Recorded: 1955-59

Released: 1968 ^GO, 1991 ^GP

^GO Grooviest 17 Original Hits!
^GP The Georgia Peach

Rating: ^GO

^GP

Genre: early rock and roll

Quotable: “the single-disc Little Richard hits collection to own for a long time to come” – William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide ^GO

Album Tracks: ^GP

1. Tutti Frutti ^GO
2. Baby
3. I’m Just a Lonely Guy
4. True Fine Mama ^GO
5. Kansas City/ Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!
6. Slippin’ and Slidin’ ^GO
7. Long Tall Sally ^GO
8. Miss Ann ^GO
9. Oh Why?
10. Ready Teddy ^GO
11. Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! ^GO
12. Rip It Up ^GO
13. Lucille ^GO
14. Heeby-Jeebies ^GO
15. Can’t Believe You Wanna Leave
16. Shake a Hand
17. All Around the World ^GO
18. She’s Got It ^GO
19. Jenny Jenny ^GO
20. Good Golly, Miss Molly ^GO
21. The Girl Can’t Help It
22. Send Me Some Lovin’ ^GO
23. Ooh! My Soul ^GO
24. Keep a Knockin’
25. Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On
26. Boo Hoo Hoo Hoo, I’ll Never Let You Go ^GO

Sales:

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Peak:

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Singles/Hit Songs:

• Tutti Frutti (11/26/55) #17 US, #29 UK, #2 RB
• Long Tall Sally (4/7/56) #6 US, #3 UK, #1 RB. Sales: 1 million. Airplay: 1 million
• Slippin’ and Slidin’ (4/7/56) #33 US, #2 RB
• Rip It Up (6/30/56) #17 US, #30 UK, #1 RB
• Ready Teddy (6/30/56) #44 US, #8 RB
• She’s Got It (10/27/56) #15 UK, #9 RB
• Heeby-Jeebies (10/27/56) #7 RB
• The Girl Can’t Help It ^GP (12/29/56) #49 US, #9 UK, #7 RB
• All Around the World (12/29/56) #13 RB
• Lucille (3/16/57) #21 US, #10 UK, #1 RB. Airplay: 1 million
• Send Me Some Lovin’ (3/16/57) #54 US, #3 RB
• Jenny Jenny (6/17/57) #10 US, #11 UK, #2 RB
• Miss Ann (6/17/57) #56 US, #6 RB
• Keep a Knockin’ ^GP (9/30/57) #8 US, #21 UK, #2 RB
• Good Golly, Miss Molly (2/17/58) #10 US, #8 UK, #4 RB
• Ooh! My Soul (6/9/58) #31 US, #22 UK, #15 RB
• True Fine Mama (6/9/58) #68 US
• Kansas City/ Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey ^GP (5/11/59) #95 US, #26 UK

Notes: Many compilations have been released over the years that cover this exact same era, when Little Richard was signed to Specialty Records and although this one was strong, there were better – most notably 1991’s Georgia Peach. That collection covered everything on Grooviest 17 Original Hits!, except for “Boo Hoo Hoo Hoo, I’ll Never Let You Go,” and added another nine cuts.

Awards:

However, over the next decade, he “re-recorded his hits for Vee-Jay, Modern, and OKeh, and Specialty seems to have wanted an album with the word ‘original’ in the title, emphasizing that they possessed the actual hit versions. Taking the 12 tracks from 1963’s His Greatest Hits, the company added five more tracks, among them Ready Teddy, Miss Ann, and Ooh! My Soul, chart records they had skipped the first time around. ‘The Girl Can’t Help It’ still didn’t appear on a Little Richard hits collection, but Grooviest 17 Original Hits! was the single-disc Little Richard hits collection to own for a long time to come” (Ruhlmann).

More than 20 years later, the 25-track Georgia Peach trumped that collection and is “perhaps the greatest of Little Richard’s greatest hits compilations” (Erlewine). Not only did it gather together everything that appeared on Grooviest 17 Original Hits!, except for one cut, but fleshed it out with another nine songs and put them all in chronological order. That means the listener gets “terrific singles that never were as big as Tutti Frutti and Good Golly Miss Molly” (Erlewine) as well as hits likeThe Girl Can’t Help It and Keep a Knockin’ that were inexplicably left off Grooviest 17 Original Hits!. “On top of the sublime song selection and sound, the liner notes by compiler Billy Vera are splendid and insightful.” (Erlewine).