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Carl Perkins - The Essential Sun Collection Audio CD

A fair review of the Carl Perkins "The Essential Sun Collection" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Carl Perkins reviews here, or go back to the Carl Perkins tabs.

Carl Perkins Band: Carl Perkins
Title: The Essential Sun Collection
Rating:
Release Date: 1999-01-21
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Movie Magg 2: Turn Around 3: Let the Jukebox Keep on Playing 4: Gone, Gone, Gone 5: Blue Suede Shoes 6: Honey Don't 7: Sure to Fall 8: Tennessee 9: Boppin' the Blues 10: All Mama's Children 11: Dixie Fried 12: I'm Sorry I'm Not Sorry 13: Your True Love 14: Matchbox 15: That's Right 16: Forever Yours 17: Glad All Over 18: Lend Me Your Comb 19: Honky Tonk Gal 20: Perkins Wiggle 21: You Can't Make Love to Somebody 22: That Don't Move Me 23: Lonely Street 24: Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby 25: Somebody Tell Me 26: Sweethearts or Strangers 27: Keeper of the Key 28: Be Honest With Me 29: Caldonia 30: Her Love Rubbed Off 31: You Can Do No Wrong 32: Put Your Cat Clothes On 33: Roll Over Beethoven 34: Only You 35: Pink Pedal Pushers 36: Right String Baby, Wrong Yo-Yo

Crossove
I purchased this CD as a gift for my friend, who was quite taken by Carl Perkins songs. A friend and I recently saw "the million dollar quartet" - the musical version of the one and only time Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis were in the Sun Records studio at the same time. For someone who is a Rolling Stones fan my gift was at first deemed disappointing. However, I have been told that "his music grows on you". This CD is representative of Carl Perkins effort to "crossover" from country to rock and roll.


A true "best of" collection: probably all the Carl Perkins you will ever need!
It was this set of performances, not his later music, that influenced The Beatles and many others throughout the years. Despite the fact that Carl Perkins kept recording until shortly before his death during the mid 90's, his golden legacy will always be comprised mainly by the material he recorded for Sun Records during the 50's. Hence, it would be perfectly fair and fitting to call this collection "Carl Perkins' All-Time Greatest Hits".

"The Essential Sun Collection" renders his other two best-known compilations obsolete: all tracks from Rhino's "Carl Perkins - Original Sun Greatest Hits" and Varese's "The Complete Sun Singles" are included here. As a matter of fact, the first disc of this beautiful 2CD collection has the exact same material as the Varese set, complementing the story with Perkins' other period highlights on disc two. Also note this double album features every track from Carl's milestone debut LP "Dance Album. "

Sound quality is excellent throughout, and considering that the other two 1CD compilations, as well as Carl's debut LP, all sell for roughly the same price as this title each (around $13-$14), this compilation offers the best value overall.

Please note that this product includes original Sun versions only. Most of the Carl Perkins products I have seen in stores include markedly inferior re-recordings Carl made of his old Sun sides and other Rock & Roll era hits. Do yourself a favor, and get the real McCoy. If you like early rock & roll and rockabilly, you will not regret it.


A Fine Collection
This is a 2-CD set of one of the most influential guitarists ever. Here is a great collection of the Rockabilly-sound of Carl Perkins. All of Carl's biigest hits are here, but more importantly, are the inclusion of his earliest releases which are much more country/honkytonk than those released by actual country/honkytonk stars of the same era! The sound is excellent although you do have to overlook the poorer recordings of those first few numbers included on the 2d disc. The liner notes are present, but not overly informative; really nothing to complain about, but they could be a bit more detailed. Still, I would have to say that this is probably the most basic, yet accurate, collection available.


Don't Overlook This for Carl's Greatest!
The sound is surprisingly OUTSTANDING ("warm, clear, punchy, vivid" are some words that come to my mind), better than the slightly "digital harsh"-sounding single disc that Rhino (which is usually one of the best for sonic quality) put out in the late '80s, and for the price of one disc you get 2 discs with 36 tracks total. If you're looking for one basic Carl collection, this may be your best bet. And the booklet (with notes on every track here) is outstanding for a "budget" collection. Only the hardest of the hard-core fans will need more of Sun-era Carl, namely the expensive Bear Family box. This is the best collection (and value) for everyone else.


You can see a complete list of all Carl Perkins discography, or go back to the Carl Perkins tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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