Good Rockin' Tonight: The Legacy of Sun Records (CD, Oct-2001, Sire)

I grew up in Memphis in the 50s and listened to Daddio Dewey Phillips play all the original versions on WHBQ Radio. I was interested in this collection for the comparisons to the old Sun cuts. All are good. Some are better than others. But, each artist did do the songs "their way" and that's what Sun Records was all about.

Paul McCartney, with Scottie Moore and D.J. Fontana, open the CD with a good rendition of "That's All Right". Sir Paul has the feel and Scottie recreates the guitar break almost note for note the way he did it with Elvis in 1954. D.J. wasn't playing drums on the Elvis take, but the brush licks on the D.J.'s tom-toms blend nicely.

And, I like the Tom Petty and The Heartbrakers version of "Blue Moon Of Kentucky". That was the flip side of "That's All Right" and garnered a lot of air play on country radio stations in the South.

Bob Dylan does a typical Dylan cut of "Red Cadillac And A Black Moustache", a song recorded by Warren Smith at Sun and Bob Luman for Columbia.

The Robert Plant/Jimmy Page rendition of "My Bucket's Got A Hole In It" moves into overdrive. The tempo is more the pace of the Ricky nelson version as opposed to the Hank Williams take. Page does a fantastic job picking an old archtop acoustic guitar.

Elton John enjoys himself on "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On", almost as much as Jerry Lee did when he recorded it in the 50s.

Sheryl Crow belts out an outstanding read of the Charlie Rich song, "Who Will The Next Fool Be", and the bonus track, Hank Williams' "You Win Again" is one of the highlights by Mandy Barnett and The Jordanaires.

The other highlight is Van Morrison and Carl Perkins "Sittin' On Top Of The World", a song that's been recorded by blues singers and bluegrass bands alike.

On the minus side, and this is a minor complaint, some of the cuts had a little too much digital reverb. They would have fared better with the old slap-back echo that Sam Phillips used at Sun Studios when he recorded/produced most of these songs.

But, if I had it to do over, I'd buy the CD again. Now, I want the DVD.

Love the tunes on this CD, a modern take on some classics...Sun Records...waht more can you say about this iconic record label and its artists?

I bought this cd for Kid Rock's appearance which did not disappoint. He continues to display how talented an artist he is and I would recommend this to any fan of Kid Rock who enjoys listening to anything he puts out to the public.

Having enjoyed the original Sam and SUN years, this renews those years again. What a wonderful recording.