King of Rock and Roll [Reprise]

In contrast to his 1970 Reprise album THE RILL THING, which constituted a serious updating of his sound, complete with a brace of new songs, Little Richard's KING OF ROCK AND ROLL was deliberately less ambitious, built around covers of material that early-'70s audiences would have known well by way of Motown, the Rolling Stones, Three Dog Night, Creedence Clearwater Revival, et al, including "Brown Sugar," "The Way You Do the Things You Do," "Joy to the World," "Dancing in the Street," and "Born on the Bayou." Its user-friendly song list aside, this ended up a pretty powerful and challenging record in its own right, with Richard putting his distinct spin on much of the material.