Release Date: 1994
Audio CD
Tracks
- Flat Tire - Johnny London
- Drivin' Slow - Johnny London
- Got My Application, Baby - Handy Jackson
- Trouble - Handy Jackson
- We All Gotta Go Sometime - Joe Hill Louis
- She May Be Yours (But She Comes to See Me Sometimes) - Joe Hill Louis
- Baker Shop Boogie - Willie Nix
- Seems Like a Million Years - Willie Nix
- Easy
- Before Long
- Bear Cat - Rufus Thomas
- Walkin' in the Rain - Rufus Thomas
- Heaven or Fire - Dusty Brooks
- Tears and Wine - Dusty Brooks
- Lonesome Old Jail - D.A. Hunt
- Greyhoudn Blues - D.A. Hunt
- Call Me Anything, But Call Me - Big Memphis Marainey
- Baby, No, No! - Big Memphis Marainey
- Take a Little Chance
- Time Has Made a Change
- Baby Please - The Prisonaires
- Just Walkin' in the Rain - The Prisonaires
- Feelin' Good - Little Junior One Hand
- Fussin' and Fightin' Blues - Little Junior One Hand
- Tiger Man - Rufus Thomas
- Save That Money - Rufus Thomas
- My God Is Real - The Prisonaires
- Softly and Tenderly - The Prisonaires
- Blues Waltz - Ripley Cotton Choppers
- Silver Bells - Ripley Cotton Choppers
- Prisoner's Prayer - The Prisonaires
- I Know - The Prisonaires
- Little Junior's Blue Flames
- Love My Baby - Little Junior One Hand
- Come Back Baby - Doctor Ross
- Chicago Breakdown - Doctor Ross
- Beggin' My Baby - Little Milton
- Somebody Told Me - Little Milton
- No Teasing Around - Billy "The Kid" Emerson
- If Lovin' Is Believing - Billy "The Kid" Emerson
- Wolf Call Boogie - Hot Shot Love
- Harmonica Jam - Hot Shot Love
- Boogie Blues - Earl Peterson
- In the Dark - Earl Peterson
- Troublesome Waters - Howard Serratt
- I Must Be Saved - Howard Serratt
- My Baby - James Cotton
- Straighten Up Baby - James Cotton
- If You Love Me Baby - Little Milton
- Alone and Blue - Little Milton
- Gonna Dance All Night - Hardrock Gunter
- Fallen Angel - Hardrock Gunter
- Now She Cares No More - Doug Poindexter
- My Kind of Carrying On - Doug Poindexter
- I'm Not Going Home - Billy "The Kid" Emerson
- Woodchuck - Billy "The Kid" Emerson
- Bourbon Street Jump - Raymond Hill
- Snuggle - Raymond Hill
- Great Medical Menagerist - Harmonica Frank
- Rockin' Chair Daddy - Harmonica Frank
- Cotton Crop Blues - James Cotton
- Hold Me in Your Arms - James Cotton
- There Is Love in You - The Prisonaires
- What'll You Do Next - The Prisonaires
- Right or Wrong - Buddy Cunningham
- Why Do I Cry? - Buddy Cunningham
- That's All Right - Elvis Presley
- Blue Moon of Kentucky - Elvis Presley
- Good Rockin' Tonight - Elvis Presley
- I Don't Care If the Sun Don't Shine - Elvis Presley
- Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee - Malcolm Yelvington
- Just Rolling Along - Malcolm Yelvington
- Boogie Disease - Doctor Ross
- Juke Box Boogie - Doctor Ross
- Look at Jesus - The Jones Brothers
- Every Night - The Jones Brothers
- Move Baby Move - Billy "The Kid" Emerson
- When It Rains It Pours - Billy "The Kid" Emerson
- Milk Cow Blues - Elvis Presley
- You're a Heartbreaker - Elvis Presley
- Don't Believe
- Uncertain Love
- I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone - Elvis Presley
- Baby Let's Play House - Elvis Presley
- I Feel So Worried - Sammy Lewis
- So Long Baby, Goodbye - Sammy Lewis
- Red Hot - Billy "The Kid" Emerson
- No Greater Love - Billy "The Kid" Emerson
- Homesick for My Baby - Little Milton
- Lookin' for My Baby - Little Milton
- Cry Cry Cry - Johnny Cash
- Hey Porter - Johnny Cash
- Don't Do That! - The Five Tinos
- Sitting by My Window - The Five Tinos
- Mystery Train - Elvis Presley
- I Forgot to Remember to Forget - Elvis Presley
- Let the Jukebox Keep on Playing - Carl Perkins
- Gone, Gone, Gone - Carl Perkins
- House of Sin
- Are You Ashames of Me
- Ain't That Right - Eddie Snow
- Bring Your Love Back Home - Eddie Snow
- Just Love Me Baby - Rosco Gordon
- Weeping Blues - Rosco Gordon
- Signifying Monkey - Smokey Joe
- Listen to Me Baby - Smokey Joe
- Movie Magg - Carl Perkins
- Turn Around - Carl Perkins
- Lonely Sweetheart - Billy Taylor
- Split Personality - Billy Taylor
- I've Been Decieved - Charlie Feathers
- Peepin' Eyes - Charlie Feathers
- Someday You Will Pay - Miller Sisters
- You Didn't Think I Would - Miller Sisters
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Rating 5.0
AN AMAZING, ECLECTIC SUN COLLECTION FROM BEAR FAMILYThis is the first Bear Family box in my collection with the other 5 Sun Boxes in the series to follow soon. The quality of the set is superb to say the least. Volume 1 of "The Complete Sun Singles" collects all of the Sun & and the first 4 Flip Label Singles from 1952-55. When I say all singles I mean EVERY "A" AND "B" SIDE (but for one so impossibly rare Sun single that even Bear Family's "Sun Experts" couldn't locate it - it may not have even hit the streets!!). To say that Sun Records was varied and eclectic in it's earliest releases is an understatement. It wasn't just all rockabilly & blues here..you'll also find Jazz, Gospel, Rhythm & Blues, Doo-Wop, Country, and 40's-ish Big Band Crooning among the tracks. Of course the the highlights in this set are the 10 Elvis sides on discs 3 & 4. He never really got much more rawer and rockin' than on these tracks...remember that old "Elvis Desert Island" quote (take these tracks and the "Memphis" Album with you). Other real highlights include 1st tracks by the late, greats Johnny Cash & Carl Perkins, The Prisonaires, Billy "The Kid" Emerson, pre-Stax Rufus Thomas Jr. as well as Blues luminaries Walter Horton, Dr. Ross & Little Milton among many others now consigned to obscurity outside of the USA (or even Memphis TN). I'm even enjoying some of the "cowboy-country" stuff. I've found a small portion of the Blues tracks to be a bit derivative...the "B" side to Junior Parker's "Mystery Train" is basically the same song with different lyrics. However most of the blues tracks in the set really kick butt, particularly those by Doctor Ross. Like other Bear Family releases, the accompanying 68 page booklet is really beautiful & informative and is as much a highlight of this set as the music itself. Inside the booklet you'll find some great old artist photos, some of which feature Elvis, Scotty & Bill on stage circa 1954, as well as complete track by track bios to go with label shots of EVERY "A" & "B" single in the set including some wonderful depictions of early Flip 78's and their Sun alternatives for collectors to drool over. The CD's themselves have replica "Sun" labels on them.
The music itself a real history lesson. Some of these tracks were quite successful sales wise, while others disappeared without a trace (rightly so in a few cases), so some of the music may bring the odd strange reaction, something like "what was Sam Phillips thinking recording this". Nowhere is this more evident than on (the single) Sun 208, a pair of Buddy Cunningham tracks which (in my own opinion) are basically pretty horrendous 40's style crooning, so bad that they're really funny (ridiculous funny that is!!) ...to paraphrase the booklet's authors, "this is the price one pays for being a completist". In buying this, like with a lot of "label history" type boxed sets, you've got to take the sweet with the sour. According to the writers though, Sam wasn't totally to blame on those types of tracks and they're very few and far between anyway. The eclectic nature of the set is all the more emphasised by the amazing contrast of very next tracks, Sun's 209 & 210, which were the singles released immediately following Cunningham's "efforts"... Elvis Presley's first 2 singles "That's All Right (Mama)" and "Good Rockin' Tonight"!!
Remastered from the ORIGINAL Tapes, finding all of these tracks probably amounted to a real archival dig. However Bear Family are meticulous with the "honesty" of the sound and it is raw and gutsy to say the least. I'm still wading my way through this set but I'm also looking forward to the remainder of the series. While the set may seem a bit pricey, it's a Bear Family product and having seen other examples of their work, I can attest that value for money is never an issue with this company. I recommend it to collectors interested the history of Rhythm & Blues/Rock music. If you love Boxed Sets like me, then this is really worth having. |
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