Sunrise
Compilation album by
ReleasedFebruary 9, 1999
RecordedJuly 1953 – November 1955
Genre
Length92:54
LabelRCA
ProducerSam Phillips
Elvis Presley chronology
Memories: The '68 Comeback Special
(1998)
Sunrise
(1999)
Home Recordings
(1999)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[2]

Sunrise is a two-disc compilation of Elvis Presley's studio recordings at Sun Studio from 1953 to 1955, released in 1999, RCA 67675-2. This set features all of the surviving master recordings made by Presley and his accompanists, Scotty Moore and Bill Black, occasionally augmented by other musicians, prior to his arrival on RCA Records in 1956.

Contents

Tapes for at least three songs have been lost: Sun versions of "I Got A Woman", "Uncle Pen", and "Satisfied". The first would be recorded by Presley during his first RCA session. All of the studio commercial recordings were produced by Sam Phillips, the owner of Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee. Phillips released Presley's recording contract to RCA for the substantial sum, in 1955 dollars, of $35,000 (equivalent to $382,348 in 2022). This gave RCA the rights to all of Presley's masters recorded at Sun.

The first disc presents all eighteen Sun titles from professional recording sessions during the singer's stay at the label. The opening ten tracks comprise the A and b sides of the five officially released Presley singles on the Sun label. Outtakes from sessions at Sun were used to fill in catalogue items for RCA, with five used for Presley's debut LP.

The second disc compiles seven alternate takes from the professional studio sessions, with a different alternate of "Blue Moon" from the Take 1 that appears on 1950s box set. The remaining selections derive from acetates or basic recording equipment, and are not of professional sound quality; these are marked with an asterisk in the track listings below. The first four tracks comprise the pre-professional test recordings made by Elvis alone in July 1953 and January 1954. "Fool Fool Fool" and "Shake, Rattle, and Roll" were recorded by the standard Presley trio at an unknown location in Lubbock, Texas, during January 1955; presumably the visit where Buddy Holly witnessed the trio and decided to begin performing rock and roll. "It Wouldn't Be The Same Without You," and the final six tracks from a live performance on the Louisiana Hayride, in Shreveport, Louisiana featuring an augmented band in 1955, are released here for the first time.

The set does not include the three additional alternate takes of "I Love You Because" and the five additional alternates of "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone" that appeared on the 1987 two-disc set The Complete Sun Sessions.

Impact

The set includes "That's All Right (Mama)", one of candidates for being "the first rock and roll record". Elvis' entire period at Sun is one of the seminal events in the birth of rock and roll, specifically also the beginning of the subgenre known as rockabilly. As stated by author Peter Guralnick, opening the liner notes to this set:

"If Elvis Presley had never made another record after his last Sun session in the fall of 1955, there seems little question that his music would have achieved much the same mythic status as Robert Johnson's blues. The body of his work at Sun is so transcendent, so fresh, and so original that even today you can scarcely listen to it in relation to anything but itself. Like all great art its sources may be obvious, but its overall impact defies explanation."

In 2002, given their importance in the development of American popular music, The Sun Sessions were chosen, by the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress, to be kept as a bequeathal to posterity. In 2012 Rolling Stone magazine placed Sunrise at number 11 on its list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

The Rolling Stone listing is confusing because the album pictured is not Sunrise. It is the 1976 compilation The Sun Sessions. The album title is also incorrectly given as The Sun Sessions. The text, however, cites a 2-disc, 1999 RCA release that can only be Sunrise.[3] When Rolling Stone updated its list in 2020, Sunrise was replaced by The Sun Sessions, which was ranked 78th.[4]

For more detailed information on the recording sessions, see Elvis Presley's Sun recordings.

Track listing

Chart positions for LPs and EPs from Billboard Top Pop Albums chart; positions for singles from Billboard Pop Singles chart except where noted.

Disc one

TrackSong TitleWriter(s)TimeRecordedOriginal LP IssueCatalogueRelease DateChart Peak
1.That's All RightArthur Crudup1:557/5/54Sun 2097/19/54
2.Blue Moon of KentuckyBill Monroe2:027/5/54Sun 209b7/19/54
3.Good Rockin' TonightRoy Brown2:129/10/54Sun 2109/25/54
4.I Don't Care If the Sun Don't ShineMack David2:279/10/54Sun 210b9/25/54
5.Milkcow Blues BoogieKokomo Arnold2:3811/12/54Sun 21512/28/54
6.You're a HeartbreakerJack Sallee2:1211/12/54Sun 215b12/28/54#74
7.Baby Let's Play HouseArthur Gunter2:152/5/55Sun 2174/10/55C&W #5
8.I'm Left, You're Right, She's GoneStan Kesler, William Taylor2:363/5/55Sun 217b4/10/55
9.I Forgot to Remember to ForgetStan Kesler and Charlie Feathers2:287/11/55Sun 2238/6/55C&W #1
10.Mystery TrainJunior Parker, Sam Phillips2:247/11/55Sun 223b8/6/55
11.I Love You BecauseLeon Payne2:427/5/54Elvis PresleyLPM 12543/23/56#1
12.Harbor LightsJimmy Kennedy and Hugh Williams2:357/5/54Elvis: A Legendary Performer Vol. 2CPL1 13491/8/76#46
13.Blue MoonRichard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart2:318/19/54Elvis PresleyLPM 12543/23/56#1
14.Tomorrow NightSam Coslow and Will Grocz2:589/10/54Elvis for EveryoneLSP 34508/10/65#10
15.I'll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin')Jimmy Wakely2:249/10/54Elvis PresleyLPM 12543/23/56#1
16.Just BecauseSydney Robin, Bob Shelton, Joe Shelton2:329/10/54Elvis PresleyLPM 12543/23/56#1
17.I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone (slow version)Stan Kesler, William Taylor2:363/5/55The Complete Sun SessionsRCA 6414-21987
18.Trying to Get to YouRose Marie McCoy and Charles Singleton2:317/11/55Elvis PresleyLPM 12543/23/56#1
19.When It Rains It Really PoursBill Emerson4:0311/20/55Elvis: A Legendary Performer Vol. 4RCA 6414-21984

Disc two

TrackSong TitleWriter(s)TimeRecordedOriginal LP IssueCatalogueRelease DateChart Peak
1.My Happiness*Betty Peterson Blasco and Borney Bergantine2:327/18/53Elvis: The Great Performances2227-21990
2.That's When Your Heartaches Begin*Fred Fisher, Billy Hill and William Raskin2:467/18/53The Complete 50s Masters66050-26/23/92#159
3.I'll Never Stand In Your Way*Hy Heath2:011/4/54Platinum: A Life in Music67469-27/15/97#80
4.It Wouldn't Be The Same Without You*Fred Rose2:011/4/54previously unreleased
5.I Love You Because (alternate)Leon Payne3:517/5/54Elvis: A Legendary Performer Vol. 1CPL1 03412/2/74#43
6.That's All Right (alternate)Arthur Crudup2:127/5/54The Complete Sun Sessions6414-21987
7.Blue Moon of Kentucky (alternate)Bill Monroe1:057/5/54The Complete Sun Sessions6414-21987
8.Blue Moon (alternate)Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart3:058/19/54previously unreleased
9.I'll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin') (alternate)Jimmy Wakely1:049/10/54The Complete Sun Sessions6414-21987
10.I Don't Care If the Sun Don't Shine (alternate)Mack David3:309/10/54The Complete Sun Sessions6414-21987
11.I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone (slow version alternate)Stan Kesler, William Taylor2:483/5/55The Complete Sun Sessions6414-21987
12.Fool, Fool, Fool*Nugetre1:511/6/55The Complete 50s Masters66050-26/23/92#159
13.Shake, Rattle & Roll*Charles E. Calhoun2:171/6/55The Complete 50s Masters66050-26/23/92#159
14.I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone* (live)Stan Kesler, William Taylor1:507/16/55previously unreleased
15.That's All Right* (live)Arthur Crudup1:411/22/55previously unreleased
16.Money Honey* (live)Jesse Stone2:401/22/55previously unreleased
17.Tweedle Dee* (live)Winfield Scott2:111/22/55previously unreleased
18.I Don't Care If the Sun Don't Shine* (live)Mack David2:231/22/55previously unreleased
19.Hearts of Stone* (live)Rudy Jackson, Eddie Ray1:571/15/55previously unreleased

Personnel

  • Elvis Presleyvocal, guitar
  • Scotty Moore – guitar on disc one, disc two (tracks 5–19)
  • Bill Blackbass on disc one, disc two (tracks 5–19)
  • Jimmie Lott – drums on disc one (track 8)
  • Johnny Bernero – drums on disc one (tracks 9, 18, 19)
  • Leon Post – piano on disc two (tracks 14–19)
  • Sonny Trammel – steel guitar on disc two (tracks 14–19)

References

  1. 1 2 Blender Staff (May 2003). "500 CDs You Must Own Before You Die!". Blender. New York: Dennis Publishing Ltd. Retrieved April 1, 2023.
  2. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Review: Elvis Presley – Sunrise". Allmusic. Retrieved 1 July 2009.
  3. Rolling Stone (31 May 2009). "Elvis Presley, 'The Sun Sessions'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
  4. Rolling Stone (22 September 2020). "Elvis Presley, 'The Sun Sessions'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
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