Customer Reviews

Sun Records 50th Anniversary

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It ain't been no 50 years since they made this music, baby, it's been like five minutes. These recordings are about the hippest cuts ever to come out of a CD player, and taken as a whole (44 tracks, count 'em) they will blow your mind clear to Nashville.

We are talking Elvis. We're talking Carl Perkins. We're talking Johnny Cash. Roy Orbison. Jerry Lee Lewis. Charlie Rich. Sonny Burgess, Ed Bruce, Bill Justis, Warren Smith, The Prisonaires, Tommy Blake, Ernie Chaffin, Billy Riley & His Little Green Men...I mean, man, the list goes ON. Sam Phillips discovered 'em ALL, I mean that boy must've had an ear made of gold.

Song after song. It ain't just Elvis and Johnny Cash, no way. Just listen to "Red Cadillac and a Black Moustache," or "High School Confidential," or "Drinkin' Wine," or the original "Mystery Train" and then Elvis' earth-shattering remake, and then listen to Carl Perkins tear through "Matchbox" and "Blue Suede Shoes"...check out "Red Headed Woman," then "Raunchy," then "Lonely Weekends," then "I'm Gonna Murder My Baby," (he did!) then slap your ears onto "Flying Saucers Rock & Roll," one of the most insanely fantastic rock songs of all time, and son they don't MAKE enough batteries to keep your CD player going when you start digging these cats. Just keep it going, one great tune after another, and that's life, man. That's what it's all about.

First of all - I have a great collection of boxsets, lp's and 10inches of Sun Records and prefere the celebration of the 50th anniversary of one of the important labels all over the world with a 2-CD-Set. The quality of the booklet and sound are very good!

But - why the put only 44 tracks for the 50th anniversary instead of 50 tracks? There will be space enough on each disc for total 25 tracks.

The wrost thing is that some essential artists or song of the pre-sun-are missing like B.B. King or Jackie Brenston with Ike Turners Rhythm Kings with "Rocket 88", who's been recorded in Memphis for other Labels? Or where is Howlin' Wolf and Harold Jenkins who will climb in the later years under the name of Conway Twitty the country-charts over and over again? But the greatest missing thing is "Great Balls Of Fire" - this is one of the essential tracks in the history of Sun Records but the producers of this CD prefers others like Rayburn Anthony? A good idea is the compersion of the original version of "Mystery Train" from Junior Parker to Elvis - but not nessecary on a two record set or of yes - why they do that with "Red Hot", who's been missing here as another essential track from Billy Lee Riley or take "Love My Baby" from Junior Parker who's been another important track of the pre-Rockabilly-area? "Get Rhythm" of Johnny Cash is another missing effort who influncend another generation of musicians like Ry Cooder. And another important track is Malcom Yelvingtons version of "Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee" who's been released between two Elvis-Singles and shows the new combination between Hillbilly And Rhythm & Blues. If you are looking for the real Sun Records Anniversary Collection of all the time: I prefere the Rhino-Box-Set "The Sun Records Collection" from 1994: The Sun Records Collection

And I haven't even gotten started yet. This 2 disk 44 song compilation is just loaded full of Memphis roots rock and roll from the folks who started the craze.

It's not just history, you can hear the reflections of these sounds everywhere. And trust me, they still sound good.

My favorites: Rufus Thomas "Tiger Man", "Mystery Train" Elvis Presley, "Blue Suede Shoes", Carl Perkins, "Rock 'n' Roll Ruby," Warren Smith.

This collection is definitely worth the listen and the price. If you like soul, gospel, roots, or rock and roll you need to hear how all of that combined into the unmistakable "Memphis Sound" and there's no place better except maybe Beall Street.

Rebecca Kyle, August 2008

Memphis is that magical place where the blues intersects with jazz, gospel and country and forms a unique hybrid known as rockabilly or rock n'roll. Sam Phillips began Sun Records in 1950 to capture the raw gospel and blues sounds he loved so much and to sell his records to the existing R&B companies of the day. In the process he recorded the likes of B.B.King, Howlin' Wolf & Roscoe Gordon. These masters were sold off to Chicago's Chess Records and RPM/Modern Records. Five years latter Phillips' fledgling label had launched the careers of seminal rock n' roll figures, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins.

It's all here in this essential two disc compilation. Talk about roots music...It dosn't get any deeper and raw than Rufus Thomas's Tiger Man, Billy "The Kid" Emerson's Red Hot or Gene Simmons' Drinkin' Wine. Then of course there's the aforementioned Elvis Presley, Scotty & Bill, (as orginally credited on Sun Records) on That's All Right and Mystery Train, Carl Perkins unforgetable Blue Suede Shoes and Match Box and Johnny Cash & The Tennesse Two doing Folsom Prison Blues and I Walk The Line. Let's not forget Roy Orbison & The Teen Kings big 1956 hit Ooby Dooby and the Killer himself Jerry Lee Lewis & His Pumping Piano with smash hits like Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On and High School Confidential.

This really is a "must-have" CD. If you have even a passing intersest in Rocabilliy, R&B, Gospel and Country, you owe it to yourself to pick up on this amazing anthology. Get hip to the dawn of Rock N' Roll. There's absolutely no better place to get started.

this cd is a verry poor excuse period,the sound is the the worst i've heard. all of the worth while music is available elsewhere.sun records really put out a real looser with this one.save your self some money. i'm selling the one i bought,very disappointing