The Great Twenty-Eight

Chuck Berry | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: MCA
• ASIN: B000002Q61
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,183 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Chuck Berry Biography Chuck Berry's vast contribution to the music world is reflected in the plaudits he has won from many of the most well known artists who followed him. As a songwriter, guitarist and performer, he shaped rock and roll and has more than earned his place in the Top 5 of the Rolling Stone list of The Immortals. In 2004 six of his songs found their way onto the magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs... Chuck Berry is still alive. Sixty years ago, he invented rock 'n' roll. He all but vanished. He still plays, though. Even records new material. But not for us. . . . He was maybe six, maybe seven when he found his father's perpetual-motion machine Friction. It didn't work. But the son chuck Berry made something that's still going. You still hear it today, One of the first records he made was tucked away inside the Voyager spacecraft, chosen to represent humanity itself to the cosmos, and that spacecraft is now somewhere way out there, on the edge of the solar system, barreling through the frictionless vacuum. So he succeeded where his father failed. He created something that will go on forever. Chuck Berry invented rock 'n' roll. Okay, nobody invented rock 'n' roll. It's a patchwork of blues and country and folk, and it's more than that, too. Chuck Berry's music wasn't totally anything. His first single, "Maybellene," was built out of an old white hillbilly country song, then fed through the blender of Berry's guitar and Willie Dixon's bass until something entirely new poured out. And whatever that was, that new sound, that white-black hybrid, Berry ran with it, and the rest of the world did, too. There's no arguing that the songs that Berry wrote in the mid-1950s - songs like "Johnny B. Goode," "Sweet Little Sixteen," and "Roll Over Beethoven" - are the bedrock substrates underlying pretty much everything we now call rock 'n' roll. "If you tried to give rock 'n' roll another name," he said, "you might call it Chuck Berry."

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Single Disc Chuck Berry Compilation September 9, 2004

By "The Woj"

Format:Audio CD

For someone on a budget who is interested in the music of this legendary artist, look no further than this single disc album. The sound and track selection here are excellent. Anyone interested in early Rock 'N Roll needs to have at least one Chuck Berry album in their collection and you can't go wrong here. For those of you have a few extra dollars around, I strongly suggest 2 disc set, "Anthology 2"; or upgrade even further to the 3 disc "The Chess Box" set. "The Box Set" can easily be considered one of the foundations of rock n roll & the Mt Olympus of Chuck Berry collections.
****July 2006 Update. The release of the "Definitive Collection" now puts "Great Twenty-Eight" in the #2 slot. "Definitive Collection" has every track included here (in basically the same order), but includes two more tracks: "Promised Land" & "My Ding-A-Ling". So if you're budget dictates a single disc album purchase, "Definitive Collection" should be your choice.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Let me hear some of that rock and roll music October 19, 2004

By Johnny Heering

Format:Audio CD

This is the definitive single disc Chuck Berry compilation. The title says it all. It contains 28 great songs. Not necessarily Chuck's "greatest" songs, but great nonetheless. "You Never Can Tell" is unquestionably one of Chuck's greatest songs, and it's not here. But, c'est la vie. The songs that they do include are great, so I won't complain. Highly recommended.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Chuck Berry January 28, 2002

By C. Ragsdale VINE™ VOICE

Format:Audio CD

Some of the newer "remastered" packages have better sound quality, but if you are looking for a restrospective sampling of some of the best "roots of rock n roll" music ever, this might well be it. 28 songs on one cd, I mean you will feel like you have died and gone to Chuck Berry heaven. The full staple of hits is here, including some gems little heard. My favorites next to the ones everyone knows would be "30 Days"...a real cookin classic and "Nadine". This version of "Roll Over Beethoven" is simply the best ever done...not many songs will give a person goose bumps or send a shiver down the spine, but this is one of those....absolutely fantastic! It is no wonder so many of the world's greatest rock n roll groups were influenced by Mr. Berry...he had the soul to make rock n roll great.