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The Sun Sessions

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The Sun Sessions is a compilation of Elvis Presley recordings at Sun Studios in 1954 and 1955. It was released in 1976.

Making of the album

It features all of the tracks recorded by Sam Phillips, the head of Sun Studios. Phillips signed Presley after hearing a song that he had recorded for his mother on his birthday. It includes "That's All Right" or "That's All Right (Mama)" regarded by many people as the first rock and roll record.

Phillips said that Presley was rehearsing with his band Scotty Moore and Bill Black when Presley started singing the song which was a previous blues song by Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup. Phillips said that the version of the song was what he was looking for when he signed Presley and turned the tape recorder on.

Chart success

The Sun Sessions was released in March 1976 and reached #76 on the pop and #2 on the country charts. The single "That's All Right" did not chart when released in 1954 but became the focus of a great deal of attention fifty years later in 2004 when it was the subject of a great deal of publicity. There was a special ceremony on 6 July 2004 featuring Isaac Hayes, Justin Timberlake, Moore and Black which was beamed live to 1200 radio stations. The song now went top 5 in the UK and Canada and also charted in Australia. The Sun Sessions was also re-released in 2004 to celebrate the anniversary.

The single "Baby, Let's Play House" combined with "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone" reached #5 on the country charts in 1955. Also, RCA Records saw that Elvis was rapidly building a reputation for his live performances. They offered Sun Records $35,000 to buy out Presley's contract and the rest is history.

Importance

Rolling Stone Magazine rated The Sun Sessions number 11 on its List of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list released in 2003. In 2003 the TV channel VH1 named it the 21st greatest album of all time. Allmusic.com rated it as five stars, saying "it collects his first, and arguably most important, recordings into one convenient package. Who doesn't need this in their record collection?"

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has selected The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. There are two tracks from the album listed "Mystery Train" and "That's All Right".

Track listing

  1. "That's All Right"
  2. "Blue Moon of Kentucky"
  3. "I Don't Care if the Sun don't Shine"
  4. "Good Rockin Tonight"
  5. "Milk Cow Blues"
  6. "You're a Heartbreaker"
  7. "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone"
  8. "Baby Let's Play House"
  9. "Mystery Train"
  10. "I Forgot to Remember to Forget"
  11. "I'll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin')"
  12. "Trying to Get to You"
  13. "I Love You Because"
  14. "Just Because"
  15. "I Love You Because" (2nd version)

Allmusic.com's recommended tracks: "That's All Right", "I Don't Care if the Sun don't Shine", "Good Rockin Tonight", "Mystery Train", "Trying to Get to You".

External links

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