{"id":645,"date":"2011-11-15T05:18:10","date_gmt":"2011-11-15T10:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=645"},"modified":"2011-11-15T05:18:10","modified_gmt":"2011-11-15T10:18:10","slug":"album-review-the-essential-sun-records-collection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2011\/11\/15\/album-review-the-essential-sun-records-collection\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: The Essential Sun Records Collection"},"content":{"rendered":"

First, the bad news, such as it is: There\u2019s no Elvis Presley<\/strong> on this 4CD set with the thus-somewhat inaccurate title The Essential Sun Records Collection<\/em>. Any set claiming to cover the groundbreaking label\u2019s output simply has to include some of Elvis\u2019 legendary sides. Right?<\/p>\n

Well, yes. But clearly the licensing fees required to slap some of Elvis\u2019 first five singles onto the set would have been prohibitive. Besides, most interested in this material will have those songs elsewhere. So with that out of the way, is The Essential Sun Records Collection<\/em> a worthwhile purchase?<\/p>\n

Certainly it is. While neither comprehensive or presented in an especially scholarly manner, this set \u2013 including a pair of \u201cBest of Sun Records\u201d discs plus one each covering country and blues \u2013 brings together a good bit of important and (best of all) entertaining music. In addition to the usual essential suspects (Carl Perkins<\/strong>, Jerry Lee Lewis<\/strong>, Johnny Cash<\/strong><\/a>, Charlie Rich<\/strong>, Roy Orbison<\/strong>), listeners are treated to some lesser-heard sides that fill in a lot of the spaces in one\u2019s collection. And even among the high-profile names there’s plenty of great material. Carl Perkins\u2019 \u201cSure to Fall\u201d is a reminder to Beatles<\/strong> fans that the latter were hugely influenced by this music: their BBC cover of the song is nearly a carbon copy of the original here, down to the twangy vocal harmonies.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s useful to remember that the aforementioned names weren\u2019t the only artists creating vitally important music on the Sun label. Little Junior Parker<\/strong>\u2019<\/span>s \u201cMystery Train\u201d delivers the classic in an arrangement quite different \u2013 but in some ways equal to \u2013 Elvis\u2019 reading. Billy Lee Riley<\/strong>\u2019s \u201cRed Hot\u201d is as exciting as anything Jerry Lee ever did. (Those impressed by that track are advised to track down the Rhino box set Loud, Fast and Out of Control<\/em> for loads more in this vein.) And for listeners who want to hear the song again but with different words, check out Riley\u2019s \u201cFlyin\u2019 Saucers Rockin\u2019 Roll,\u201d also included on this set.<\/p>\n

Tracks that are often mentioned in histories of the era \u2013 yet rarely heard on oldies radio or anywhere else \u2013 make up a good portion of these discs. Songs like Bill Justis<\/strong>\u2019 \u201cRaunchy\u201d and Jackie Brenston<\/strong>\u2019s \u201cRocket 88\u201d offer as much to explain the importance of Sun as do the more well-known hits. (Many of the latter are included, too.)<\/p>\n

The blues-centered disc includes sides from Rufus Thomas<\/strong><\/a>, Howlin\u2019 Wolf<\/strong> and James Cotton<\/strong>, but it also features blues (or blues-ish) cuts from artists not generally associated with the genre, names like Charlie Rich and Jerry Lee Lewis. The country disc offers up fifteen lesser-heard tracks, including \u201cGonna Dance All Night\u201d by Hardrock Gunter<\/strong>. (A good thumbnail bio of Gunter can be found in Nick Tosches<\/strong>\u2019 Unsung Heroes of Rock N’ Roll: The Birth of Rock in the Wild Years Before Elvis<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

The brief liner notes for each disc spend most of their ink noting chart positions and market value of the rare 45s; those interested in historical contextualization will have to look elsewhere. But the music is the thing here. As a low-budget way to add some Sun to one\u2019s day, The Essential Sun Records Collection<\/em> is a sensible purchase.<\/p>\n

Related Note: An essay based on my 2010 visit to Sun Studio is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Follow \u201cthe_musoscribe\u201d on Twitter<\/a> and get notified
\nwhen new features, reviews and essays are published.<\/p>\n

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DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION:
\n\"I<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First, the bad news, such as it is: There\u2019s no Elvis Presley on this 4CD set with the thus-somewhat inaccurate title The Essential Sun Records Collection. Any set claiming to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-review","cat-65-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}