Elvis Presley: Sunrise

It's hard to imagine a musical world in which Elvis Presley's recordings for Sun Studios don't exist. Without the glorious melding of musical styles Presley finds on "Blue Moon Of Kentucky," the B-side to his first single, rock 'n' roll would have gotten off to a decidedly different start. It's country and blues, black music and white music, and it sounds like nothing that had ever been heard before. Presley's Sun recordings have long been available in one form or another, although they've never been released in their entirety on compact disc—even on the otherwise-excellent Sun Sessions CD, which trims a few alternate takes for the sake of fitting everything on one disc. RCA's new two-disc Sunrise reissue could have corrected that, but it doesn't, and that's a shame. Neither of its discs runs longer than 50 minutes, making the tracks' exclusion nearly inexplicable. But, as a compilation of early Elvis material, it's tough to criticize it from any standpoint but that of a hardened completist. The first disc includes all of Presley's Sun masters, from "That's All Right" and "Blue Moon Of Kentucky" through his last pre-RCA recording, "When It Rains It Really Pours." And even the aforementioned hardened completists will find plenty to like on the second disc, which includes a previously unissued attempt at "Blue Moon," some scratchy but interesting early live tracks, pre-professional recordings such as "My Happiness," and a few other rarities. As distant and unobtainable as Elvis and early rock 'n' roll seem now, anyone searching for either needs to start with these recordings. For the uninitiated and initiated alike, Sunrise is essential, even with points taken off for incompleteness.