RSD 20/4/24:
Yes, Little Joe sure can sing…but should he? Now you can be the judge, as Real Gone Music reissues this astonishingly rare album from a young Joe Pesci (going by the name Joe Ritchie), cut for Brunswick Records in 1968. Never before reissued in any format, Little Joe Sure Can Sing finds the future superstar actor interpreting a variety of fare, highlighted by three Beatles covers (“Got to Get You into My Life,” “Fixing a Hole,” and “The Fool on the Hill”). The liner notes on the back cover credit Little Jimmy Scott and Billie Holiday as influences, and, as God is our witness, we really do hear echoes of their phrasing and tone, ably backed by arrangements from Artie Schroeck. But we also hear the guy who shot Spider in the clubhouse in Goodfellas! Clear with orange swirl vinyl pressing!