Various Artists: Good Rockin' Tonight: The Legacy of Sun Records : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Hearing Elton John pound his way through Jerry Lee Lewis' "Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On," one of several blistering tracks on the Sun Records tribute Good Rockin' Tonight, is like entering a magical time warp: Within the first gleeful seconds, the movie-theme pablum of Nineties Elton melts away, Captain Fantastic disappears, and suddenly along comes a Honky Cat, tearing into the keys like his hands are on fire.

Tribute projects are supposed to offer rock stars the chance to try stuff they wouldn't normally. But the Ahmet Ertegun-produced Sun set and, to a lesser degree, a similarly star-studded homage to Hank Williams do something more: In the process of dusting off venerable old songs, they unearth important ideas about singing and playing (indeed, ways of projecting feeling into music) that have been trampled in the digital-age quest for perfection.

Timeless takes its participants back to the sad ballads and folk blues Williams sang with unsurpassed earnestness and homespun grace. Most of these sturdy songs are interpreted reverently, by artists determined not to muss the original intent. Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris sing a harrowing version of "Lost on the River," while Tom Petty captures perfectly the frustration of "You're Gonna Change (or I'm Gonna Leave)." But the shining moments are the ones that wander far from ordinary tribute-on-tiptoe - particularly Beck's staticky trance fantasia on the theme of "Your Cheatin' Heart."

The artists involved in Good Rockin' Tonight sound eager to trip back to the days when rock was not yet codified, when the artists assembled by Sun visionary Sam Phillips were slapping songs and riffs into a reckless expression that prized looseness and craved speed. The assembled luminaries all chase those basic elements: Paul McCartney adopts a coy pout to sing "That's All Right," Eric Clapton actually belts out a ballad, "Just Walkin' in the Rain," Kid Rock puts a sassy spin on "Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee," and Bob Dylan (who also does a nice "I Can't Get You off of My Mind" on the Williams tribute) uses a repertoire of groans to castigate a wandering lover enthralled by a "Red Cadillac and a Black Moustache." It's hardly some nostalgia exercise: As they dig into these classics, the artists celebrate not just the notes but the feeling, an approach to rock that may be long gone but won't, if they can help it, be forgotten.

TOM MOON
(RS 880 - October 25, 2001)