If you're looking for Elvis before he became "Elvis Presley the Actor", you have to get this "The Sun Sessions". It was Elvis first discovering his style of music. To compare it with pop culture, imagine Seinfeld in its first season.
Elvis' voice is rough, as each of the tunes on this disk were recorded on a single track revolver. The songs are so tetchy and reminiscent of Elvis as a kid living off of the "Black Music", they have an eerie quality of bringing you back to the early 50s, whether you were there or not.
This disk also shows Elvis' influences. He was crowned the "King of Rock" for a reason. Although many say it was he that invented "rock and roll", this disk shows that the music was a big part. The tunes on "The Sun Sessions" are a mix of country and rhythm and blues. Elvis', digging into how he was brought up, fuses them together beautifully.
A prime example tune that shows his roots is "That's All Right", which is the opening track of this disk.
Then they're "Good Rockin' Tonight", which was originally recorded by Roy Brown. The B-Side to that is "I Don't Care if the Sun Don't Shine." "Milkcow Blues Boogie" is such a classic Elvis tune, because you can see he enjoys making "music like the country folk". It was originally created by Sleepy John Estes, and Elvis put it out with "You're A Heartbreaker".
There are also fun tracks that you can rock to when you're going roller-skating or something. "Baby Let's Play House", "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone", "Mystery Train" - that latter with sexy Elvis vocals, partly because it was a Junior Parker track to begin with. Then they're "I Forgot to Remember To Forgot" - looking back, that's a classic.
Five singles, rapped up with eleven more tracks bundled together, and you get the real, raw Elvis, before "The Cornell" took over. If you pick this up, be sure to get more albums from this guy. Remember, right after this disk came a little something called "Heartbreak Hotel", which changed music forever.
