''The Sun Sessions'' is a compilation album by American singer

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

, containing songs he recorded at

Sun Studios Sun Studio is a recording studio opened by rock-and-roll pioneer Sam Phillips at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, on January 3, 1950. It was originally called Memphis Recording Service, sharing the same building with the Sun Records label ...

in 1954 and 1955. It was issued by

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

in 1976, and had been issued and charted as ''The Sun Collection'' in the UK the previous year. It features

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desc ...

Roy Carr Roy Carr (1945 – 1 July 2018) was an English music journalist, covering pop, rock and jazz. He joined the '' New Musical Express (NME)'' in the late 1960s, and edited ''NME'', '' Vox'' and '' Melody Maker'' magazines. Biography Born in Bla ...

of the New Musical Express. ''The Sun Sessions'' features most of the tracks Elvis recorded at Sun studio and were produced by

Sam Phillips Samuel Cornelius Phillips (January 5, 1923 – July 30, 2003) was an American record producer. He was the founder of Sun Records and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he produced recordings by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, ...

, the head of Sun Studios. Elvis began his singing career with Sun Records label in Memphis. The album reached number two on the ''Billboard'' Country Albums and number 1 on the ''Cashbox'' Country Albums charts. In 2002, ''The Sun Sessions'' were chosen by the

National Recording Registry The National Recording Registry is a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States." The registry was established by the National Recording Preservati ...

of the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

to be included in its archives given their importance to the development of American popular music. In 2003 it was ranked number 11 on ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'''s list of

The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is a recurring opinion survey and music ranking of the finest albums in history, compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and indust ...

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and ...

included two tracks from the album: "

Mystery Train "Mystery Train" is a song written and recorded by American blues musician Junior Parker in 1953. Originally performed in the style of a Memphis blues or rhythm and blues tune, it was inspired by earlier songs and later became a popular rockabi ...

" and "

That's All Right "That's All Right" is a song written and originally performed by blues singer Arthur Crudup and recorded in 1946. The song was rereleased in early March 1949 under the title "That's All Right, Mama", which was issued as RCA's first rhythm and bl ...

Recording

The album features most of the tracks Elvis recorded at Sun studio and were produced by

, the head of Sun Studios. Elvis began his singing career with Sun Records label in Memphis. Phillips signed Presley after hearing a song that he had recorded for his mother on his birthday. Phillips said that Presley was rehearsing with his band,

Scotty Moore Winfield Scott Moore III (December 27, 1931 – June 28, 2016) was an American guitarist who formed The Blue Moon Boys in 1954, Elvis Presley's backing band. He was studio and touring guitarist for Presley between 1954 and 1968. Rock critic ...

and

Bill Black William Patton Black Jr. (September 17, 1926 – October 21, 1965) was an American musician and bandleader who is noted as one of the pioneers of rock and roll. He played in Elvis Presley's early trio. Black later formed Bill Black's Combo. Ear ...

, when Presley started singing the song, a blues song written by

Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup Arthur William "Big Boy" Crudup (August 24, 1905 – March 28, 1974) was an American Delta blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known, outside blues circles, for his songs "That's All Right" (1946), " My Baby Left Me" and "So Gl ...

. Phillips said that the version of the song was what he was looking for when he signed Presley, and turned the tape recorder on. Elvis recorded more than 20 songs at Sun, including some private recordings. Of these, 15 appear on this album. Missing songs: *"Harbor Lights" *"Tomorrow Night" *"When It Rains, It Really Pours" *"I Got a Woman" (tape lost) *"Satisfied" (tape lost) *The earlier private recordings In 1987, RCA released ''The Complete Sun Sessions'' including all tracks previously issued on ''Sun Sessions'' plus "Harbor Lights", "Tomorrow Night", "When It Rains, It Really Pours", plus 14 other outtakes. Despite the ''Complete'' title, the album was still missing "I Got a Woman", "Satisfied" and the earlier private recordings.

Commercial performance

''The Sun Sessions'' was released in March 1976 and reached No. 76 on the pop and No. 2 on the country charts. The single "Baby, Let's Play House" combined with "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone" reached No. 5 on the country charts in 1955. Also, RCA Victor saw that Elvis was rapidly building a reputation for his live performances. They offered Sun Records $35,000 to buy out Presley's contract. The single "That's All Right" did not chart in the US when released in 1954, and it was never issued as a single in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

during Presley's lifetime. In 2004, the song became the focus of attention when it was the subject of a great deal of publicity because of the 50-year anniversary. There was a special ceremony on July 6, 2004, featuring Isaac Hayes, Justin Timberlake and Scotty Moore which was beamed live to 1200 radio stations. The song went top five in the UK and Canada and also charted in Australia. ''The Sun Sessions'' was also re-released in 2004 (in Japan only) to celebrate the anniversary.

Reception and legacy

After ''The Sun Sessions'' was released, ''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...

'' critic Robert Christgau hailed ''The Sun Sessions'' as "the rock reissue of the year", writing in that along with '' Chuck Berry's Golden Decade'', its songs represented the wellspring of rock music. He later included it in his "basic record library" of essential albums from the 1950s and 1960s, published in '' Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies'' (1981). In 2003, the albums 1999 extended 2CD reissue was ranked No. 11 on ''

'' magazine's list of

the 500 greatest albums of all time "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is a recurring opinion survey and music ranking of the finest albums in history, compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and indust ...

, maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list, and dropping to number 78 in the 2020 reboot of the list. In 2001, the

TV channel A television channel is a terrestrial frequency or virtual number over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the terrestrial or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with ...

VH1 named it the 21st greatest album of all time. Music scholar Michael Campbell called it "quintessential rockabilly" with Presley's voice "the magical element" drawing on country and rhythm and blues but confined to neither, while

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

critic Cub Koda said "what we ultimately have here is a young Elvis Presley, mixing elements of blues, gospel and hillbilly music together and getting ready to unleash its end result – rock & roll – on an unsuspecting world."

included two tracks from the album: "

" and "

." In 2002, ''The Sun Sessions'' were chosen by the

of the

to be included in its archives given their importance to the development of American popular music. This album is the very first Elvis album to feature "I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine", which was only previously issued as a single. After more than 20 years, ''The Sun Sessions'' marked the song's official debut on LP.

Track listing

Note *The last six tracks are original Sun recordings, but were not issued until 1956 on Presley's first album for RCA Victor. They were never released on the Sun label.

Personnel

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

, acoustic guitar,

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

on "Trying to Get to You" *

–

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...

–

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar i ...

*Jimmie Lott – drums on "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone" (erroneously attributed to D.J. Fontana) *Johnny Bernero – drums on "I Forgot to Remember to Forget" and "Trying to Get to You" (erroneously attributed to D.J. Fontana)

Charts

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sun Sessions, The Sun Records compilation albums Elvis Presley compilation albums 1976 compilation albums RCA Records compilation albums Albums produced by Sam Phillips Albums recorded at Sun Studio