Music / The Sun Sessions

aka: Sunrise

That's alright, indeed!

"This has been a hugely important album to me. I was always a big Rockabilly fan and a big Elvis fan, and to me this album is the purest expression of Elvis there was. Sure, there are better individual songs – but no one collection ever touched the album. When I was young, I used to think Elvis was the voice of truth. I don’t know what that means, but his voice… shit man, it sounded so fucking pure. If you grew up loving Elvis, this is it. Forget the Vegas period: if you really love Elvis, you’re ashamed of that man in Vegas. You feel like he let you down. The hillbilly cat never let you down."

—Quentin Tarantino, who put The Sun Sessions on fourth place in a 1994 interview with Melody Maker where he listed his Top 10 personal favorite albums.

The Sun Sessions is a compilation album by Elvis Presley, released in 1976 through RCA Records. It consists of (nearly) all the legendary recording sessions Elvis did between 1954 and 1955 at the Sun Studios of Sam Phillips. The historical importance of these sessions cannot be overstated. They practically launched Elvis' career and were fundamental in creating Rock'n Roll. Therefore this compilation gives you a chance to experience how music history would change forever.

Back in the 1950s, due to technical limitations, these sessions were never put on one album, only on separate musical singles. Much of Elvis' albums from the 1950s and 1960s don't live up to his legendary reputation. The track-lists always lack many of his greatest hits of that period and have a lot of forgettable Album Filler. There's no Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band equivalent, except for Elvis Presley (1956) and even that one doesn't do him entirely justice.

In that retrospect The Sun Sessions provides a more satisfying listening experience. All the historically important and exciting early singles are here and show Elvis in his pure, raw, energetic power. No wonder it became one of the first musical recordings to be included in the National Recording Registry in 2002.

It is also known as The Sun Collection in the UK, and was actually released there in 1975.

---

Tracklist:

Side One

1. "That's All Right (Mama) (1:57)
2. "Blue Moon Of Kentucky" (2:04)
3. "I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine" (2:28)
4. "Good Rockin' Tonight" (2:14)
5. "Milkcow Blues Boogie" (2:39)
6. "You're A Heartbreaker" (2:12)
7. "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone" (2:37)
8. "Baby, Let's Play House" (2:17)

Side Two

1. "Mystery Train" (2:26)
2. "I Forgot To Remember To Forget" (2:30)
3. "I'll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin')" (2:26)
4. "I Love You Because" (2:33)
5. "Tryin' To Get To You" (2:33)
6. "Blue Moon" (2:41)
7. "Just Because" (2:34)
8. "I Love You Because" (3:25)

---

That's some alright tropes, mama!

• Alliterative Title: "The Sun Sessions".
• Arcadia: The songs all have a rural country/blues atmosphere and evoke this imagery in the lyrics too.
• Break Up Song: "You're A Heartbreaker", "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone", "Just Because".
• Compilation Re Release: The tracks were all recorded in the 1950s, but only compiled on one album in 1976. Could count as a Greatest Hits Album too, if only from Elvis' early output between 1954 and 1955.
• Cover Album: None of the songs were written by Elvis or his bandmates. "You're a Heartbreaker", "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone" and "I Forgot to Remember to Forget" were all songs by local Memphis writers that Elvis apparently recorded first, but everything else is a Cover Version, with sources ranging from Blues to Country Music to Bluegrass to show tunes and possibly even polka (while it had a long country history, Elvis may well have picked up "Just Because" from Frankie Yankovic, who had a big hit with it in 1948).
• The Cover Changes the Meaning: He changes "Blue Moon" from a lush romantic song to a ghostly, ethereal ballad, eliminating the verse with the song's happy ending.
• Face on the Cover: Elvis singing and dancing.
• Halfway Plot Switch: "Milkcow Blues Boogie" starts off as a slow Blues song before Elvis orders the band to "get real, real gone for a change" and they start over doing it as uptempo rockabilly.
• Heavy Meta: "Good Rockin' Tonight", a rock 'n' roll song glorifying rock 'n' roll.
• Momma's Boy: "That's Alright, Mama".
  That's alright, mama
  Anyway you do
• The Power of Love: "Baby, Let's Play House", "I'll Never Let You Go" and "Tryin' To Get To You" are all love songs.
• Please, Don't Leave Me: "I'll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin')", where Elvis informs his girlfriend he'll be there for her all the time.
• Pun-Based Title: "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone" and "I Forgot To Remember To Forgot".
• Rockabilly and Rock & Roll: The genre this album is usually classified in.
• Something Blues: "Milkcow Blues Boogie".
• Stop and Go: At the start of "Milkcow Blues Boogie".
• Tonight, Someone Kisses: "I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine (I Keep My Loving In The Evening Time)".
• Train Song: "Mystery Train" about a train that brings and takes Elvis' girlfriend to him.

---