not. Riley's musicians, co-opted as studio session-men, plotted the course of rock'n'roll as much as many a more celebrated band. Like the household names, Riley had a life after Sun and this 29-track CD contains two diverse but equally versatile albums made some 14 years apart. 'Vintage', from 1980, is a solid, renascent set of immortal rock'n'roll classics inspired by the renewed European interest in rockabilly and Sun Records. Then there's 'Southern Soul At The Brave-Falcon' which features R&B standards, Top 40 tunes and Riley's own songs in a live nightclub recording which captures the best sounds of the era. It's sexy, blues 'n' boogie based soulful music and when Riley hollers "Do the Temptation Walk" it's the mid-60s all over again.