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Class of '55: Memphis Rock & Roll Homecoming (1986)

Where the lyrics of Class of '55: Memphis Rock & Roll Homecoming take you, and where it was really made.

All four singers on this album began their careers at Sun Records, and the album was recorded at Sun Studio, where they started.

Key places

Recorded at Sun Studio (1986)

Recording site Sun Studio — The album was recorded at Sun Studio, the studio of Sam Phillips in Memphis. Its four singers all began their careers at Sun Records. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Completed at American Sound Studio (1986)

Recording site American Sound Studio — After the Sun Studio sessions, the album was completed at American Sound Studio in Memphis. The album was recorded at Sun Studio before this stage. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Collaborative studio album by Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins
• Released May 26, 1986 by America/Smash Records, a subsidiary of PolyGram Records
• Produced by Chips Moman
• Partly a tribute to Elvis Presley

Background

• Mainly a commemoration of the four performers, who all began their careers with Sun Records in the 1950s
• Dick Clark Productions filmed the project from start to finish
• The Commercial Appeal and Nine-O-One Network Magazine also documented the sessions
• The first edition of Nine-O-One Network Magazine was sold with the album in a telemarketing package
• America/Smash was affiliated with PolyGram, which also owned Mercury Records
• Cash was still under contract to Columbia Records at the time, and proper permissions had not been obtained

Recording

• Recorded at Sun Studio and completed at American Sound Studio
• The final song, ‘Big Train (from Memphis)’, was written by John Fogerty
• Its blended voices include Fogerty, The Judds, Dave Edmunds, Ricky Nelson, Sam Phillips, and June Carter Cash
• Fogerty said he was thinking about the old Sun Records sound when he wrote the song
• The extended finale features the singers performing material from various Sun Records songs, including ‘That’s All Right Mama’ and ‘Blue Suede Shoes’

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Roy Kelton Orbison (born April 23, 1936, Vernon, Texas; died December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist.
• He began singing in a country-and-western band as a teenager in Wink, Texas, formed the Wink Westerners in 1949 and later the Teen Kings.
• He was signed to Sun Records by Sam Phillips in 1956.

Career

• Known for a distinctive, powerful voice, complex song structures and dark, emotional ballads.
• Signed to Monument Records; from 1960 to 1966, 22 of his singles reached the Billboard top 40.
• Wrote or co-wrote almost all of his own top-10 hits, including "Only the Lonely", "Running Scared", "Crying" and "Oh, Pretty Woman".
• Suffered personal tragedies after the mid-1960s, including the deaths of his first wife Claudette and two sons, and his career faltered.
• Revived in the late 1980s after cover versions of his songs; co-founded the Traveling Wilburys with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne in 1988.
• Died of a heart attack in December 1988 at age 52.
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987; received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Steve Huey of AllMusic named Perkins’ ‘Birth of Rock and Roll’, ‘Sixteen Candles’, Waylon Jennings’ ‘Waymore’s Blues’, Cash’s ‘I Will Rock and Roll With You’, and John Fogerty’s ‘Big Train (From Memphis)’ among the album’s renditions

Reappraisal

• After being out of print for decades, the album was re-released separately
• It was also re-released as part of the Cash box set ‘The Complete Mercury Recordings: 1986-1991’

Records

• The spoken word release ‘Interviews from the Class of ’55 Recording Sessions’ earned the 1986 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album
• The Grammy went to the four performers, and also to producer Chips Moman, Sam Phillips, and Ricky Nelson
• For Nelson, it was his last recording session and his only Grammy Award

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Perkins’ music video for ‘Birth of Rock and Roll’, starring Perkins, Lewis, and Ron Wood of The Rolling Stones, promoted the album
• A TV special with footage of the studio sessions aired on TBS in 1989
• Cash, Lewis, and Perkins had earlier worked together in 1956 as the Million Dollar Quartet
• Cash, Lewis, and Perkins had also collaborated in 1982 on The Survivors Live
• The album was out of print for decades before its separate and box set re-releases

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org

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