Customer Reviews

Johnny B Goode: His Complete 50's Chess Recordings

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Universal Music / Hip-O Select has put together this fine release and deserve high kudos for a job well done. The sound is is fantastic and to have a complete set of Chuck's 50's sides all in one place is just great!
You will hear the early sides like "Maybelline" right through 1959's "Too Pooped To Pop". In between you hear a little studio chatter and a bunch of fun alternate versions and a few songs that were never released. Booklet is very imformative and gives dates, personnel and dates of the releases. I highly recommend this set and sincerely hope there are subsequent volumes to cover the 60's.

A couple of small complaints: I really enjoy the alternate versions, but multiple versions (5 in row for example of "Sweet Little Sixteen") can be a little tiring and I think it may have been nice to either space them out or have the alternate versions on their own disc. The packaging is a bit annoying, I would have preferred separate cases, but these are small issues!

I recently purchased this new 4-CD box set of Chuck Berrys complete Chess recordings made during the period from 1955 to 1959. A box set containing all of Berrys Chess recordings from 1955 to the late 1970s should have been released years ago. Chuck Berry was the most influential artist in the history of Rock and Roll before the Beatles came along. He composed over 90 percent of everything he recorded and is one of the greatest guitar players in the history of Popular Music. Geffen Records has used every avalible track recorded by Berry at Chess up to 1959 which includes several alternate and unreleased takes. The songs are spread over 4-CDs in the exact order they were recoreded. Some lesser fans of Chuck may find it a little ponderous having to listen to several versions of the same song. However, if you are a true Chuck Berry fan like I've been for the last 35-years, you won't mind. In fact,the 5-versions of Sweet Little Sixteen and 3-versions of Reelin And Rockin are one of the high points in this box set. You can really hear these songs developing in the studio, along with some occasional comments spoken by Chuck, his band and his producers,Phil and Leonard Chess. A total of 103 songs make up this set which also includes a small 23-page pull-out booklet containing some biograpical information about Berry plus his recording disography. There are only 2-negatives that I would point out about this set. The first is the packaging. The 4-CDs come in a fold-up type box which is open on both sides. They should have placed each disc in its own individual case that way you would not have to worry about how to transport it to your car or elsewhere outside of your home. This fold-up type box is held together by a thin red thred like string. Very tacky. Why could'nt these people get it right. The second negative point which is a minor thing, is the selection of photos used in this set. There have been hundreds of great photos takin of Chuck Berry through the years. Why have the same photo of a person with just a slightly different pose placed on each of the inner flaps when they could have used several different ones. The bottom line here is that the sound quality on all of the music is excellent and you've got everything Chuck Berry recorded during the 1950s. A second box set containing everything else Chuck recorded for Chess from 1960 into the 1970s should be put together as soon as possible. Berry recorded some fantastic songs during the 1960s and early 70s. Geffen records should have put out one complete box-set on all of Berrys music in the first place. Why split it up into 2-sets. In closing, if your a fan of Chuck Berry, then this box-set is a MUST BUY. And lets hope a volume-2 will be released soon.

This is, by far, the best compilation of Chuck Berry material ever made available to the public. The sound quality far surpasses anything in any format presently available. And, if it's not on Chess, it's not the REAL Berry. Enough said.

I was driving a friend of mine around just after I had bought these discs. I said I had a new eight disk Chuck Berry box set that I'm enjoying pretty well. He said "Really?". Is there enough material of Chuck Berry for an eight disc set?" I said "Yes there is".

If you are not familiar with Chuck's biggest hits, you need to correct it immediately. I'm tempted to list them all with a line or two to emphasize their greatness or to help you remember them.

"Maybellene, why can't you be true, You done started back doin' those things you used to do." It's a car song about racing a Cadillac (yeah, right).

"You Can't Catch Me, cause if you get too close, I'm gone like a cool breeze". The song John Lennon was groovin' on when he wrote Come Together. I'll repeat that, "The song John Lennon was groovin' on when he wrote Come Together".

Speaking of Lennon and the Beatles, they did a lot of Chuck's songs in their early years, having a lot of radio play with Roll Over Beethoven and Rock and Roll Music. An early Rolling Stones hit was Round and Round. (Again, I want to make sure you know the song so I have to quote a little of the lyric, "Said the joint was rockin', Goin' round and round, Yeah, reeling and a rocking, What a crazy sound And they never stopped rocking, Til the moon went down".

Too Much Monkey Business for me to be involved in, School Days, the guy behind you won't leave you alone, They're really rockin' in Boston, Pittsburg Pa, all the cats want to dance with Sweet Little Sixteen. You may have heard Johnny Be Goode, she never gets any older, Sweet Little Rock and Roller, Beautiful Delilah, sweet as apple pie, Always gets a second look from fellas passin' by, Every time you see her she's with a different guy, Beautiful Delilah, that's the reason why, Rebecca don't allow me fool around with you, You are so tantalizing you just can't be true, She's in the mood, no needin' break it, I've got a chance, I'd better take it, if we can dance then we can make it, come on Queenie, let's shake it. There she is again, standing by the record machine, Go, Little Queenie. We're so glad we're livin' in the USA. Oh, I skipped over long distance information, give me Memphis Tennessee, Can't stop the train, you've got to let it roll on. NADINE!!, Honey is that you, it seems like every time I catch up with you, you're up to something new. Ridin' along in my calaboose, Still trying to get her belt a-loose, All the way home I held a grudge, For the safety belt that wouldn't budge, Crusin' and playin' the radio, With no particular place to go. CAROL, don't let him steal your heart away, I'm gonna learn to dance if it takes me all night and day.

The Great Twenty Eight didn't have You Never Can Tell (the Pulp Fiction Song), or Promise Land, not to mention My Ding-a-Ling (I usually don't mention it, but I do pull it out when I feel the need). You may know Promise Land from Elvis's version with the line "There are people there who care a little 'bout me and they won't let the poor boy down". The Great Thirty One won't fit on a single disk, so you have to get a double set. Which I did. The Anthology disks are excellent. Only problem, you'll end up wanting more.

It had some good blues on it but blues isn't really my style. I like the Rock'n'Roll. But there was actually some good Rock'n'Roll I hadn't heard. Because ... he's ... too pooped to pop, too old to scold, his feet gettin' tired when he tries to do the stroll, every time his feet gets to goin' one way, here a new dance and he's gone astray, So slow down little Jaguar, keep cool little Thunderbird Ford, Get the stuff and hide it in the van, go back by your momma's, get the money for the bail and bring it down and bail me out of this rotten funky jail.

So I was eyeing these disks, the four disks set Johnny B. Goode His Complete '50s Chess Recordings and the four disks set You Never Can Tell His Complete Chess Recordings 1960-1966 and happened to click on It Wasn't Me, (It must have been some other body, uh uh boss, it wasn't me). What can I say, it all rocks. I'll get back to you with the specifics.

My Ding-a-Ling isn't here, but I have that on the Anthology album. Hmm, I wonder if that last four disc set is any good.

If one man could claim the title of "the father of rock and roll", then that man would be Chuck Berry. If you look back at the body of his music both in this collection and in the companion collection from the 1960s, then you would find that this man combined a bit of country, a bit of gutbucket blues, sped it all up and created rock and roll. On top of all that, he and Bob Dylan may be the two greatest lyricists in rock and roll history. If you want to see how rock and roll really began, then this set is for you.