Top 9 Music Albums of 1957
by 
Romanelli 
- Chart updated: 07/16/2026 17:15
- (Created: 04/13/2012 17:09).
- Chart size: 9 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:
1,683
Rank in 1957:
Rank in 1950s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
[First added to this chart: 12/22/2012]
[First added to this chart: 02/23/2024]
1955-COLUMBIA
Produced By GEORGE AVAKIAN
1. 'Round About Midnight
2. Ah-Leu-Cha
3. All Of You
4. Bye Bye Blackbird
5. Tadd's Delight
6. Dear Old Stockholm
'Round About Midnight was the first album by Davis on Columbia, where he would stay for 30 years. It features saxophonist John Coltrane, who had not yet become an icon. The interplay between the two here is great, with Davis' melodies being answered by Coltrane's energetic solos. The rhythm section of Red Garland, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones never wavers.
A true jazz classic. One of many Davis albums that are necessary for anyone who's a fan. A beautiful piece of work. [First added to this chart: 11/23/2012]
Produced By GEORGE AVAKIAN
1. 'Round About Midnight
2. Ah-Leu-Cha
3. All Of You
4. Bye Bye Blackbird
5. Tadd's Delight
6. Dear Old Stockholm
'Round About Midnight was the first album by Davis on Columbia, where he would stay for 30 years. It features saxophonist John Coltrane, who had not yet become an icon. The interplay between the two here is great, with Davis' melodies being answered by Coltrane's energetic solos. The rhythm section of Red Garland, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones never wavers.
A true jazz classic. One of many Davis albums that are necessary for anyone who's a fan. A beautiful piece of work. [First added to this chart: 11/23/2012]
Year of Release:
1957
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,859
Rank in 1957:
Rank in 1950s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
1957 – RCA VICTOR
Produced By STEVE SHOLES
1. Mean Woman Blues
2. (Let Mer Be Your) Teddy Bear
3. Loving You
4. Got A Lot Of Livin’ To Do
5. Lonesome Cowboy
6. Hot Dog
7. (Let’s Have A) Party
8. Blueberry Hill
9. True Love
10. Don’t Leave Me Now
11. Have I Told You Lately That I Love You
12. I Need You So
13. Tell Me Why
14. Is It So Strange
15. One Night Of Sin
16. When It Rains, It Really Pours
17. I Beg Of You (Alternate Master)
18. Party (Alternate Master)
19. Loving You
20. Got A Lot O’ Living To Do (Finale)
In 1957, Elvis Presley had not yet gone into the Army. He had appeared in the film Love Me Tender in a supporting role the year before. But Loving You was his first starring role, and this was also his first full soundtrack album. The first of seventeen, all released between 1957 and 1968 (Speedway). Presley’s films were rarely much above vehicles to sell more records, a tactic that worked well for a decade. The end of his film career marked the beginning of his Vegas performer years, which lasted until his death in 1977. The original album contained twelve tracks, seven from the film and five non soundtrack songs. It ran just 26 minutes, and most of the songs, while well produced, were pretty forgettable. That was okay…that album had a pair of hits, which made it a success.
The hits here are “(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear” and “Loving You”. Both were substantial enough to make the album and the film big. Elvis was in fine voice, but the material was, overall, below what his previous work had been. When it was re-released on CD in 1995, Loving You contained an additional eight songs. Only three of those were previously unreleased, but all were recorded around the same time as the original album. Loving You marked the beginning of a long stretch of soundtracks for films that were iffy at best, supported by albums with a sizeable hit and a bunch of other forgettable songs. It wasn’t put together with any kind of cohesive thought: the final five were added only to make it long enough. But it was 1957, and he was still the king. Not great, but better than you might think. [First added to this chart: 08/28/2024]
Produced By STEVE SHOLES
1. Mean Woman Blues
2. (Let Mer Be Your) Teddy Bear
3. Loving You
4. Got A Lot Of Livin’ To Do
5. Lonesome Cowboy
6. Hot Dog
7. (Let’s Have A) Party
8. Blueberry Hill
9. True Love
10. Don’t Leave Me Now
11. Have I Told You Lately That I Love You
12. I Need You So
13. Tell Me Why
14. Is It So Strange
15. One Night Of Sin
16. When It Rains, It Really Pours
17. I Beg Of You (Alternate Master)
18. Party (Alternate Master)
19. Loving You
20. Got A Lot O’ Living To Do (Finale)
In 1957, Elvis Presley had not yet gone into the Army. He had appeared in the film Love Me Tender in a supporting role the year before. But Loving You was his first starring role, and this was also his first full soundtrack album. The first of seventeen, all released between 1957 and 1968 (Speedway). Presley’s films were rarely much above vehicles to sell more records, a tactic that worked well for a decade. The end of his film career marked the beginning of his Vegas performer years, which lasted until his death in 1977. The original album contained twelve tracks, seven from the film and five non soundtrack songs. It ran just 26 minutes, and most of the songs, while well produced, were pretty forgettable. That was okay…that album had a pair of hits, which made it a success.
The hits here are “(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear” and “Loving You”. Both were substantial enough to make the album and the film big. Elvis was in fine voice, but the material was, overall, below what his previous work had been. When it was re-released on CD in 1995, Loving You contained an additional eight songs. Only three of those were previously unreleased, but all were recorded around the same time as the original album. Loving You marked the beginning of a long stretch of soundtracks for films that were iffy at best, supported by albums with a sizeable hit and a bunch of other forgettable songs. It wasn’t put together with any kind of cohesive thought: the final five were added only to make it long enough. But it was 1957, and he was still the king. Not great, but better than you might think. [First added to this chart: 08/28/2024]
1957 – COLUMBIA
Produced By DON LAW
1. Flint Hill Special
2. Some Old Day
3. Earl’s Breakdown
4. Jimmie Brown, The Newsboy
5. Foggy Mountain Special
6. It Won’t Be Long
7. Shuckin’ The Corn
8. Blue Ridge Cabin Home
9. Randy Lynn Rag
10. Your Love Is Like A Flower
11. Foggy Mountain Chimes
12. Reunion In Heaven
Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs were members of Bill Monroe’s band, The Blue Grass Boys, in the mid to late 1940’s. They left Monroe and began performing as a duo in 1948. They continued together until 1969, when they split over creative differences…Scruggs wanted to embrace newer music by people like Bob Dylan, while Flatt was a staunch traditionalist. They released many singles, but their first album was this 1957 compilation. Foggy Mountain Jamboree contains songs released as singles between 1951 and 1955. The songs are all short…the longest track clocks in at 3:01, and so the album doesn’t even make it to thirty minutes. But the quality of the music here more than makes up for it. Flatt & Scruggs were simply one of the best American groups ever.
Flatt (guitar) and Scruggs (banjo) worked with some of the finest bluegrass players in history. Fiddler Paul Warren is a legend. As are Curly Seckler (mandolin), Uncle Josh Graves (dobro) and Jake Tullock (bass). Their better known songs are not on this album, but that’s okay. Workouts like “Flint Hill Special”, “Shuckin’ The Corn” and “Reunion In Heaven” are all worthwhile, and the album is a lesson in just how intricate, well written and well played American music from the south has always been. Flatt & Scruggs will forever be remembered for “Foggy Mountain Breakdown”, the themes for The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction, and the Martha White flour jingle. But Foggy Mountain Jamboree is a classic, a truly great document of one of the greatest bluegrass bands ever assembled. [First added to this chart: 12/06/2024]
Produced By DON LAW
1. Flint Hill Special
2. Some Old Day
3. Earl’s Breakdown
4. Jimmie Brown, The Newsboy
5. Foggy Mountain Special
6. It Won’t Be Long
7. Shuckin’ The Corn
8. Blue Ridge Cabin Home
9. Randy Lynn Rag
10. Your Love Is Like A Flower
11. Foggy Mountain Chimes
12. Reunion In Heaven
Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs were members of Bill Monroe’s band, The Blue Grass Boys, in the mid to late 1940’s. They left Monroe and began performing as a duo in 1948. They continued together until 1969, when they split over creative differences…Scruggs wanted to embrace newer music by people like Bob Dylan, while Flatt was a staunch traditionalist. They released many singles, but their first album was this 1957 compilation. Foggy Mountain Jamboree contains songs released as singles between 1951 and 1955. The songs are all short…the longest track clocks in at 3:01, and so the album doesn’t even make it to thirty minutes. But the quality of the music here more than makes up for it. Flatt & Scruggs were simply one of the best American groups ever.
Flatt (guitar) and Scruggs (banjo) worked with some of the finest bluegrass players in history. Fiddler Paul Warren is a legend. As are Curly Seckler (mandolin), Uncle Josh Graves (dobro) and Jake Tullock (bass). Their better known songs are not on this album, but that’s okay. Workouts like “Flint Hill Special”, “Shuckin’ The Corn” and “Reunion In Heaven” are all worthwhile, and the album is a lesson in just how intricate, well written and well played American music from the south has always been. Flatt & Scruggs will forever be remembered for “Foggy Mountain Breakdown”, the themes for The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction, and the Martha White flour jingle. But Foggy Mountain Jamboree is a classic, a truly great document of one of the greatest bluegrass bands ever assembled. [First added to this chart: 12/06/2024]
[First added to this chart: 12/25/2025]
Year of Release:
1957
Appears in:
Rank Score:
786
Rank in 1957:
Rank in 1950s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
[First added to this chart: 03/27/2026]
[First added to this chart: 07/16/2026]
Total albums: 9. Page 1 of 1
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Top 9 Music Albums of 1957 composition
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| Count Basie | 2 | 22% | |
| Miles Davis | 2 | 22% | |
| Elvis Presley | 1 | 11% | |
| Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs | 1 | 11% | |
| Dizzy Gillespie | 1 | 11% | |
| The Prestige All Stars | 1 | 11% | |
| Johnny Cash | 1 | 11% |
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