Little Richard box set collects the legendary rocker's top tracks on vinyl

For some reason I've never owned a Little Richard album, but man, I sure have enjoyed his tunes over the years--especially when other folks do 'em.

I was just a kid of six or seven when I first rocked out with the Beatles' 1964 cover of "Long Tall Sally". McCartney sang up a storm on that one, I recall.

Some of my fave artists from the '70s did cool things with Little Richard numbers as well, acts like Mick Ronson ("The Girl Can't Help It"), John Lennon ("Rip It Up"), and the Rockets ("Lucille").

Creedence Clearwater Revival's take on "Good Golly, Miss Molly", from the Bayou Country album of 1969, was pretty wicked.

For anybody else who's never owned a Little Richard album but can't explain why, there's an easy way to rectify the situation.

Universal Music Canada has just announced the July 15 release of a five-LP Little Richard collection entitled Mono Box: The Complete Specialty and Vee-Jay Albums.

Here's some promotional bumph from the press release:

"...the collection includes the entire output of studio albums that the iconic artist had recorded for both the Specialty and Vee-Jay labels, spanning 1957–1965. The albums, each featuring original label and jacket art, have been meticulously remastered from analogue tapes and are presented in their original mono mixes. Completing the collection is a 16-page booklet featuring new liner notes by journalist Bill Dahl, plus era-specific photos."

The LPs included in the package are 1957's Here’s Little Richard (featuring tracks like “Tutti Frutti”, "Miss Ann", and “Long Tall Sally”); 1958's Little Richard ( “Lucille,” “Good Golly, Miss Molly”, "The Girl Can’t Help It"); 1959's The Fabulous Little Richard (“Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On”, “Kansas City”); 1964’s Little Richard Is Back ("Lawdy Miss Claudie", "Cherry Red"), and 1965’s His Greatest Hits (where Richard revisited his previous hits with new arrangements and instrumentation).

“As the end of the decade grew near and the first rock and roll revival loomed," writes Dahl in the liner notes, "Richard emerged at its forefront, his outrageous image earning him overdue network TV exposure. It’s impossible to imagine how the genre would have developed if not for his massive innovations.”

More importantly, though, Muhammad Ali thought he was cool: