Sunrise
Compilation album by Elvis Presley
Released	February 9, 1999
Recorded	July 1953 – November 1955
Genre	Rock and roll country[1] R&B[1]
Length	92:54
Label	RCA
Producer	Sam Phillips
Elvis Presley chronology
Memories: The '68 Comeback Special (1998) Sunrise (1999) Home Recordings (1999)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]

Sunrise is atwo-disc compilation ofElvis Presley's studio recordings atSun Studio from 1953 to 1955, released in 1999, RCA 67675-2. This set features all of the survivingmaster recordings made by Presley and his accompanists,Scotty Moore andBill Black, occasionally augmented by other musicians, prior to his arrival onRCA Records in 1956.

Tapes for at least three songs have been lost: Sun versions of "I Got A Woman", "Uncle Pen", and "Satisfied". The first would be recorded by Presley during his first RCA session. All of the studio commercial recordings were produced bySam Phillips, the owner ofSun Studio inMemphis,Tennessee. Phillips released Presley's recording contract to RCA for the substantial sum, in 1955dollars, of $35,000 (equivalent to $410,826 in 2024). This gave RCA the rights to all of Presley'smasters recorded at Sun.

The first disc presents all eighteen Sun titles from professional recording sessions during the singer's stay at the label. The opening ten tracks comprise theA and b sides of the five officially released Presleysingles on the Sun label.Outtakes from sessions at Sun were used to fill in catalogue items forRCA, with five used for Presley'sdebut LP.

The second disc compiles sevenalternate takes from the professional studio sessions, with a different alternate of "Blue Moon" from the Take 1 that appears on1950s box set. The remaining selections derive fromacetates or basic recording equipment, and are not of professional sound quality; these are marked with an asterisk in the track listings below. The first four tracks comprise the pre-professional test recordings made by Elvis alone in July 1953 and January 1954. "Fool Fool Fool" and "Shake, Rattle, and Roll" were recorded by the standard Presley trio at an unknown location inLubbock, Texas, during January 1955; presumably the visit whereBuddy Holly witnessed the trio and decided to begin performingrock and roll^{[citation needed]}. "It Wouldn't Be The Same Without You," and the final six tracks from a live performance on theLouisiana Hayride, inShreveport, Louisiana, featuring an augmented band in 1955, are released here for the first time.

The set does not include the three additional alternate takes of "I Love You Because" and the five additional alternates of "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone" that appeared on the 1987 two-disc setThe Complete Sun Sessions.

The set includes "That's All Right (Mama)", one of candidates for being "thefirst rock and roll record". Elvis' entire period at Sun is one of the seminal events in the birth ofrock and roll, specifically also the beginning of the subgenre known asrockabilly. As stated by authorPeter Guralnick, opening theliner notes to this set:

"If Elvis Presley had never made another record after his last Sun session in the fall of 1955, there seems little question that his music would have achieved much the same mythic status asRobert Johnson'sblues. The body of his work at Sun is so transcendent, so fresh, and so original that even today you can scarcely listen to it in relation to anything but itself. Like all great art its sources may be obvious, but its overall impact defies explanation."

In 2002, given their importance in the development of American popular music,The Sun Sessions were chosen, by theNational Recording Registry of theLibrary of Congress, to be kept as a bequeathal to posterity. In 2012Rolling Stone magazine placedSunrise at number 11 on its list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

In theRolling Stone listing, the album pictured is notSunrise but the 1976 compilationThe Sun Sessions. The album title is also incorrectly given asThe Sun Sessions. The text, however, cites a 2-disc, 1999 RCA release that can only beSunrise.^[3] WhenRolling Stone updated its list in 2020,Sunrise was replaced byThe Sun Sessions, which was ranked 78th.^[4]

For more detailed information on the recording sessions, seeElvis Presley's Sun recordings.

Chart positions for LPs and EPs fromBillboard Top Pop Albums chart; positions for singles fromBillboard Pop Singles chart except where noted.

• Elvis Presley –vocal,guitar
• Scotty Moore – guitar on disc one, disc two (tracks 5–19)
• Bill Black –bass on disc one, disc two (tracks 5–19)
• Jimmie Lott –drums on disc one (track 8)
• Johnny Bernero – drums on disc one (tracks 9, 18, 19)
• Leon Post –piano on disc two (tracks 14–19)
• Sonny Trammel –steel guitar on disc two (tracks 14–19)

• Sun Studio
• Sun Records

• 1999 compilation albums
• Albums recorded at Sun Studio
• Compilation albums published posthumously
• Elvis Presley compilation albums
• RCA Records compilation albums

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