Top 25 Music Albums of the 1950s
by 
Romanelli 
- Chart updated: 10/03/2025 15:15
- (Created: 12/08/2011 04:54).
- Chart size: 25 albums.
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1957 – SUN
Produced By SAM PHILLIPS
1. The Rock Island Line
2. I Heard That Lonesome Whistle
3. Country Boy
4. If The Good Lord’s Willing
5. Cry! Cry! Cry!
6. Remember Me
7. So Doggone Lonesome
8. I Was There When It Happened
9. I Walk The Line
10. The Wreck Of The Old ‘97
11. Folsom Prison Blues
12. Doin’ My Time
It’s a debut album by a man who had little experience, who had just started seriously writing songs, who was given a band of just two people to record with and who didn’t have a drummer of any kind. It’s barely 27 minutes long…and it’s a stunning and strong beginning of a career that would span six decades and nearly 100 albums. Four of the songs were released earlier…”Cry! Cry! Cry!”, “Folsom Prison Blues”, “So Doggone Lonesome” and “I Walk The Line” were released as singles between 1955 and 1956…all Cash originals, which was pretty rare in that time if your name was not Chuck Berry. Cash wrote five of the songs on this album, with the rest filled out by some great cover choices…songs by Hank Williams (“I Heard That Lonesome Whistle”), Jerry Reed (“If The Good Lord’s Willin’”), and the former Governor of Louisiana, Jimmie Davis (“I Was There When It Happened”).
There is not a single misstep here. Cash and The Tennessee Two (Luther Perkins and Marshall Grant) make this sound like a full band. They keep things upbeat, even without the benefit of drums (on “Folsom Prison Blues”, Cash improvised by putting a piece of paper between his strings and fretboard to get a snare sound), and without any studio tricks. Even more than on the early Sun efforts by Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis, you can feel just how intimate and close these sessions were. It’s all raw, it’s all live, and it’s the beginning of a career that would turn out to be as legendary as they come. Many of these songs are still heard today, more than sixty years later, and for good reason. This was maybe the birth of folk rock, country rock, southern rock…and the birth of the Man In Black and a huge reason why Sam Phillips and his early Sun stable was so important to almost all of the music that came after it. This is an absolute classic. You should definitely have this one. [First added to this chart: 02/18/2019]
Produced By SAM PHILLIPS
1. The Rock Island Line
2. I Heard That Lonesome Whistle
3. Country Boy
4. If The Good Lord’s Willing
5. Cry! Cry! Cry!
6. Remember Me
7. So Doggone Lonesome
8. I Was There When It Happened
9. I Walk The Line
10. The Wreck Of The Old ‘97
11. Folsom Prison Blues
12. Doin’ My Time
It’s a debut album by a man who had little experience, who had just started seriously writing songs, who was given a band of just two people to record with and who didn’t have a drummer of any kind. It’s barely 27 minutes long…and it’s a stunning and strong beginning of a career that would span six decades and nearly 100 albums. Four of the songs were released earlier…”Cry! Cry! Cry!”, “Folsom Prison Blues”, “So Doggone Lonesome” and “I Walk The Line” were released as singles between 1955 and 1956…all Cash originals, which was pretty rare in that time if your name was not Chuck Berry. Cash wrote five of the songs on this album, with the rest filled out by some great cover choices…songs by Hank Williams (“I Heard That Lonesome Whistle”), Jerry Reed (“If The Good Lord’s Willin’”), and the former Governor of Louisiana, Jimmie Davis (“I Was There When It Happened”).
There is not a single misstep here. Cash and The Tennessee Two (Luther Perkins and Marshall Grant) make this sound like a full band. They keep things upbeat, even without the benefit of drums (on “Folsom Prison Blues”, Cash improvised by putting a piece of paper between his strings and fretboard to get a snare sound), and without any studio tricks. Even more than on the early Sun efforts by Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis, you can feel just how intimate and close these sessions were. It’s all raw, it’s all live, and it’s the beginning of a career that would turn out to be as legendary as they come. Many of these songs are still heard today, more than sixty years later, and for good reason. This was maybe the birth of folk rock, country rock, southern rock…and the birth of the Man In Black and a huge reason why Sam Phillips and his early Sun stable was so important to almost all of the music that came after it. This is an absolute classic. You should definitely have this one. [First added to this chart: 02/18/2019]
Year of Release:
1957
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,617
Rank in 1957:
Rank in 1950s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
13Total albums: 1. Page 1 of 1
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Top 25 Music Albums of the 1950s composition
| Year | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
|
|
| 1950 | 0 | 0% | |
| 1951 | 0 | 0% | |
| 1952 | 1 | 4% | |
| 1953 | 0 | 0% | |
| 1954 | 0 | 0% | |
| 1955 | 3 | 12% | |
| 1956 | 3 | 12% | |
| 1957 | 6 | 24% | |
| 1958 | 3 | 12% | |
| 1959 | 9 | 36% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
 |
|
|
| Elvis Presley | 4 | 16% | |
| Frank Sinatra | 3 | 12% | |
| Miles Davis | 2 | 8% | |
| Cecil Taylor Quartet | 1 | 4% | |
| Johnny Cash | 1 | 4% | |
| Charles Mingus | 1 | 4% | |
| Buddy Holly | 1 | 4% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 25 Music Albums of the 1950s chart changes
| Biggest climbers |
|---|
| Up 1 from 4th to 3rd Kind Of Blue by Miles Davis |
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 1 from 3rd to 4th Memorial Album by Johnny Ace |
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Top 25 Music Albums of the 1950s ratings
83/100 (from 3 votes)
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Showing all 3 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 80/100  | 08/20/2020 19:50 | Chrispeater | | 82/100 |
| 55/100 | 10/14/2015 00:05 | FourMinerz | | 55/100 |
| 85/100 | 12/08/2011 02:20 |  Triple Seis | | 79/100 |
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From 
Sean 12/09/2011 01:39
Sean 12/09/2011 01:39
Good chart
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | -2 votes (0 helpful | 2 unhelpful)
From Sean 12/08/2011 03:24
Sean 12/08/2011 03:24
all u need for 50s
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
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