Video Capsule Review

GOOD ROCKIN' TONIGHT: THE LEGACY OF SUN RECORDS (2002)

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Credits

Video Release Date: Oct 08, 2002; With: Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Paul McCartney, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant

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By Tom Sinclair

Tom Sinclair

Tom Sinclair is a senior writer for EW and has been called "the handsomest man in rock criticism'' (by his wife)

Throughout the '50s, Memphis' legendary Sun studio was the artistic cauldron that spawned some of the finest and most influential blues, rock & roll, country, and rockabilly music extant. This documentary -- a companion piece to the 2001 CD of the same name -- features some oddball May-December collaborations (matchbox twenty and Jerry Lee Lewis?) and loads of swell music from the likes of Paul McCartney, Live, and Robert Plant and Jimmy Page. Rock scholars will appreciate the face time given to the aging Sun artists and musicians, like Elvis Presley guitarist Scotty Moore, who sit around reminiscing about that ol' Sun magic. (Singer Sonny Burgess attributes his Sun success partly to the copious amounts of Thunderbird wine consumed in the studio.) Good Rockin' both lionizes and humanizes Sun's seemingly ageless owner Sam Phillips, who comes across as part visionary, part rascal -- dig his sheepish chuckle when singer Billy Lee Riley accuses him of dropping the ball on Riley's shoulda-been 1957 hit ''Red Hot.'' Recommended to anyone in need of a refresher course on the eternal verities of rock & roll.

Posted Oct 04, 2002

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