Jerry Lee Lewis At Sun Records The Collected Works 2 Books)

Most of this music would carry a full maximum of five stars. But it has been padded to 18 CDs presumably so they could pad up the price, because the vast majority of the tracks that Jerry recorded during his last two years at Sun which were in stereo, appear here in both mono and stereo, when they need to only appear in stereo. Further more, because there is studio chatter at the beginning of most of these tracks, I am puzzled as to why in some cases, the chatter only appears in front of the mono appearances of the tracks. Furthermore, the final CD here pointlessly contains entirely tracks also on previous CDs overdubbed with backing vocals, all because that is how they appeared on original releases, when they appear on previous CDs here undubbed. So I worked out that it could all have been reduced to 14 CDs, and at a lower price. Yet it does not contain his pre-Sun label demos which have been on other possibly unofficial CDs of his. They include two from 1952 - Don't Stay Away & Jerry Lee's Boogie from his Road Begins CD, and two from 1954 - I Don't Hurt Anymore which he covered from Hank Snow & If I Ever Needed You from his Killer's Private Stash CD. Obviously like the other reviewers here, I payed over £250 for it through Amazons, but it is now reduced to just over £200. But as well as the CDs, you get two large thick books, one with numerous then-period photos of Jerry, and the other containing a full biography of his, plus a sessionography of all the tracks here. I must warn that the second take of Wild One (Real Wild Child) seems to have a mastering fault, as when it gets to the second verse, where the instrumentation pauses for a few seconds while Jerry sings the line Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On, you can hear a few loud clicks, whereas it has appeared on other compilation without this fault. This set contains every surviving take of every song Jerry recorded for the Sun label from 1956 to 1962. We really do need up to 16 different takes of High School Confidential, each one of them, really great in their own right. Musically, there was nobody better than Jerry. Although the one problem with his early output here, is that he revived too many Country songs, either forcing them into a Rock 'N' Roll style, which usually did not work, or reviving them in his own Country style, when to me, he was no Country singer. He was a born Rocker. But I did like his readings of a few Country songs such as Hank Williams' Long Gone Lonesome Blues, Settin' The Woods On Fire, and You Win Again, Moon Mullican's I'll Sail My Ship Alone,. and Billy Mize's It All Depends, plus his own Fools Like Me. But on the great side, he virtually invented Rock music as we know it today. Because he was literally years ahead of his time, obviously none of this music has aged the slightest. Bear Family have made nearly all of these tracks sound as though they were recorded yesterday. I also enjoy the false starts and studio chatter at the beginning of so many of the tracks here. Obviously, about half the songs here were never released until years later when they finally appeared on compilation albums of his. Standouts include Wild One, Mean Woman Blues, Milkshake Madamoiselle, and the beautiful ballad Big Legged Woman, where Jerry really romances. Jerry was of course a highly important part of the onslaught of Rock 'N' Roll of the second half of the fifties, and with the help of his contemporaries such as Elvis Presley, Gene Vincent, Chuck Berry and Eddie Cochran, completely changed the face of the music world, out-fashioning almost everything that was around before it, making most of the old crooners redundant, as it then seemed as though anybody who wasn't a Rock 'N' Roll singer was either virtually finished, or wasn't going to get started. But if that wasn't enough to completely make the old crooners redundant, the British Invasion that followed it during the sixties certainly was, and gave them an even more bitter pill to have to swallow, as by then, we were in a Beatles/Rolling Stones governed era, with the help of their contemporaries, drowning out the careers of many of their successful predecessors including Jerry. By then, crooners such as Dean Martin, Bing Crosby and Vic Damone had become old farts, just having to cater for their ever shrinking elderly generation, while this ever expanding younger generation were taking to the modern day pop scene through the likes of The Kinks, The Yardbirds & The Who, and the mid sixties in particular was entirely a pop world. Anything that wasn't pop music was completely out of fashion. I know there is always an exception to the rule. But in general, everything just had to be pop music to sell. It turned the whole world into a massive teenage party, of which the old crooners were just not invited. It also made the older generation of the public feel alienated. The music world then had become entirely a teenage market. But come the early seventies when everything quietened, and musical trends had stopped shifting for a while, Rock 'N' Roll had come back into force, with all the old fifties Rock Stars including Jerry, back in huge live demand again. Although this is probably because music went dead at the time, and there was nothing powerful enough in the industry at this time to prevent any of the old musical trends from returning. It is nice to think Jerry is still going today. Back to this set, I especially like his version of Elvis' Don't Be Cruel.

I bought the original Bear Family 'Sun' box when it came out. I bought the 'Charly' box, with more discs. I was never 100% happy with the sound quality if I'm being honest, but we're talking about 60 year old music here, and I thought that it was lucky that it survived in this quantity. Look at Elvis Presley - barely a double discs worth of Sun tracks are left now, and there I was with maybe a dozen hours or more of Jerry Lee. Who could ask for more? Me, it seems.Now we have 18 discs, comprising of literally every known note that exists. And as far as I can tell, although I expect I'll be contradicted, there are no silly accidental duplications or mislabelling of songs/versions on here as there were on both of the previous sets. What you do get for your money are stereo versions of songs which also appear in mono, and to be honest that's not something which excites me. But, having said that, I also understand that if you're going to buy a definitive collection, it really needs to be definitive. So I'll go along with it.The music speaks for itself, and if you're paying over £200 for a box of CDs and a couple of books (which are very good) then you will know that Jerry Lee's Sun material began to suffer from the law of diminishing returns as he got nearer and nearer the end of his contract. Not that it was bad at the end, but nothing competes with the classic early singles, in my view. But it's all worth hearing, and for once you can believe the hype. It sounds better than ever, and Bear Family should be applauded for going to this trouble in an age where other companies will happily put a box of ten badly mastered discs for a tenner, and sell them in supermarkets.Buy with confidence, if you can afford it.

No words needed. Complete Sun sessions.BUY IT!!

The music on this box set is overall excellent and well worth listening to if you are a fan of Jerry Lee Lewis, 1950s rock 'n' roll, blues, country, western swing or classic R&B. However, every song here has already been released on collections such as 1989's "Classic Jerry Lee Lewis" box set. Sadly, a whole lot of Sun material and Jerry Lee material in general remains unissued to this day. On the "Classic JLL" collection, the writer as much as said that this material would be issued in the future. Sadly, Jerry Lee died this year and the great high quality unissued material that exists probably will flood the market in the next year or so to cash in on his passing. The material should have been released on this set instead while Jerry Lee was still alive.

fantastic set,just what all jerry lee fanatics have been waiting for,yes its not cheap but what price can you put on musical perfection?i love listening to all the alternate takes (history in the making) you may think i am nit-picking but i do not rate the box it comes in,not up to bear family usual standard.i would now like to see a JACK SCOTT box with all the alternate takes and false-starts which were not on the CLASSIC SCOTT box which bear family issued a few years back.

The sound quality is absolutely fantastic on this box set and it's worth buying just for that. Both books are excelkent, informative. Lots of new information and lots of great photographs. However, despite its extravagant claims, it is NOT COMPLETE! The extracts from the "Million Dollar Quartet" session are omitted. Why oh why oh why????

Fabulous sound quality, beautifully packaged. A must for any Jerry lee Lewis fan. Everything that still exists on the SUN label + masses of fabulous photographs and a superb discography.A high quality product from the best – Jerry Lee and Bear Family!BUY IT, YOU WON'T BE DISAPPOINTED!

Everything and more !!! A must have for Rock n Roll enthusiasts !!