The fifth volume of Charly's
Essential Sun Rockabillies series continues their collector-sanctioned mission to reissue every rockabilly inch of tape ever recorded or owned by Sun Records. There are a number of interesting items, including early recordings by future country and pop stars
Dickey Lee,
Conway Twitty (as
Harold Jenkins),
Ed Bruce (as
Edwin Bruce),
Jumpin' Gene Simmons, and
Narvel Felts. Other artists are well known among Sun enthusiasts, including
Malcolm Yelvington,
Sonny Burgess, and
Tracy Pendarvis. The Sun rockabilly tapes have been exhaustively reissued so, despite the obscurity of many of these tracks, none is previously unreleased. However, the assortment of alternate takes ensures that few collectors will already have every recording on offer. The sound quality is very good, the program is lengthy, and the liner notes informative, but most of these cuts were never released in their day because they were deemed unfit for one reason or another. Only serious rockabilly collectors will have need for them today. If you fall into that category, the Charly series and Bear Family's
That'll Flat Git It! volumes devoted to Sun are recommended for their attention to detail and minimal overlap.