Post Description

BCD - 17254 - Jerry Lee Lewis At Sun Records 18 CD's  - 2015


Sam Phillips didn't record anybody else the way he recorded Jerry Lee Lewis. With other artists, he pushed and prodded, taking his time to discover the qualities that made them uniquely human, but with Jerry Lee, he just turned the tape on and let the Killer rip. There was no need to sculpt because Lewis arrived at Sun Studios fully formed, ready to lean back and play anything that crossed his mind. Over the course of seven years, that's more or less how things were run at Sun: Lewis would sit at the piano and play, singing songs that were brought to him and songs that crossed his mind, and Sam never stopped rolling the tape.
Bear Family's 2015 box set At Sun Records: The Collected Works rounds up every scrap of every session the Killer recorded at Sun -- all the masters, all the alternate takes, all the mono and stereo mixes, and all the overdubs, too, spreading it out over the course of 18 CDs, which is a whopping ten discs longer than their previous Jerry Lee Sun box, 1989's Classic. The Collected Works eclipses Classic in every regard: the original's flimsy paper book has been supplemented by two hardcover books, the discography has been redone, the music remastered, and the sequencing altered. All these additions and alterations are enough to warrant the interest of fans who already own Classic, but they also help underscore the richness of Jerry Lee Lewis' Sun Sessions. In his 2015 biography, Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock & Roll, Peter Guralnick drew an analogy between Lewis' Sun sessions and Alan Lomax's field recordings, where Lomax preserved entire folk songbooks by just letting folk singers play and, in a sense, that's what Phillips -- and his associate Jack Clement -- did with Jerry Lee. Often, the crew assembled with the intention of recording a new hit single, but they'd either warm up or cool down with old country, blues, pop, and gospel tunes, or perhaps a current rock & roll or R&B hit, so they wound up with reels of tapes that amounted to a snapshot of the American century at the crossroads. Incapable of existing beyond the moment at hand, Lewis poured everything into these performances, bending the songs to suit his style, and the results are consistently compelling: it's as if American history is channeled through one wildman from Louisiana. It's essential, vital music, but listening to The Collected Works isn't something to be taken lightly: all the successive takes, chatter, and false starts can be wearying if played in the background. Nevertheless, these snippets are also necessary because they help illustrate just how much Jerry Lee played with the songs and his own style, and it also captures his fire. There never was anybody else like the Killer, and there never will be again. This set captures him at his purest and wildest.



rack Listing - Disc 1
Sample          Title/Composer     Performer     Time     
1     
Crazy Arms [1] [Master]
Ralph Mooney / Chuck Seals
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:46     
2     
End of the Road [Master]
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
1:50     
3     
Born to Lose
Frankie Brown
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:42     
4     
You're the Only Star (In My Blue Heaven) [1.1]
Gene Autry
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:11     
5     
You're the Only Star (In My Blue Heaven) [1.2]
Gene Autry
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:41     
6     
Deep Elem Blues [1]
Traditional
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:45     
7     
Deep Elem Blues [2]
Traditional
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:47     
8     
Silver Threads Among the Gold
Traditional
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:07     
9     
Crawdad Song
Traditional
Jerry Lee Lewis
1:51     
10     
Singing the Blues
Melvin Endsley
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:08     
11     
Honey Hush
Big Joe Turner
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:07     
12     
Goodnight Irene [1]
Huddie Ledbetter / John A. Lomax
Jerry Lee Lewis
3:10     
13     
Goodnight Irene [2]
Huddie Ledbetter / John A. Lomax
Jerry Lee Lewis
3:03     
14     
Goodnight Irene [3] [undubbed master]
Huddie Ledbetter / John A. Lomax
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:56     
15     
Goodnight Irene [4]
Huddie Ledbetter / John A. Lomax
Jerry Lee Lewis
3:06     
16     
The Marines' Hymn
Jacques Offenbach
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:25     
17     
Dixie
Traditional
Jerry Lee Lewis
1:32     
18     
It'll Be Me [1.1] [chat & take]
Jack Clement
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:41     
19     
It'll Be Me [1.2] [4 false starts]
Jack Clement
Jerry Lee Lewis
1:06     
20     
It'll Be Me [1.3]
Jack Clement
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:38     
21     
It'll Be Me [1.4] [chat, take, chat]
Jack Clement
Jerry Lee Lewis
3:08     
22     
It'll Be Me [1.5]
Jack Clement
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:54     
23     
It'll Be Me [1.6] [Single Master]
Jack Clement
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:47     
24     
Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On [1.1] [fragment]
Sunny David / David Williams
Jerry Lee Lewis
0:17     
25     
Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On [1.2]
Sunny David / David Williams
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:43     
26     
Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On [1.3]
Sunny David / David Williams
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:46     
27     
Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On [1.4]
Sunny David / David Williams
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:48     
28     
Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On [1.5]
Sunny David / David Williams
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:50     
29     
Ole Pal of Yesterday [1]
Gene Autry
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:37     
30     
Ole Pal of Yesterday [2]
Gene Autry
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:38     
31     
Ole Pal of Yesterday [3]
Gene Autry
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:37     
32     
Ole Pal of Yesterday [4]
Gene Autry
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:36     
Track Listing - Disc 2
Sample          Title/Composer     Performer     Time     
1     
It'll Be Me [2.1]
Jack Clement
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:31     
2     
It'll Be Me [2.2] [3 false starts]
Jack Clement
Jerry Lee Lewis
0:24     
3     
It'll Be Me [2.3]
Jack Clement
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:16     
4     
It'll Be Me [2.4]
Jack Clement
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:18     
5     
It'll Be Me [2.5] [4 false starts]
Jack Clement
Jerry Lee Lewis
0:30     
6     
It'll Be Me [2.6]
Jack Clement
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:17     
7     
It'll Be Me [2.7]
Jack Clement
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:22     
8     
It'll Be Me [2.8] [LP Master]
Jack Clement
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:17     
9     
It'll Be Me [2.9]
Jack Clement
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:12     
10     
All Night Long [1] [chat & take]
Traditional
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:08     
11     
All Night Long [2]
Traditional
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:05     
12     
Old Time Religion [1]
Traditional
Jerry Lee Lewis
1:57     
13     
Old Time Religion [2]
Traditional
Jerry Lee Lewis
1:39     
14     
When the Saints Go Marching In [Undubbed Master]
Traditional
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:13     
15     
It All Depends [1] [Undubbed Master]
Billy Mize
Jerry Lee Lewis
3:03     
16     
You Are My Sunshine [1] [2 false starts]
Jimmie Davis
Jerry Lee Lewis
0:26     
17     
You Are My Sunshine [2]
Jimmie Davis
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:16     
18     
You Are My Sunshine [3]
Jimmie Davis
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:14     
19     
I Don't Love Nobody [1]
Traditional
Jerry Lee Lewis
1:27     
20     
I Don't Love Nobody [2]
Traditional
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:12     
21     
Long Gone Lonesome Blues
Hank Williams
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:06     
22     
It'll Be Me [3]
Jack Clement
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:40     
23     
Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On [2] [Master]
Sunny David / David Williams
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:56     
24     
My Carolina Sunshine Girl
Jimmie Rodgers
Jerry Lee Lewis
1:53     
25     
Shame on You
Spade Cooley
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:12     
26     
Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee [1]
Sticks McGhee / J. Mayo Williams
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:38     
27     
Pumping Piano Rock
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:06     
28     
Little Green Valley [1]
Carson J. Robison
Jerry Lee Lewis
1:55     
29     
Little Green Valley [2]
Carson J. Robison
Jerry Lee Lewis
1:56     
30     
Little Green Valley [3]
Carson J. Robison
Jerry Lee Lewis
1:57     
31     
Little Green Valley [4]
Carson J. Robison
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:13     
32     
Little Green Valley [5]
Carson J. Robison
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:08     
33     
Little Green Valley [6]
Carson J. Robison
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:05     
34     
Little Green Valley [7]
Carson J. Robison
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:04     
35     
Little Green Valley [8]
Carson J. Robison
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:00     
36     
Little Green Valley [9]
Carson J. Robison
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:01     
37     
Tomorrow Night
Sam Coslow / Wilhelm Grosz
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:59     
38     
Love Letters in the Sand
J. Fred Coots / Chas Kenny / Nick Kenny
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:03     
Track Listing - Disc 3
Sample          Title/Composer     Performer     Time     
1     
Hand Me Down My Walking Cane
James A. Bland
Jerry Lee Lewis
2:21     
2     
You Win Again [1.1]
Hank Williams
Jerry Lee Lewis