Good Rockin’ Tonight: The Legacy of Sun Records

Reviewed by:
David Peisner

The lineup is staggering: Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Tom Petty, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, Eric Clapton, Van Morrison, Kid Rock, Sheryl Crow, and, um, Matchbox 20, to name but a few. The songs are the time-tested classics that birthed rock’n’roll 50 years ago in Memphis’ famed Sun Studios: “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Whole Lotta Shakin’,” “Don’t Be Cruel,” “I Walk The Line.” So why isn’t this thing better? Good Rockin’ Tonight, while often entertaining, pretty much defines the phrase, “less than the sum of its parts.” A few performances stand out—Chrissie Hynde’s lusty reading of “Mystery Train” and a resilient and robust take of “Sittin’ On Top Of The World” by Van Morrison and Carl Perkins, in particular—but for the most part, Good Rockin’ amounts to old famous people impersonating older famous people. Interesting, but hardly revelatory.

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