Sunrise (Elvis Presley album)

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.

1 Contents
2 Importance
3 Personnel
4 Track listing
- 4.1 Disc One
- 4.2 Disc Two
5 References
6 External links

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 for 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. 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. The first four tracks comprise the pre-professional test recordings made by Elvis alone in July 1953 and January of 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 an unidentified live concert 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.

Importance

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 sub-genre 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.

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

Personnel

Elvis Presley – vocal, guitar
Scotty Moore – guitar on disc one, disc two tracks 5-19
Bill Black – bass 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

Track listing

Chart positions for LPs and EPs from Billboard Top Pop Albums chart; positions for singles from Billboard Pop Singles chart except as indicated

Disc One

Track	Recorded	Original LP Issue	Catalogue	Release Date	Chart Peak	Song Title	Writer(s)	Time
1.	7/5/54		Sun 209	7/19/54		That's All Right	Arthur Crudup	1:55
2.	7/5/54		Sun 209b	7/19/54		Blue Moon of Kentucky	Bill Monroe	2:02
3.	9/10/54		Sun 210	9/25/54		Good Rockin' Tonight	Roy Brown	2:12
4.	9/10/54		Sun 210b	9/25/54		I Don't Care If the Sun Don't Shine	Mack David	2:27
5.	11?12/54		Sun 215	12/28/54		Milkcow Blues Boogie	Kokomo Arnold	2:38
6.	11?12/54		Sun 215b	12/28/54	#74	You're a Heartbreaker	Jack Sallee	2:12
7.	2/5/55		Sun 217	4/10/55	C&W #5	Baby Let's Play House	Arthur Gunter	2:15
8.	3/5/55		Sun 217b	4/10/55		I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone	Stan Kesler and William Taylor	2:36
9.	7/11/55		Sun 223	8/6/55	C&W #1	I Forgot to Remember to Forget	Stan Kesler and Charlie Feathers	2:28
10.	7/11/55		Sun 223b	8/6/55		Mystery Train	Herman Parker Jr. and Sam Phillips	2:24
11.	7/5/54	Elvis Presley	LPM 1254	3/23/56	#1	I Love You Because	Leon Payne	2:42
12.	7/5/54	Elvis: A Legendary Performer Vol. 2	CPL1 1349	1/8/76	#46	Harbor Lights	Jimmy Kennedy and Hugh Williams	2:35
13.	8/19/54	Elvis Presley	LPM 1254	3/23/56	#1	Blue Moon	Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart	2:31
14.	9/10/54	Elvis for Everyone	LSP 3450	8/10/65	#10	Tomorrow Night	Sam Coslow and Will Grocz	2:58
15.	9/10/54	Elvis Presley	LPM 1254	3/23/56	#1	I'll Never Let You Go (Lil' Darlin')	Jimmy Wakely	2:24
16.	9/10/54	Elvis Presley	LPM 1254	3/23/56	#1	Just Because	Sydney Robin, Bob Shelton, Joe Shelton	2:32
17.	3/5/55	The Complete Sun Sessions	RCA 6414-2	1987		I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone (slow version)	Stan Kesler and William Taylor	2:36
18.	7/11/55	Elvis Presley	LPM 1254	3/23/56	#1	Trying to Get to You	Rose Marie McCoy and Charles Singleton	2:31
19.	11/20/55	The Complete Sun Sessions	RCA 6414-2	1987		When It Rains It Really Pours	William Emerson	4:03

Disc Two

Track	Recorded	Original LP Issue	Catalogue	Release Date	Chart Peak	Song Title	Writer(s)	Time
1.	7/18/53	Elvis: The Great Performances	2227-2	1990		My Happiness*	Betty Peterson Blasco and Borney Bergantine	2:32
2.	7/18/53	The Complete 50s Masters	66050-2	6/23/92	#159	That's When Your Heartaches Begin*	Fred Fisher, Billy Hill, William Raskin	2:46
3.	1/4/54	Platinum: A Life in Music	67469-2	7/15/97	#80	I'll Never Stand In Your Way*	Hy Heath	2:01
4.	1/4/54	previously unreleased				It Wouldn't Be The Same Without You*	Fred Rose	2:01
5.	7/5/54	Elvis: A Legendary Performer Vol. 1	CPL1 0341	2/2/74	#43	I Love You Because (alternate)	Leon Payne	3:51
6.	7/5/54	The Complete Sun Sessions	6414-2	1987		That's All Right (alternate)	Arthur Crudup	2:12
7.	7/5/54	The Complete Sun Sessions	6414-2	1987		Blue Moon of Kentucky (alternate)	Bill Monroe	1:05
8.	8/19/54	previously unreleased				Blue Moon (alternate)	Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart	3:05
9.	9/10/54	The Complete Sun Sessions	6414-2	1987		I'll Never Let You Go (Lil' Darlin') (alternate)	Jimmy Wakely	1:04
10.	9/10/54	The Complete Sun Sessions	6414-2	1987		I Don't Care If the Sun Don't Shine (alternate)	Mack David	3:30
11.	3/5/55	The Complete Sun Sessions	6414-2	1987		I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone (slow version alternate)	Stan Kesler and William Taylor	2:48
12.	1/6/55	The Complete 50s Masters	66050-2	6/23/92	#159	Fool Fool Fool*	Nugetre	1:51
13.	1/6/55	The Complete 50s Masters	66050-2	6/23/92	#159	Shake, Rattle & Roll*	Charles E. Calhoun	2:17
14.	7/16/55	previously unreleased				I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone* (live)	Stan Kesler, William Taylor	1:50
15.	1/22/55	previously unreleased				That's All Right* (live)	Arthur Crudup	1:41
16.	1/22/55	previously unreleased				Money Honey* (live)	Jesse Stone	2:40
17.	1/22/55	previously unreleased				Tweedle Dee* (live)	Winfield Scott	2:11
18.	1/22/55	previously unreleased				I Don't Care If the Sun Don't Shine* (live)	Mack David	2:23
19.	1/15/55	previously unreleased				Hearts of Stone* (live)	Rudy Jackson and Eddy Ray	1:57

References

^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Review: Elvis Presley - Sunrise". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r388508. Retrieved 1 July 2009.