Unfortunately looking for that mean-sounding, high energy rock is kind of a wild goose chase. A lot of early rock performers have the songs but there’s not one record I can point to.
Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis all made compelling rock music during their tenure at Sun Records, but they didn’t continue to make rock music afterwards. Elvis was the only person to leave Sun and continue to make rock music, really.
Johnny Cash’s first two LPs are very good, and you can find some of that manic coke energy in his later work, but a lot of those songs just buckle under the load.
All of the singles that Elvis cut at Sun are great, but a few of them are hampered by amateurish playing on behalf of Scotty Moore and Bill Black. His RCA debut is incredible. Really, everything Elvis made up until 1962 is excellent.
The best and most direct way to understand Elvis charisma and energy as a performer is probably to listen (or see) to his house 1968 comeback special, his accompanying record From Elvis in Memphis, and the live records he put out in the same time frame.
Howlin’ Wolf is also an extremely raw, powerful performer and he had the good luck of having an extremely talented (and weird) guitarist in Hubert Sumlin. The Rocking Chair album and his edition of The Real Folk Blues is a fucking powerhouse.
The Beatles first two records are so manic. There’s so much energy, so much fucking fun on those records it’s bonkers. Listen to I Wanna Be Your Man and try not to feel the energy in that recording.
If you want that high, high energy, I CANNOT STOP LISTENING to Elvis at Madison Square Garden and Elvis other 10/10 live album, From Memphis to Vegas/From Vegas to Memphis. PLEASE listen to That’s All Right from the MSG show or Blue Suede Shoes from the Memphis Vegas album. They’re so fucking good. So fucking great.
-anon
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