The album features most of the tracks Elvis recorded at Sun studio and were produced by Sam Phillips, the head of Sun Studios. Elvis began his singing career with Sun Records label in Memphis. Phillips signed Presley after hearing a song that he had recorded for his mother on his birthday. It includes "That's All Right" sometimes considered 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, a blues song written 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. Elvis recorded more than 20 songs at Sun, including some private recordings. Of these, 15 appear on this album. Missing songs:
"Harbor Lights"
"Tomorrow Night"
"When It Rains, It Really Pours"
"I Got a Woman"
"Satisfied"
The earlier private recordings
In 1987, RCA released The Complete Sun Sessions including all tracks previously issued on Sun Sessions plus "Harbor Lights", "Tomorrow Night", "When It Rains, It Really Pours", plus 14 other outtakes. The album was still missing "I Got a Woman", "Satisfied" and the earlier private recordings.
Commercial performance
The Sun Sessions was released in March 1976 and reached #76 on the pop and #2 on the country charts. 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 Victor saw that Elvis was rapidly building a reputation for his live performances. They offered Sun Records $35,000 to buy out Presley's contract. The single "That's All Right" did not chart in the US when released in 1954, and it was never issued as a single in Great Britain during Presley's lifetime. In 2004, the song became the focus of attention when it was the subject of a great deal of publicity because of the 50-year anniversary. There was a special ceremony on July 6, 2004 featuring Isaac Hayes, Justin Timberlake and Scotty Moore which was beamed live to 1200 radio stations. The song went top five in the UK and Canada and also charted in Australia. The Sun Sessions was also re-released in 2004 to celebrate the anniversary.
Reception and legacy
After The Sun Sessions was released, Village Voice critic Robert Christgau hailed The Sun Sessions as "the rock reissue of the year", writing in that along with Chuck Berry's Golden Decade, its songs represented the wellspring of rock music. He later included it in his "basic record library" of essential albums from the 1950s and 1960s, published in . In 2003, the albums 1999 extended 2CD reissue was ranked #11 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list. In 2001, the TV channelVH1 named it the 21st greatest album of all time. Music scholar Michael Campbell called it "quintessential rockabilly" with Presley's voice "the magical element" drawing on country and rhythm and blues but confined to neither, while AllMusic critic Cub Koda said "what we ultimately have here is a young Elvis Presley, mixing elements of blues, gospel and hillbilly music together and getting ready to unleash its end result – rock & roll – on an unsuspecting world." The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll included two tracks from the album: "Mystery Train" and "That's All Right." In 2002, The Sun Sessions were chosen by the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress to be included in its archives given their importance to the development of American popular music. This album is the very first Elvis album to feature "I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine", which was only previously issued as a single. After more than 20 years, The Sun Sessions marked the song's official debut on LP.
Track listing
Note
The last six tracks are original Sun recordings, but were not issued until 1956 on Presley's first album for RCA Victor. They were never released on the Sun label.
