Roots of Chuck Berry

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 28, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Catfish UK
• ASIN: B00005N9GV
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #566,691 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Rock Awhile - Goree Carter & His Hepcats

2. Ain't That Just Like A Woman - Louis Jordan And His Tympany Five

3. Worried Life Blues - Big Maceo

4. Big Three Stomp - Big Three Trio

5. Around The Clock Blues - Big Vernon (Joe Turner)

6. Down The Road Apiece - Will Bradley Trio

7. Run Joe - Louis Jordan And His Tympany Five

8. Get Your Kicks On Route 66 - Nat King Cole Trio

9. Boogie Woogie - Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra

10. I'm Just A Lucky So And So - Duke Ellington Orchestra

11. Solo Flight - Benny Goodman Orchestra

12. Dust My Broom - Elmore James Jackson

13. Beer Drinking Woman - Memphis Slim

14. Flying Home (Part 1)/Flying Home (Part 2) - Illinois Jacquet & His All Stars

15. Me And My Chauffeur Blues - Memphis Minnie

16. Drifting Blues - Johnny Moore's Three Blazers

17. The House Of Blue Lights - Ella Mae Morse

18. Don't You Lie To Me - Tampa Red

19. Junco Partner - James Wayne

20. Mean Old World - T-Bone Walker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "The Roots of Chuck Berry", July 21, 2003

By 

MR LEE ROY BROWN - See all my reviews

This review is from: Roots of Chuck Berry (Audio CD)

Hi Chuck Berry Fans!

A friend just introduced me to "The Roots of Chuck Berry."

"The Roots of Chuck Berry" is one GREAT Historical Music CD!

It traces the evolution of Chuck Berry's style and how his admiration for contemporaneous guitarists and musicians influenced him. The liner notes detailing each track are a Goldmine of "Roots" information. You should classify this CD under "ESSENTIAL" music listening.

You will hear note for note the guitar intro to "Johnny B. Goode." This fair took Jimmy Page's breath away when someone played this particular recorded song to him.

"The Roots of Chuck Berry" pieces together all the links in the chain that forged Chuck Berry and 'furnaced' us with his ROCK N' ROLL "CLASSICS."

Get a copy while you can.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Illuminating peep behind the scenes, August 24, 2006

By 

Laurence Upton (Wilts, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Roots of Chuck Berry (Audio CD)

Chuck Berry has always been a hard man to pin down musically. While in the UK he was marketed under the banner of Rhythm and Blues, in America he was more labelled a Rock and Roller. Neither of these terms begin to cover the wide range of styles and influences encompassed in his unique blend of music.

There have been a number of releases in Catfish Records' and other labels' series of "Roots of..." collections, covering Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Fleetwood Mac, Eric Clapton, the Grateful Dead and several others, but none has the wide range of sources on exhibition here. Chuck Berry was born in 1926 and so his formative years fell during the forties, the era of boogie, blues and big band swing, all much enjoyed by Chuck Berry, along with close harmony groups, Mexicali rhythms, Western swing and country music.

This sweep of influences not only gave Chuck Berry a rich palette with which to work, it also means that this collection of records from 1938 onwards has a particularly wide and satisfying range of sources and is frequently highly illuminating. For example, Joe Turner's Around The Clock Blues is clearly the inspiration for Chuck's time watching Reelin' And Rockin'. Songs such as Down The Road Apiece and Route 66 are so well known in Chuck's versions, and recycled in adaptations of his arrangements by successive generations, starting with the Rolling Stones who recorded both, that it becomes quite an eye opener to hear them in the more restrained original versions by the Will Bradley Trio and the Nat King Cole Trio.

Others of the series have sometimes lacked for information but on this release there are thorough notes by Fred Rothwell, clearly an expert on Chuck Berry, and full details of every track (apart from composer credits), down to ensemble line-ups and recording dates where known.

Chuck Berry has a genius for lyricism and musical innovation and this peek behind the scenes provides a valuable glimpse into what sparks ignited his art.