Best Of Chess: Original Versions Of Songs in Cadillac Records

Chuck Berry | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 2, 2008)
• Original Release Date: 2008
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Chess
• ASIN: B001JL2VCE
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,075 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #2 in Music > Blues > Chicago Blues
  • #4 in Music > Blues > Regional Blues
  • #9 in Music > Blues > Electric Blues

Editorial Reviews

Rolling Stone Magazine, January 1, 2009

CHESS: THE REAL THING

Beyonce and crew take a crack at fifties hits, but there's no replacing the originals

The Best Of Chess Records: five stars

Whatever its cinematic merits, "Cadillac Records," the new film about the legendary blues and R&B label Chess, has already performed the valuable public service of exposing some of the greatest American songs to millions who might not otherwise have heard them. There would be no rock & roll without Bo Diddley's walloping backbeat and Chuck Berry's pealing guitar solos; no strutting rappers without the badass blues boasts of Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf; no Beyoncé crooning "If I Were a Boy" in 2008 without Etta James' pained pleading of "Trust in Me" 47 years earlier. Even if you've never heard the originals, you know this music in your bones. There's no improving on the Chess catalog, and this new compilation is a great place to start soaking it in. It includes signature songs from Diddley ("I'm a Man"), Waters ("Forty Days and Forty Nights"), Wolf ("Smokestack Lightnin' ") and James ("At Last"), as well as three tunes by Little Walter, a hurricane disguised as singer and harmonica player. The only thing you lose is how startlingly innovative these songs were in the Fifties. So concentrate instead on the still-shocking power of Waters' and James' singing, and the poetry (not too strong a word) of Berry's road songs -- the most compact, artfully artless songwriting in rock & roll history.

Product Description

The 2008 movie Cadillac Records is the story of Chess Records. The Best of Chess is the original versions of the songs used in the Cadillac Records movie starring Beyonce, Mos Def, Solange, Jeffrey Wright, Raphael Saadiq and others. Cadillac Records chronicles the history of Chess Records, the pre-eminent blues label of the 1950s and 1960s co-founded by Leonard Chess and his brother Phil. Featured songs in Cadillac Records by Etta James (played by Beyonce Knowles), Muddy Waters (Jeffrey Wright), Little Walter (Columbus Short), Willie Dixon (Cedric the Entertainer), Chuck Berry (Mos Def), Howlin' Wolf (Eamonn Walker) and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Often imitated, never duplicated, December 26, 2008

By 

B. McEwan "yellokat" (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Best Of Chess: Original Versions Of Songs in Cadillac Records (Audio CD)

This is a great CD, with re-mastered versions of the original blues songs featured in the film, Cadillac Records. These are the real thing, blues written and performed by by Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Etta James, Little Walter, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. And the quality is very good, thanks to remasters of old tapes laid down in the 40s, 50s and early 60s.

Known at the time as "race records," these original blues tunes by people we now call African-Americans set the stage for early rock n roll and for white rockers like Elvis Presley to score huge hits with songs like My Babe, one of Little Walter's signature tunes. Eventually some of the black singers had cross-over hits. For instance, At Last by Etta James got decent airplay on mainstream stations, but more often than not it was the white bands that made it big. This was especially in the South, where white and black audiences were segregated by law and many clubs refused to book black performers.

The stars of Cadillac Records (Beyonce and Mos Def, for example) do fine versions of these songs in the film, but there really isn't anything like hearing the original recordings. I recommend buying this disk and the film soundtrack and listening to them together. It's a great experience and it's also satisfying to know that Muddy and many of the Chess artists are finally getting the broad recognition they deserve.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Blues/Rock 101: An Introduction, January 29, 2009

By 

Steve Vrana (Aurora, NE) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Best Of Chess: Original Versions Of Songs in Cadillac Records (Audio CD)

Regardless of the merits of "Cadillac Records," which chronicles the story of the Chess brothers founding of one of the great record dynasties, the sixteen tracks contained on this disc are the real deal and are required listening for any serious music collector. Accept no substitutes. Each of these six artists has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And how could they not? The far reaching influence of these six artists is incalculable. So forget the soundtrack album; this is what you need. The raw power of these songs is staggering.

If there's a criticism to be leveled, it's the brevity of this collection (which clocks in under 45 minutes). If you're ready to move on from this introductory lesson into the blues, Chess has a number of multi-disc sets available. 1997's two-disc THE CHESS BLUES-ROCK SONGBOOK also includes such blues stalwarts as John Lee Hooker, Willie Dixon, Lowell Fulson, J. B. Lenoir and Elmore James. If that's not enough, 1992's 4-CD box set contains 101 tracks of classic blues. But if you're looking for a solid introduction of what Chess Records was all about, you can't go wrong with this single-disc collection. This is essential listening. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED [Running Time - 44:07]

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No Mold on these Golden Oldies, January 24, 2009

By 

B. Mellberg "Madameluvsbooks" (Bay Area, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Best Of Chess: Original Versions Of Songs in Cadillac Records (Audio CD)

SOOOOOOOOOO happy I chose to buy the original Chess Recordings when faced with a choice between this CD and the Soundtrack. Worth the price just for Little Walter's "My Babe" - I was instantly 13 years old again, dancing in the gym at Roosevelt Jr. High!