London Chuck Berry

Chuck Berry - The London Chuck Berry Sessions +8 (1972) {Universal Japan UICY-75944 rel 2013
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© 1972, 2013 Chess / Geffen / Universal Japan | UICY-75944
Rock & Roll / Rhythm & Blues

One-half of this album is a studio recording featuring Ian McLagan and Kenny Jones of the Faces. The other half is a live recording from the Lancaster Arts Festival in Coventry, England, featuring performances of "My Ding-a-Ling" and "Reelin' and Rockin'" that, in edited form, became the first hit singles for Chuck Berry in many years. ("My Ding-a-Ling" went gold and hit #1.) This gold-selling, Top Ten album represents Berry's commercial, if not artistic, peak.

Chuck Berry - Rock And Roll Music: Any Old Way You Choose It (2014) {16CD Box Set Bear Family Records}
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© 2014 Bear Family Records | BCD 17273 PL
Rhythm & Blues / Blues / Rock & Roll / Early R&B

Chuck Berry fanatics, your ship has come in, and it’s the Queen Mary — or maybe we should call it the Queen Maybellene. As you’d expect from the Bear Family label, which specializes in gargantuan reissues, this 16-CD, 396-song box doesn’t simply span Berry’s career, it embraces virtually every musical note the man has ever issued. You’ll find all of his released album tracks and singles, starting with an obscure 1954 recording and including everything from the Chess, Mercury and Atco labels, plus every surviving alternate take. Also here are five CDs’ worth of concert performances from 1956 to 1972.

Chuck Berry - Have Mercy: His Complete Chess Recordings 1969 To 1974 (2010) {4CD Set Hip-O Select B0013790-02}
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© 1969-74, 2010 Chess / Geffen / Hip-O Select | B0013790-02
Rock & Roll / Blues / Early R&B

Following an unsatisfying three-year stint at Mercury Records, Chuck Berry returned home to Chess in 1969, just like Phil Chess predicted. Heading home didn’t necessarily mean retreating, as the four-disc Have Mercy: His Complete Chess Recordings 1969-1974 illustrates. During his time at Mercury, Chuck followed the kids wherever they went, aligning himself with the psychedelic ‘60s in a way none of his peers did. This shift is immediately apparent on “Tulane,” the very first song he cut upon his return to Chess. An ode to a couple of kids who dealt dope underneath the counter of a novelty shop, “Tulane” puts Chuck on the side of the counterculture, and over the next five years, he never strayed back to the other side of the fence, often singing about getting stoned, dabbling with a wah-wah pedal, rhapsodizing about rock festivals, cheerfully telling smutty jokes.

These box sets from One Day Music are something special - some hit and misses, but you get that with any CD collection…and of what is good or bad is a personal choice. The recordings on this three-CD compilation date from the years 1953 to 1960 and fall into two categories: rare recordings by well-known names and one-off recordings by more obscure acts.