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Class of '55: Memphis Rock & Roll Homecoming | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | May 26, 1986 | |||
Recorded | September 17–20, 1985 | |||
Studio |
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Genre | ||||
Length | 37:14 | |||
Label | America/Smash | |||
Producer | Chips Moman | |||
Roy Orbison chronology | ||||
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Johnny Cash chronology | ||||
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Jerry Lee Lewis chronology | ||||
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Singles from Class of '55:Memphis Rock &Roll Homecoming | ||||
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Class of '55:Memphis Rock &Roll Homecoming is a collaborative studio album by Carl Perkins,Jerry Lee Lewis,Roy Orbison,and Johnny Cash. It was released on May 26,1986,by America/Smash Records,a subsidiary of Polygram Records. The album was produced by Chips Moman.
While the album was in part a tribute to Elvis Presley,it was mainly a commemoration of those young performing hopefuls,the four album participants,who —as had Presley —all began their careers with Sun Records in the 1950s. Recorded at Sam Phillips' Sun Studios and completed at American Sound Studios,the album was documented by Dick Clark Productions,which filmed it from start to finish;by The Commercial Appeal,the Mid-South's largest circulation newspaper;and by Nine-O-One Network Magazine,the first edition of which was sold with the album in a telemarketing package. [1]
The final song of the session,"Big Train (from Memphis)",written by John Fogerty,includes the blended voices of John Fogerty,The Judds,Dave Edmunds,Ricky Nelson,Sam Phillips,and June Carter Cash. Fogerty told a reporter that he was thinking about the old Sun Records sound when he wrote the song. [2] The extended finale of the song features the singers singing lines from various Sun Records songs,including "That's All Right Mama","Blue Suede Shoes," "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On","Folsom Prison Blues" and others.
Producer Chips Moman encountered a major issue following the recording sessions,as Cash was still under contract to Columbia Records at the time and proper permissions had not been obtained. Faced with the possibility of having to remove Cash's voice from the recordings,Moman paid Columbia $100,000 for the rights to keep Cash on the record. [3] At this time,the America/Smash label was affiliated with PolyGram,which in turn also owned Mercury Records to which Cash would sign shortly after recording Class of '55.
The recorded "Interviews from the Class of '55 Recording Sessions," written and produced by Rose Clayton,earned the 1986 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for the four performers,plus for producer Chips Moman,Sam Phillips and Ricky Nelson. For Nelson,it was his last recording session and only Grammy Award of his career.
A music video from Perkins' "Birth of Rock and Roll," starring Perkins,Lewis,and Ron Wood of The Rolling Stones,promoted the "Class Of '55."
Cash,Lewis and Perkins had previously collaborated in 1956 with the Million Dollar Quartet and in 1982 with The Survivors Live.
Dick Clark hosted a TV special with footage of the studio sessions aired on TBS in 1989. [4]
After being out of print for decades,the album was re-released separately and as part of the Cash box set “The Complete Mercury Recordings:1986-1991.” [5]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Artist(s) | Length |
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1. | "Birth of Rock and Roll" | Carl Perkins, Greg Perkins | Carl Perkins | 4:21 |
2. | "Sixteen Candles" | Luther Dixon, Allyson Khent | Jerry Lee Lewis | 3:48 |
3. | "Class of '55" | Chips Moman, Bobby Emmons | Carl Perkins | 2:56 |
4. | "Waymore's Blues" | Waylon Jennings, Curtis Buck | Perkins, Lewis, Orbison & Cash | 2:25 |
5. | "We Remember the King" | Paul Kennerley | Johnny Cash | 2:58 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Artist(s) | Length |
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1. | "Coming Home" | Roy Orbison, Will Jennings, J.D. Souther | Roy Orbison | 3:59 |
2. | "Rock and Roll (Fais-Do-Do)" | Michael Smotherman | Perkins, Lewis, Orbison & Cash | 3:17 |
3. | "Keep My Motor Running" | Randy Bachman | Jerry Lee Lewis | 2:52 |
4. | "I Will Rock and Roll with You" | Johnny Cash | Johnny Cash | 2:01 |
5. | "Big Train (from Memphis)" | John Fogerty | Perkins, Lewis, Orbison & Cash | 7:56 |
Album - Billboard (United States)
Chart (1986) | Peak position |
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Top Country Albums | 15 |
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [6] |
Samuel Cornelius Phillips was an American record producer. He was the founder of Sun Records and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he produced recordings by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Howlin' Wolf. Phillips played a major role in the development of rock and roll during the 1950s, launching the career of Presley. In 1969, he sold Sun to Shelby Singleton.
Jerry Lee Lewis was an American pianist, singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as "rock 'n' roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock 'n' roll and rockabilly music, Lewis made his first recordings in 1952 at Cosimo Matassa's J&M Studio in New Orleans, Louisiana, and early recordings in 1956 at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee. "Crazy Arms" sold 300,000 copies in the Southern United States, but it was his 1957 hit "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" that shot Lewis to worldwide fame. He followed this with the major hits "Great Balls of Fire", "Breathless", and "High School Confidential".
Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee on February 1, 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash. Prior to that, Sun had concentrated mainly on African-American musicians because Phillips loved rhythm and blues and wanted to bring it to a white audience.
Carl Lee Perkins was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rockabilly great and pioneer of rock and roll, he began his recording career at the Sun Studio, in Memphis, beginning in 1954. Among his best-known songs are "Blue Suede Shoes", "Honey Don't", "Matchbox" and "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby".
Sun Studio is a recording studio opened by rock-and-roll pioneer Sam Phillips at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, on January 3, 1950. It was originally called Memphis Recording Service, sharing the same building with the Sun Records label business. Sun Studio is perhaps most famous for its role in the early years of Elvis Presley’s career.
Lincoln Wayne "Chips" Moman was an American record producer, guitarist, and songwriter. He is known for working in R&B, pop music and country music, operating American Sound Studios and producing hit albums like Elvis Presley's 1969 From Elvis in Memphis and the 1985 debut album for The Highwaymen. Moman won a Grammy Award for co-writing "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song", a 1975 hit for B.J. Thomas.
King of Hearts is a posthumous album of Roy Orbison songs put together from master sessions and demos by Jeff Lynne for Virgin Records, and Orbison's 23rd album overall. According to the authorized Roy Orbison biography, the collection was originally released in October 1992 on CD, music cassette, and LP.
Jack Henderson Clement was an American singer, songwriter, as well as a record and film producer.
"Matchbox" is a song written and recorded by Carl Perkins and released in 1957. Blind Lemon Jefferson wrote and recorded a song entitled "Match Box Blues" in 1927, which is musically different but which contains some lyric phrases in common.
"Million Dollar Quartet" is a recording of an impromptu jam session involving Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash made on December 4, 1956, at the Sun Record Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. An article about the session was published in the Memphis Press-Scimitar under the title "Million Dollar Quartet". The recording was first released in Europe in 1981 as The Million Dollar Quartet with 17 tracks. A few years later more tracks were discovered and released as The Complete Million Dollar Session. In 1990, the recordings were released in the United States as Elvis Presley: The Million Dollar Quartet. This session is considered a seminal moment in rock and roll.
Dorsey William Burnette III is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter who was part of the band Fleetwood Mac from 1987 to 1996. Burnette also had a brief career in acting.
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Highwayman 2 is the second studio album released by American country supergroup The Highwaymen. This album was released in 1990 on the Columbia Records label. Johnny Cash had left Columbia several years earlier, making this a "homecoming", and ultimately his final work for Columbia as the next Highwaymen album would be issued on another label.
Rainbow is the 70th album by American country singer Johnny Cash, his last for Columbia Records, released in 1985. "I'm Leaving Now", which was re-recorded 15 years later for Cash's American III: Solitary Man, was released as a single rather unsuccessfully, but the album's signature song is a cover of Kris Kristofferson's "Here Comes That Rainbow Again", which also appeared on Cash's 1995 collaboration with Kristofferson, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings - known as The Highwaymen - entitled The Road Goes on Forever, though it was sung solo by Kristofferson on the latter. Also included is a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?," from Pendulum. The album also includes the song "Love Me Like You Used To," which was later recorded by fellow country singer Tanya Tucker, and became a country hit for her. Following the release of this album and a duet album with Jennings in 1986, Cash moved to Mercury Records as a result of Columbia's fading interest in his music, though he later returned to Columbia for the second Highwaymen album.
"Go Go Go (Down the Line)" (often credited as "Down the Line") is a song by Roy Orbison, released in 1956. According to the authorised biography of Roy Orbison, this was the B-side to Orbison's first Sun Records release "Ooby Dooby". This was the first song written by Orbison.
Nine-O-One Network was an American bi-monthly music magazine published in Memphis, Tennessee from 1986 to 1989.
Roy Orbison's Sun recordings were made by Orbison at Sun Studio with producer Sam Phillips. Sun Records was established in 1952 in Memphis, Tennessee, and during an eight-year period Phillips recorded such artists as Roy Orbison, B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf, Ike Turner, Rufus Thomas, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Harold Jenkins, and Charlie Rich. The musicians signed at Sun Records made music that laid the foundation of rock and roll in the 20th century.
"Birth of Rock and Roll" is a 1986 song written by Carl Perkins and Greg Perkins. The song was featured on the Class of '55 album which included performances with Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, and Jerry Lee Lewis. "Birth of Rock and Roll" was released as a 7" single with a picture sleeve, 885 760–7, on the Smash/America label copyrighted by PolyGram Records produced by Chips Moman. The single reached No. 31 on the Billboard country chart and No. 44 on the Canadian country chart in 1986. The B side was "Rock and Roll (Fais-Do-Do)" which featured Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Roy Orbison. The theme of the song “Birth of Rock and Roll" is about how "Memphis gave birth to rock and roll" in the 1950s at Sun Records. A video of the song was also made featuring Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones as they drove to the historic Sun studios in Memphis, Tennessee in a white Cadillac convertible.
Stanley Augustus Kesler was an American musician, record producer and songwriter, whose career began at the Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee. He co-wrote several of Elvis Presley's early recordings including "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone" and "I Forgot to Remember to Forget", and played guitar and bass on hit records by Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis. As a producer, his successful records included "Wooly Bully" by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs.
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