Elvis At Sun (RCA/BMG)

In 1953, an 18 year-old Elvis first walked into the Memphis Recording Service studios. The songs he recorded for Sam Phillips in the first few hours of that session are not precisely known but the opening track here, 'Harbour Lights' appears to be the earliest recording to have survived. The last song recorded on that first session, 'That's Alright', almost wasn't recorded at all. The story is told in the extensive liner notes by Sam Phillips' son, Knox. There are 19 of the young Elvis' very first recordings collected here. Simon Hobbs.

EIN note: it appears the reviewer did not know what to do with an Elvis sound very foreign to what he was used to!

(Source: BMA magazine #210, 12 August 2004)