The Complete Sun Sessions (CD - 2001)

Compilation producers: Cary E. Mansfield, Bill Dahl.

Includes liner notes by Bill Dahl.

Digitally remastered by Dan Hersch (DigiPrep, Hollywood, California).

Personnel: Roy Orbison (vocals, guitar); James Morrow (mandolin); Martin Willis (saxophone); Billy Pat Ellis (drums).

Liner Note Author: Bill Dahl.

Recording information: Sun Studios (03/??/1956-01/10/1958).

Roy Orbison's Sun period has often been documented, but was never really given its proper critical due until the 21st century with its 20/20 hindsight. The Bear Family label issued a complete Orbison collection from his earliest Teen Kings recordings -- all of them -- to 1965, and other compilations have documented some of the material Orbison recorded for Sun between 1956 and 1958. This set on Varese Sarabande documents -- with excellent sound quality -- Orbison's oeuvre with Sam Phillips and Sun Studios, from the Teen Kings' redo of the Je-Wel classic "Ooby Dooby," with an amazing Orbison guitar solo, to his version of Conway Twitty's "Rock House" to less well-known tracks such as "Domino," "Mean Little Mama," "The Cause of It All," "I Was a Fool," and a handful of alternate takes of tracks like "Claudette," "The Clown," "Chicken Hearted," "Problem Child," and "This Kind of Love." There are 31 tracks in all. The revelatory thing about the Sun material is just how hard and consistently Orbison rocked! His guitar playing is amazing, his voice had not yet taken on the glissandi quality it would at Monument, and his producers at Sun, Phillips and Cowboy Jack Clement, among others, worked that West Texas vibe, that hillbilly vibe deep into the Orbison sound. This is essential for rockabilly fans in general and those who understand that there was far more to Orbison than "Pretty Woman." ~ Thom Jurek minimize