An Album/Song A Week: Elvis Presley - Sun Sessions

 Although Elvis Presley's Sun recordings appeared on various RCA collections while he was alive, it wasn't until 1975 that most of them appeared on one album.  And it was first released in England as the Sun Collection. It's hard to believe that RCA waited that long to release these recordings on one album.  In the U.S., the album was released in 1976, now called the Sun Sessions.  This version contained 16 tracks, including two versions of "I Love You Because".  For some reason it's missing 3 other Sun recordings.  Those would be added in the 80's, with these 16 tracks for a more complete collection of Elvis' Sun years.  

  To understand the genius of Elvis Presley, and the origins of "Rock and Roll"  then the Sun Sessions has to be your first destination.  Everything that made Elvis is here.  Mixing Country, Blues, R&B and Pop ballads together to help create Rockabilly and then Rock music as we know it today.  There's an exuberance to most of these performances that Elvis wasn't always able to duplicate at RCA.  Here, in 1954/55, a 19/20 year old Elvis is feeling his way through everything.  The songs, the studio, it's all new to him and the listener feels it.  Very few albums since have ever captured the thrill of discovering music in the moment as the Sun Sessions.  

Whenever I participate in one of the favorite albums ever polls, I always pick this one.  It's kind of a compilation, but also a whole album.  Sam Phillips released 10 of these songs on 45rpm A/B sides.  And since albums were a rarity for any genres other than Pop/Classical/Jazz artists in the mid-50's, I consider this a proper album.