Elvis Presley's Sun recordings

Elvis Presley's Sun recordings are a number of recordings he made at Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.A. between 1953 and 1955. The recordings were produced by Sam Phillips. Memphis is a melting pot of many types of music: both black music (blues, rhythm & blues, gospel) and white music (country & western, hillbilly), the recordings reflect these influences. In 2002, Elvis Presley's SUN recordings were inducted into the US Congress's National Recording Registry. [http://www.loc.gov/rr/record/nrpb/nrpb-masterlist.html]

History

Recordings

Presley recorded 20 songs, 18 of them have survived and two tapes are lost. Ten were released by Sun as Elvis' first five singles between 1954 and 1955. And a year after he left for RCA, he revisited the same studio to have a spontaneous informal session with Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis. This meeting was recorded on December 4, 1956, dubbed The Million Dollar Quartet by the local paper the next day.

On July 18, 1953, Presley first went to the Memphis Recording Service at the Sun Record Company, now commonly known as Sun Studio. He paid $3.98 to record the first of two double-sided demo acetates, "My Happiness" and "That's When Your Heartaches Begin." Presley reportedly gave the acetate to his mother as a much-belated extra birthday present, [" [http://elvis.com/elvisology/bio/elvis_1935_1957_2.asp Elvis biography: 1935 - 1957] ". "elvis.com". Retrieved on 2007-10-14.] though the Presleys did not own a record player at the time.(August 18, 1997). "Good Rockin'". "Newsweek", pp.54-5] fn|c [Clayton, p.53] Returning to Sun Studios on January 4, 1954, he recorded a second acetate, "I'll Never Stand in Your Way"/"It Wouldn't Be the Same Without You." [Jorgensen, p.10]

Sun Records founder Sam Phillips had already cut the first records by blues artists such as Howlin' Wolf and Junior Parker. [" [http://www.pbs.org/americanrootsmusic/pbs_arm_saa_elvispresley.html Elvis Presley] ". "PBS", courtesy of "palmpictures.com". Retrieved on 2007-10-14.] He thought a combination of black blues and boogie-woogie music would be very popular among white people, if presented in the right way. [Miller, p.71] In the spring, Presley auditioned for an amateur gospel quartet, The Songfellows, and a professional band. Both groups turned him down.Guralnick 1994, p.83]

When Phillips acquired a demo recording of "Without Love (There Is Nothing)" and was unable to identify the vocalist, his assistant, Marion Keisker, reminded him about the young truck driver. She called him on June 26, 1954. Presley was not able to do justice to the song (though he would record it years later), [Lichter, p.12] but Phillips asked him to perform some of the many other songs he knew, and he invited local Western swing musicians Winfield "Scotty" Moore (electric guitar) and Bill Black (slap bass) to audition Presley. They did so on Sunday, July 4, 1954, at Moore's house. Neither musician was overly impressed, but they agreed a studio session—on July 5–6—would be useful to explore his potential. [" [http://www.history-of-rock.com/sam_phillips_sun_records_two.htm Sam Phillips Sun Records Two] ". "history-of-rock.com". Retrieved on 2007-10-14.] During a recording break, Presley began "acting the fool" with Arthur Crudup's "That's All Right (Mama)," a blues song. [Guralnick, Peter (1992). "The Complete 50's Masters" (CD booklet notes).] When the other two musicians joined in, Phillips got them to restart and began taping. This was the bright, upbeat sound he had been looking for. [Jorgensen, p.13] Black remarked, "Damn. Get that on the radio and they'll run us out of town." [(August 11–August 17, 2007). "Would he still be King?". "Radio Times". BBC, p.12] The group recorded four songs during that session, including bluegrass musician Bill Monroe's Blue Moon of Kentucky, which he had written and recorded as a slow waltz. Sources credit Bill Black with inititating the song, with Presley and Moore joining in. They ended up with a fast version of the song in 4/4 time. After an early take, Phillips can be heard on tape saying: "Fine, man. Hell, that's different—that's a pop song now, just about." [Naylor and Halliday, p.42]

To gauge professional and public reaction, Phillips took several acetates of the session to DJ Dewey Phillips (no relation) of Memphis radio station WHBQ's "Red, Hot And Blue" show. "That's All Right" subsequently received its first play on July 8, 1954.Carr and Farren, p.6] fn|d A week later, Sun had received some 6,000 advanced orders for "That's All Right"/"Blue Moon of Kentucky," which was released on July 19, 1954. From August 18 through December 8, "Blue Moon of Kentucky" was consistently higher on the charts, and then both sides began to chart across the South. [EPE (July 21, 2004). " [http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/elvis_presley_sun_recordings.shtml Elvis Presley Sun Recordings] ". "elvis.co.au". Retrieved on August 17 2007.]

RCA

After Elvis signed with RCA, in November, 1955, his musical environment changed drastically. He started recording in RCA's New York studios in January 1956 while in town to tape several "Jackie Gleason Stage Shows". RCA had a completely different musical atmosphere to that at Sun Records. His first producer was nominally Chet Atkins, the virtuoso country guitarist, who also played on some of the songs, including "Heartbreak Hotel." The problems for Elvis at RCA were two-fold: (1) they were unable to recreate Sam Phillips' "slap-back" echo - achieved by Phillips placing a pencil between the heads of the tape recorder - which, with Elvis's unique vocal style, made his Sun recordings sound exciting and fresh, and (2) RCA's formulaic approach, which gradually became fuller and more mechanical, didn't allow Elvis the latitude to maximise his versalitility and ability in the recording studio, as Phillips had done during Elvis's first formal recording session at Sun. During a break in a recording session that was becoming increasingly frustrating because the chosen songs just weren't working out for Elvis with Scotty Moore and Bill Black as sidemen, Elvis ripped into his own version of Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup's "That's All Right (Mama)". Phillips has said, "You have to have a good song, of course, but atmosphere is nearly everything else. . . Great artists, all of them, almost 50 per cent of something good they might do happens because of an almost instant reaction to something around them." Elvis was frustrated as much as everybody else was, and he let out his frustration in the way that he knew best: with a song that "he" liked to perform. Phillips had finally found something that he had been searching for: a white musician who had the "feeling" that he had seen in the African-American musicians who had previously come through the doors of Sun records, luminaries of Blues/R&B such as Howlin' Wolf, B.B. King, Ike Turner and his cousin Jackie Brenston (who performed "Rocket 88" in 1951), Roscoe Gordon (who performed "Booted" in 1952), James Cotton, and Bobby Bland. In running his operation, Phillips was essentially a loner. Self-effacingly he has said "I'm a very uncommercial person. . . When I sold Elvis to RCA [Phillips was scrambling, so short of money that he had to record over some of Elvis's rehearsal material and was unable to pay Elvis back royalties or put any more money into promoting him the way that RCA could afford to, and was actually on the verge of packing it in, as Elvis was the only act on the Sun roster keeping him in business by November 1955] one of the best human beings in the world was Steve Sholes. Steve really wanted me to go to work for RCA. I said, 'Steve, the worst man you've got up there, he'd be a hell of a lot better than me.' There was no way I would have worked under that formula thing. I would have been unhappy and I couldn't have helped them."

After taping another five Gleason shows (hosted by Big Band "Swing" musicians Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey (not to be confused with the African-American gospel singer with the same name) and a "Milton Berle Show", Elvis entered RCA's Nashville studios in April 1956 to record "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You", with Chet Atkins again assisting on guitar. July 1956 saw a return to RCA's New York studios when Elvis went there to appear on the now legendary "Steve Allen Show", in which Elvis appeared in a tuxedo singing "Hound Dog" to a basset hound wearing a top hat. This NY studio session was one of the single most important in the Elvis story: it was in this session that he first worked with the Gospel quartet The Jordanaires - Gordon Stoker on lead along with tenor Neal Matthews, baritone Hoyt Hawkins, and bass Hugh Jarrett. This was also the session in which, after 31 takes, Elvis was finally satisfied with the version of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller's "Hound Dog" which he had learned from Freddie Bell and The Bellboys during his popularly unsuccessful two week stint in May 1956 at the New Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas. The song was originally recorded by Willie May "Big Mama" Thornton in 1953 with different lyrics. After Elvis recorded it, the song went to his music publishing company, and thus is published with the Elvis lyrics. However, the original lyrics can be heard on Eric Clapton's 1989 "Journeyman" album. "Hound Dog" became a Billboard double A-side with its flip side, NY blues singer Otis Blackwell's "Don't Be Cruel". (Otis Blackwell also wrote "All Shook Up"). "Don't Be Cruel" was often cited by Elvis in his pre-Army days as his favourite recording from this period.

Although some rock music historians and many Elvis fans think that "Heartbreak Hotel" was the first record to reach Number One on Billboard's Pop, C&W, and R&B charts, it actually only reached No. 5 on the R&B charts. Still no mean feat by Elvis, but the actual glory belongs to "Don't Be Cruel". (Elvis achieved this three more times with "All Shook Up" (1957), "(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear" (recorded in 1956 for the "semi-autobiographical" 1957 movie "Loving You", and "Jailhouse Rock" (recorded in 1957 for the 1958 movie of the same name).

"Don't Be Cruel" and "Hound Dog" together sold 9 million copies. The two sides stayed at the top of the Billboard charts for three months to become the biggest doubled-sided hit in the annals of Billboard's charts. According Joel Whitburn's analysis of those Billboard charts, "Don't Be Cruel" is the biggest hit of the rock era (1955 through the present).

From January 1956, until he was drafted, in March 1958, a series of different producers were at hand, but he was actually conducting those sessions himself. His new manager, Colonel Tom Parker, who had negotiated the sale of Elvis's contract to RCA's A&R head of the C&W Division, Steve Sholes, for US$40,000 - $35,000 for Sam Phillips and $5000 for Elvis, was a former carnival hustler who had moved into music management and had managed C&W singers Hank Snow and Eddy Arnold before taking on Elvis with the quip, "You have a million dollars worth of talent. Now I'm going to get you the million dollars." The existing Sun Record tapes moved contractually with him to RCA. However, the masters of "Trying To Get To You" (an R&B song recorded by The Eagle's [obviously not Glen Frey and Don Henley's Eagles] in 1954 which Elvis had learned from Roy Orbison, which Orbison himself later recorded in 1956) and Ray Charles' 1954 "I Got A Woman", were lost, and were re-recorded by Elvis at RCA.

Although the songs he had to sing in his first four movies were more constructed for the movie soundtracks, rather than being particularly written for him as potential Number Ones, or even Top 10s, he continued to definitively be on top of every session, and many gems were turned out which were worthy of his talent. For example, although "Love Me Tender" is based on the Civil War era tune "Aura Lee" and may seem to lack the unique vocal touch of other Elvis ballads, if the song was so mediocre, as critics of Elvis movies suggest that nearly all of his movies were rubbish and so were the soundtracks, then the producers at 20th Century Fox were taking a big risk in changing the title of the movie from "The Reno Brothers" to "Love Me Tender" in the hope that the name change to coincide with the song would bring financial success. The Reno Brothers were a real post-Civil War gang of train robbers, and the 1955 movie "Rage At Dawn" had already been made about them, starring Forrest Tucker, J. Carroll Naish, and Myron Healey as the Reno Brothers, Denver Pyle as the honest Reno, Mala Powers as sister Laura, and Randolph Scott as a Peterson (Pinkerton) Detective agent. The song was a run-away best seller, pre-selling 1,000,000 copies on pre-release orders, and sold 3,000,000 in less than a year. Also, this is the only song in which Elvis was given writing credits that he actually wrote most of the words.

Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller wrote most of the songs for "Jailhouse Rock", and took over the production of the session in April 1957 for the soundtrack, even though they didn't have a contract to do so. The "Jailhouse Rock" EP is quintessential Elvis, and his strongest soundtrack, although "(You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care" suffers from a less than perfect vocal overdub after Elvis had to play the Fender bass guitar for the track as Bill Black couldn't get the riff right. (Buddy Holly also recorded this song). Realistically, his pre-Army movies certainly had better soundtrack songs than many of his 1960s movies. Can you really believe that Elvis sang "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" in one of his late 1960s movies?

By 1960 Leiber and Stoller were producers at Atlantic Records, owned by the Ertegun brothers. LaVern Baker, Ruth Brown, The Drifters and The Coasters were all enjoying success with Leiber and Stoller songs. As producers they were without peer, and in fact were quite innovative. Leiber and Stoller were the first to use strings on an R&B record, The Drifters' "There Goes My Baby". They were an undeniable influence on their protege Phil Spector, as well as others such as Burt Bacharach. Indeed, it is a never-confirmed rumour that Phil Spector, under the aegis of Leiber and Stoller, worked on Elvis's first post-Army album, the 1960 release "Elvis Is Back!"

Many of Elvis' 1956 RCA recordings stand the test of time, and remain as revolutionary, sound wise, as anything he recorded at Sun. In 1956 alone, his renditions of wild rockers like "My Baby Left Me", "Lawdy Miss Clawdy", "Shake Rattle and Roll", "Blue Suede Shoes", "Reddy Teddy", "Rip It Up", "So Glad You're Mine", "Long Tall Sally", "Tutti Frutti" and "Hound Dog", as well as "One-Sided Love Affair", "I Got a Woman" and "Money Honey", showed exactly the same vigour, and inventiveness, as well as his penchant for mixing up R&B, C&W to produce rockabilly, as had been the case during his time at Sun. The main titles he recorded with Sun Records stayed a staple of his live repertoire throughout 1956 and well into 1957.

Regardless of the machinations of the business world that might leave us wondering as to who now owns the Elvis catalogue, the boxed set "The King of Rock 'N' Roll: The Complete 50's Masters" provides a unique insight into Elvis's "oeuvre" and not just shows why he became "The King of Rock 'N' Roll" but why he deserves his place in music history.

"Goldmine Roots of Rock Digest", Krause Publications, Iola, WI, 1999, pp. 113-126, 262-271, 276. "Elvis: The Official Collector's Edition, PART 1",De Agostini UK Ltd, London, 2007 "Elvis! His Greatest Hits", Reader's Digest (Australia), Sydney, NSW, 1997 "Rage At Dawn", IMDB.com

The 25 titles

Listed are the 25 titles, in order of their "recording date". A take means a second (or higher) version; the best take would be used to create a master tape to be published.

=My Happiness (private)=

Peterson - Bergantine Recorded: July 18, 1953 (private)

That's When Your Heartaches Begin (private)

Raskin - Brown - Fisher Recorded: July 18, 1953 (private)

I'll Never Stand In Your Way (Demo)

Hy Heath Recorded: January 4, 1954

It Wouldn't Be The Same Without You (Demo)

Fred Rose Recorded: January 4, 1954

I Love You Because

L. Payne. Original probably: Leon Payne (1949, Capitol); Eddie Fisher (1950, RCA Victor) Recorded: July 5-6, 1954 (session 1)

=That's All Right=

A. Crudup. Original: Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup (1947, RCA Victor). Crudup's original title is: "That's All Right (Mama)"; on the Sun label, and many later releases, '(Mama)' is omitted: "That's All Right". Recorded: July 5-6, 1954 (session 1)

Elvis's recording of "That's All Right (Mama)" can be considered to be the beginning of rock and roll, but there are more first rock and roll records.

Harbor Lights

H. Williams - J. Kennedy. Original: possibly Harry Owens and His Royal Hawaiians Recorded: July 5-6, 1954 (session 1)

The 4-CD boxed set "Today, Tomorrow And Forever" contains an alternate version (take three) that is unavailable elsewhere.

Blue Moon of Kentucky

Bill Monroe Original: Bill Monroe and His Bluegrass Boys (1947, Columbia) Recorded: July, 5-6, 1954 (session 1)

=Blue Moon=

R. Rodgers - L. Hart. Original: Connee Boswell (Capital, 1934) Recorded: August 19, 1954 (session 2)

Tomorrow Night

S. Coslow - W. Grosz. Original: Lonnie Johnson (1948, King) Recorded: September 1954 (session 3)

=I'll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin')=

J. Wakely. Original: Jimmy Wakely (1943, Decca) Recorded: September 10, 1954 (session 3)

atisfied

Recorded: September 1954 (session 3) (tape lost)

I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine

M. David. Original probably Patti Page (1950, Mercury) Recorded: September 10, 1954 (session 3)The Dean Martin version was probably Elvis' inspiration.

Just Because

B. Shelton - J. Shelton - S. Robin. Original: The Shelton Brothers (1942, Decca) Recorded: September 10, 1954 (session 3)

=Good Rockin' Tonight=

R. Brown. Original Roy Brown (1947, DeLuxe); also Wynonie "Mr. Blues" Harris (1948, King) Recorded: September 11, 1954 (session 3)

Milkcow Blues Boogie

K. Arnold. Original probably Kokomo Arnold (1935, Decca) Other releases: Johnny Lee Wills (1941, Decca); Moon Mullican (1946, King); Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys als "Brain Cloudy Blues", (1946, Columbia) Recorded: December 8, 1954 (session 4)

You're a Heartbreaker

J. Sallee Recorded: December 8, 1954 (session 4)

Baby Let's Play House

A. Gunter. Original: Arthur Gunter (1954, Excello) Recorded: February 11, 1955 (session 5)

In 1951 Eddy Arnold recorded a song titled “I Want to Play House with You” [http://www.gactv.com/gac/ar_az_eddy_arnold/article/0,3097,GAC_27002_4735881_,00.html] [http://rcarecordslabel.com/ea/bio.htm] by Cy Coben. [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/06/12/BAGRAJCIVS1.DTL] This song has been misidentified as the same song. It is not. [ "The A-Z of Buddy Holly" by Alan Mann ]

I Got a Woman

Ray Charles Recorded: February 5, 1955 (session 5) (tape lost)

Trying To Get To You

McCoy - Singleton. Original: The Eagles (1954, Mercury) Recorded: February 11, 1955 (session 5, not published) and July 11, 1955 (session 7, published). In 2002, RCA included information in the liner notes of "Sunrise" as to Presley recording this song whilst simultaneously playing the piano, and not aided by his rhythm guitar, as previously believed. Because his piano playing was not up to the expected standards, producer Sam Phillips erased the sound of the piano on the master take so, in addition to Elvis' tantalizing vocals, all one hears is the lead guitar, the bass and the drums.

Originally recorded by The Eagles in 1954 and released in mid-1954 on Mercury 70391. [http://users.pandora.be/davidneale/elvis/originals/list9.html] And also by Roy Obrison 1956/Apr. Je-Wel JE-101 along with Ooby Dooby [http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/artists/o/orbi1000.htm] A version by Johnny Carroll also preceded the release of the Elvis version. [http://www.rockabillyeurope.com/artists/jcarroll.htm] on Decca Records - May 19, 1956 (Decca 9-29940) [http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/artists/c/carr5800.htm] [http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/pics/d00/616.htm]

I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone

S. Kesler - W. Taylor. Original: Stan Kesler & Bill Taylor Recorded: March 10, 1955 (session 6)

I Forgot To Remember To Forget

S. Kesler - C. Feathers. Original: Stan Kesler & Charlie Feathers Recorded: July 11, 1955 (session 7)

Mystery Train

H. Parker - S. Phillips. Original: Little Junior's Blue Flames (1953, Sun) Recorded: July 11, 1955 (session 7)

When It Rains It Really Pours

W. Emerson. Original: Billy "the Kid" Emerson (1955, Sun) Recorded: August or October 1955 (session 8)

The Million Dollar Quartet (session recordings)

On December 4, 1956, a year after Elvis had left Sun for RCA, he revisited Sun Studio. The afternoon became a jam session with Carl Perkins (then already famous for his Blue Suede Shoes), Jerry Lee Lewis (relatively unknown at the time), and Johnny Cash (reportedly not heard on the tapes, while later he claimed to be included). The taping was largely unintended by the quartet; they were just singing the songs they had in mind. About 40 titles are recorded, most of them incomplete. Elvis is caught telling about a singer he saw in Las Vegas (Billy Ward), doing his version of Don't Be Cruel, and they're enjoying Brown Eyed Handsome Man from Chuck Berry. Recorded: December 4, 1956.NOTE: Jackie Wilson replaced Clyde McPhatter as the lead singer of the Dominoes in 1953 and continued in that capacity through 1956. It was Jackie Wilson, not Billy Ward, whom Elvis was saw covering his songs in Las Vegas and it was Jackie whom Elvis was impressed by.

Rumored/legendary recordings

Over the decades, several additional recordings have been claimed as having been recorded by Elvis at Sun Records. The reference work "Elvis: The Illustrated Record" by Roy Carr and Mick Farren lists the following songs that were, as of 1982, believed to have been recorded by Elvis at Sun Records but as of 2007 remain unreleased and unaccounted for in the official record: [Roy Carr and Mick Farren, "Elvis: The Illustrated Record" (Harmony Books, 1982), p. 22-23]
*"Tennessee Saturday Night" (2 takes recorded July 5-7, 1954). According to Carr and Farren, RCA planned to include this recording on the 1965 compilation album "Elvis for Everyone", but substituted the Sun side "Tomorrow Night" instead. [Carr and Farren, p. 99]
*"Uncle Penn" (1 take recorded Sept. 9, 1954). Carr and Farren claim the existence of "Uncle Penn" is proven by it being listed on the session sheet for the recording session of December 8, 1954 that produced "Tomorrow Night" [Carr and Farren, p. 22] however this contradicts the authors' chart that gives the Sept. 9 recording date. [Carr and Farren, p. 23] .
*"Oakie Boogie" (1 take recorded Dec. 8, 1954)

Releases

Most of the tapes, including the private single, the Million Dollar Quartet and alternate takes have been released. Further alternate takesunreleased songs from SUN are to be released in midlate '07. Details not announced as yet but it may be a box set by Follow That Dream - RCA/BMG collectors label.

un Singles

Ten songs, making five singles, were originally released on the Sun label. These records (in both 45 RPM and 78 RPM formats) are among the most valuable of Elvis' output, fetching four figures in excellent condition:
* Sun 209 July 19, 1954: That's All Right / Blue Moon of Kentucky
* Sun 210 September 25, 1954: Good Rockin' Tonight / I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine
* Sun 215 December 28, 1954: Milkcow Blues Boogie / You're A Heartbreaker
* Sun 217 April 10, 1955: Baby Let's Play House / I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone
* Sun 223 August 6, 1955: I Forgot To Remember To Forget / Mystery Train

RCA Releases

After signing with RCA, the same songs, in the same combination, were re-released by RCA. (December 1955). The songs were available on 78 RPM and 45 RPM, which explains the two ordering-numbers 20/47, respectively:
* RCA 20/47-6375: Sun 223
* RCA 20/47-6380: Sun 209
* RCA 20/47-6381: Sun 210
* RCA 20/47-6382: Sun 215
* RCA 20/47-6383: Sun 217

The same pairings were later reissued as part of RCA's Gold Standard series in five different label formats: Black label with dog at top (September 1958), black label with dog on left side (September 1965), orange label (November 1968), red label (September 1970), and black label with dog in upper right hand corner (September 1976)
* 447-0600: Sun 223
* 447-0601: Sun 209
**B-side of red label version misspells Elvis' last name as "PRESELY"
* 447-0602: Sun 210
**The original "dog on top" copies of the above two were released with special picture sleeves
* 447-0603: Sun 215
* 447-0604: Sun 217

=Album "Elvis Presley" (1956)=

On January 27 1956, the first RCA single, "Heartbreak Hotel" b/w "I Was the One" was released, giving Elvis a nationwide breakthrough. His reputation as a performer on stage was already growing in the same dimensions.

On March 23 1956. the first album, "Elvis Presley" was released (RCA 1254). At that moment "Heartbreak Hotel" was climbing the lists, but albums were seen as less important than singles. "Heartbreak Hotel" is not on this album. RCA, however, put five unreleased Sun recordings on this album:
* "I Love You Because"
* "Just Because"
* "Trying to Get to You"
* "I'll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin')"
* "Blue Moon"

"The Sun Sessions" (1976)

On March 22 1976, the album "The Sun Sessions" was released, with fifteen out of the nineteen available Sun titles:
* "That's All Right"
* "Blue Moon of Kentucky"
* "I Don't Care if the Sun Don't Shine"
* "Good Rockin Tonight"
* "Milkcow Blues Boogie"
* "You're a Heartbreaker"
* "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone"
* "Baby Let's Play House"
* "Mystery Train"
* "I Forgot to Remember to Forget"
* "I'll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin')"
* "Trying to Get to You"
* "I Love You Because"
* "Just Because"
* "I Love You Because" (second version)Missing:
* "Harbor Lights"
* "Tomorrow Night"
* "When It Rains It Really Pours"
* "Satisfied"
* "I Got a Woman"
* "It Wouldn't Be the Same Without You"
* "I'll Never Stand in Your Way"
* "My Happiness"

"The Complete Sun Sessions" [sic] (1987)

Although the title suggests more, only 17 out of the 20 songs are here. The album does contain several takes from "I Love You Because", and "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone". Missing:
* The private recordings
* "Satisfied"
* "It Wouldn't Be the Same Without You"
* "I'll Never Stand in Your Way"
* "My Happiness"

="The Million Dollar Quartet" (1989)=

The recordings have been released in 1989 as a CD, titled, Elvis Presley - The Million Dollar Quartet (RCA CD # 2023-2-R),

" (1992)

Nearly every song Elvis recorded at Sun is present here (although "That's When Your Heartaches Begin" is hidden on CD number 5; the rest is on CD 1). Missing: "Satisfied" (apparently lost forever), all but one track from the Million Dollar Quartet session, as well as "It Wouldn't be the Same Without You" and "I'll Never Stand in Your Way." The latter two songs appear on yet another (and as complete as possible) Sun sessions CD titled "Sunrise."

="Sunrise" (1999)=

Another delving in the Sun Records vaults is the most complete collection of Elvis' recordings from that time. All the masters, some demos and alternate recordings, and a few early live-recorded tracks.

"Elvis at Sun" (2004)

The current (as of mid-2006) version the Sun recordings. Contains the five singles ("That's All Right"/"Blue Moon of Kentucky";"Good Rockin' Tonight"/"I Don't Care If the Sun Don't Shine";"Milkcow Blues Boogie"/"You're a Heartbreaker;"Baby Let's Play House"/"I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone";"I Forgot to Remember to Forget"/"Mystery Train") plus "Harbor Lights," "I Love You Because" (alternate take 2), "Tomorrow Night," "I'll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin')," "Just Because," "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone" (slow version), "Trying to Get to You" and "When It Rains It Really Pours." Missing:
*Private recordings and demos:
** "My Happiness"
** "That's When Your Heartaches Begin"
** "I'll Never Stand in Your Way"
** "It Wouldn't Be the Same Without You"
* "I Love You Because" (first version) (available on "Elvis Presley")
* The lost "Satisfied"
* "I Got a Woman" (Re-recording available on "Elvis Presley")

ee also

*Million Dollar Quartet

External links

*As of 2002, Elvis Presley's SUN recordings are inducted in the US Congress's National Recording Registry: http://www.loc.gov/rr/record/nrpb/nrpb-masterlist.html (no. 102)

References