Mr. Big (Little Richard album)

Untitled

Mr. Big, released in the middle of his Reprise Records period, was another compilation of Little Richard's mid 1960s recordings for the Vee Jay Records label. Released on the Joy label for the UK market, it is included in the album chronology because three tracks had previously been unreleased on an album: My Wheel's Been Slipping All The Way, Talking 'Bout Soul and Dance What You Wanna. Confusion about the album's status exists because an album with not only the same name, but also the same cover was released for the US market in 1974 with different tracks. (See The Alternate Mr. Big).

History

As covered on the entry for Little Richard Is Back (And There's A Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On!), Richard recorded nearly fifty tracks for the Vee-Jay Records label in 1964/1965. With the collapse of the record label, many of these tracks went unreleased for many years. Due to the nature of these albums containing effectively 'new' material, they are included in the Little Richard album chronology, despite the material being nearly ten years old at the date of its release.

The Alternate Mr. Big

Three years after the release of this album, an album for the US market was released using the same name, but with different tracks. To add to the confusion, the second Mr. Big album even utilised the same cover, though is not included in the chronology as it contained no tracks that hadn't been previously unreleased. For the record, the tracklisting on the alternate Mr. Big was as follows: Send Me Some Lovin'/Hound Dog/Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On/The Girl Can't Help It/Crossover/It Ain't What Ya Do/Everytime I Think About You/Dancin' All Around The World/Going Home Tomorrow/Money Honey/Ooh My Soul.

Track listing

1. "Jenny, Jenny" (1:58)
2. "Without Love (There Is Nothing)" (3:19)
3. "Cross Over" (2:40)
4. "My Wheel's Been Slippin' All The Way" (2:26)
5. "It Ain't What You Do (It's The Way How You Do It)" (2:24)
6. "Every Time I Think About You" (2:12)
7. "Talkin' 'Bout Soul" (2:10)
8. "I Don't Know What You Got (But It's Got Me) (Parts 1 & 2) (Alternate Version)" (4:07)
9. "Dance What You Wanna" (2:23)
10. "Dancing All Around The World" (2:57)

Personnel, tracks 1,3-5

• Little Richard – vocals, piano

Rest of personnel unlisted in Vee Jay archives

Personnel, tracks 2,7 and 9

• Little Richard – vocals, piano
• Clyde Johnson - sax
• William Green - sax
• Buddy Collette - sax
• Earl Palmer - drums

Rest of personnel unlisted in Vee Jay archives

Personnel, tracks 6, 8 and 10

• Little Richard – vocals, piano
• Jimi Hendrix - guitar

Rest of personnel unlisted in Vee Jay archives

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1970	Billboard Pop Albums	Did not chart