Consumer Guide Album

Jerry Lee Lewis: The Session [Mercury, 1973]
The hardest-rocking Lewis album in years and the best London-meets-the-legend promotion since Howlin' Wolf's is amazingly consistent and authoritative--Lewis's patented hick cool always provides its satisfactions. But the impersonality of the no-gaffe two-disc supersession encourages his habit of expressing compassion and pain without any show of conviction. Of course, that's part of his charm. And you've gotta hear Rory Gallagher take Elmore James's part on "Whole Lotta Shakin'." B+