Chuck Berry Albums
Most opinions of Chuck Berry give him credit for inventing rock music and especially rock guitar soloing. It’s hard to say if just one person invented a whole artform of course, but Berry probably gave it credibility if nothing else. His first songs debuted in 1955, and he mainly wrote his most famous songs credited as a composer. He gave passion to the way he played, positivity to the way he performed, and most of all he showed people how to craft albums, as imperfect as they might be. When he began his musical journey it was still the late 1950s, and rock music albums did not really start being “mature” in my opinion until 1965.
Because Berry mainly existed before the album advent proper, most of his songs on his proper records were originally released as singles/45 rpm in years prior. However, the albums he released in the 50’s had a flow to them, and the rock n roll music ‘album proper’ can be traced back to him. His best one, 1959’s Berry is On Top, was a collection of songs he had released as singles in the four years prior.
Berry is a controversial figure: jailed for many years several times for many separate reasons, it is hard to tell if he was often the victim of a racist court system or if he often exploited people, but that is hardly my place to judge. While I hope no one was ever harmed - he was a radical, for sure- but he also had a reputation of being a family man who helped his community. (We are here for album reviews, read more about personal controversies elsewhere). Berry was different than most people around him, of course he was one of a kind. What else would we expect form the Father of modern rock music?
Best Album:
Berry’s On Top
Biggest Influence
(he was pretty original but there are a few, in his own words):
Charlie Christian, T Bone Walker, Nat King Cole
Albums Chronologically:
1957 – 89% - After School Session
1958 – 78% - One Dozen Berry’s
1959 – 97% - Berry’s On Top
1960 – 72% - Rockin at the Hops
1961 – 53% - New Jukebox Hits
1964 - 86% - Two Great Guitars
1964 – 77% - St. Louis to Liverpool
1957
After School Session - 89%
The first Chuck Berry album proper, therefor probably the first rock album that matters. It utilizes the now standard instrumental line up of guitar (Berry and Jimmy Rodgers), drums (Jasper Thomas), bass (Willie Dixon), and piano (Johnnie Jonson and Otis Span). There are standout singles-ready songs spread out throughout the record: “School Day (Ring Ring Goes the Bell)” is the opening track, showing artists how to open an album properly with a friendly greeting song that is catchy and quite fun. “Too Much Monkey Business” brings the ante up even more, with a pulsating rhythm that many artists would look up to and lyrics that have multiple meanings; the monkey business is subpar rock acts that Berry is better than, the monkey business is also the music business itself and trying to succeed and survive within it. There are several instrumentals on the record, all proving a different purpose- with “Roly Poly” letting the whole band kind of jam and shine and “Berry Pickin” obviously being a showcase for Berry’s guitar wizardry.
There are ballads included throughout the record (again, it is all paced very well) heavily influenced by Nat King Cole and especially The Platters as Berry’s vocal style was less groundbreaking than his guitar; the beautiful “Wee Wee Hours” is a shining example, while “Together” is more of a touching, poetic work that upgrades and perfects the crooners before him all at once. “Havana Moon” is another huge success, Berry taking on the persona of a man from Cuba by changing his voice and his accent, and really…..this song sounds like nothing else on the record an is a prime example of Berry’s unique art. It is a song that could truly go on forever.
“Brown Eyed Handsome Man” is the first song on the second side of the album, as catchy as the first track on side one and showing future generations how to regain people’s attention in that way (also by flipping the record and having a second opening track of sorts); it is a tune that sounds effortless but was probably very hard to put together. The albums final two songs have the most haunting moods: “Downbound Train” is a ghostly sounding shuffle Berry rambles about the horrors of his personal anguish and “Drifting Heart” does the same but finds him more at peace, influencing singer songwriters for generations. In all, there is hardly a dull moment on Berry’s first album, a work of beauty that blends Spanish and European accents, blues rock guitar solos, and infections refrains. Such a hodgepodge of music could only be called – Rock N’ Roll.
Best Songs: Too Much Monkey Business, Drifting Heart, Brown Eyed Handsome Man, Havana Moon
1958
One Dozen Berry’s - 78%
Another collection / made album using older singles and B-sides, the second proper album by Berry has a very ‘single followed by two B-sides’ pattern throughout. What is interesting is some of the B-sides are better than the proposed singles at times. Of course, lead track “Sweet Little Sixteen” is one of his easiest songs to digest, with “Rock n Roll Music” and “Reelin and Rockin” both leading the charge by trying to define the sound of the times. On the B-sides side, or what would in modern day be referred to as ‘album track stand outs’, there is the upbeat instrumental “Rockin at the Phil”, the underrated “Oh Baby Doll”, and the entertaining “How You’ve Changed” and “It Don’t Take But a Few Minutes”. While not a consistent listen as his debut album- there is some filler in tracks like “Blue Feeling” and “Ingo”- this record still is endearing and contains a kind of order too it. All of this would be important in the 1960s defining what it meant to have an entire album of songs devoted to a certain style and ideal, let alone a genre. It was also twelve songs long, 12 songs considered by many to be the perfect album length if each song is 3 to 4 minutes.
Best Songs: Rock n Roll Music, Sweet Little 16, Oh Baby Doll, Reelin and a Rockin
1959
Berry is On Top - 97%
Berry on Top is the first attempt at a consistent rock album actually working, whether it was "purposefully constructed" or not. Every song was written by him, and every song is perfect or near perfect. Plenty of songs on here are older than the album release date, but a lot of bands today still do this too. Whether it be early singles, remixed ideas, two EP's mixed into one, this is a common thing in practiced so it should not be counted against this record. This is Chuck Berry's final album of the 1950s and it’s his best, a version of Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane for future musicians in showing them exactly what to do (or maybe more a version of Chaplin’s Modern Times?). Each song is a unique variation on his themes and guitar styles.
The album also features his best singles though some were released years prior to this, they were never before on albums. “Johnny B. Good” features the famous guitar solo to morph all guitar solos, “Maybellene” spurts along like punk rock would and speaks like hip-hop would. “Little Queenie” seems of the same ilk, but stops before the chorus to speak spoken-word before the anthemic chorus. “Sweet Little Sixteen” is a nice touching song about his daughter (the nine-year-old in question is case you were wondering). “Carol” is a template for all swamp-rock music, for example CCR, and opener “Almost Grown” is like a lost Ray Charles song, but a very catchy and beautiful one.
None of the songs here on Berry’s 3rd album had been on an ALBUM before, even “Maybelline” originally released on ’45 in 1955. “Johnny B Goode” has the classic guitar playing, as he found a way to put the ‘feeling’ in guitars. His solos were supremely important, perhaps more important than his words/lyrics. The guitar is Johnny B Goode, he comes alive through that music, and yes the lyrics are also moving in their own right. Listen to other songs on here, at least 3 carry the same kind of guitar opening groove
“Roll Over Beethoven” is one of the top 10 Rock n Roll Songs in my opinion, channeling that a new genre is replacing the guard of old (classical music with Rock music). This comes from Berry seeing how rock music was very much an American invention, a mix of the blues and country music for sure, but also something else… something truly primal. Berry howls his songs, he tells stories of grandeur filled with creativity. Look at “Maybellene”: it is a story, influence by the 1930’s Texas Playboys version of “Ida Red” but remade into something he ran across in his life or what he thought people could relate too whether they be high school kids to buy his record or his own melodic fantasies. “Sweet Little Rock n Roller” sounds like his own “Rock n Roll Music” from his previous record, but all that means is Berry has homed in on his own sound, and this is what it’s all about.
“Anthony Boy” and “Jo Jo Gunne” are songs that will win over people to see Berry as the album artist he really was. The album closes with some Caribbean influenced songs, “Hey Pedro” which sounds demented like clockwork animals come to life, and “Blues For Hawaiians” is a soothing instrumental and one of his best. Perhaps Berry was exploring his softer side, showing others how you don’t have to be only one kind of rock music, 12 songs but not 12 versions of “Johnny B Goode” as there is much diversity here. Can the record get repetitive at times? Sort of, at least 3 songs start off with that classic Chuck Berry riff (“Carol”, “Little Queenie”, “Jo Jo Gunne”), but the songs themselves differentiate in many ways. It very consistent and most songs are stellar; a few are nice little diversions, there is honestly not one I would skip as even the weakest ones (maybe “Around and Around”) are so short they barley have a chance to become tiresome. Overall, this is Berry's best record and a template all musicians would follow for rock music going forward.
Best Songs: Roll Over Beethoven, Maybellene, Johnny B Goode, Sweet Little Rock n roller, Carol, Jo Jo Gunne
1960
Rockin at the Hops - 72%
Berry’s 4th album shows him evolving even more, though he is no longer relying on old singles and trying for forge a new path. That doesn’t mean his sound has changed too much, or his themes. Opening track “Bye Bye Johnnie” is again referring to his titular character of his biggest hit, a song that is 5 years old but was literally on the album a year prior, the song is still a relaxing and reliable Berry tune. “Worried Blues” is more expansive, diving deeper into his blues sound than he ever has before; while I’m glad not every Berry song is this indebted to the blues it is interesting to hear this one. “Too Pooped to Pop” has the addition of saxophone and more of a Chubby Checker kind of feeling to it, showing Berry can absorb modern styles and make interesting tune out of them. Elsewhere “Mad Lad” is a nice little instrumental diversion, and “Down the Road a Piece” and “Broken Arrow” (sampling “Old McDonald had a Farm!”) show new versions of his guitar acrobatics. The remainder of the tracks are filler, but for the Chuck Berry completist there is still a lot to enjoy here even if it doesn’t reach the height of his 50’s work.
Best Songs: Worried Life Blues, Too Pooped to Pop, Let It Rock
1961
New Jukebox Hits - 53%
This album shows Berry running out of stream for new songs. His delivery of vocals and his amazing guitar playing are always treats, but the songs are just not here and Berry needs a chance to rethink his efforts. The title is ironic, as absolutely none of this are as good as his 50’s ‘Jukebox Hits.’
Best Songs: I’m Talking to You, Route ’66 (cover)
1964
Two Great Guitars - 86%
This album is a mixture of two great guitarist and songwriters with 2 very different ways of approaching the instrument. Berry is all over the place in his soloing being quite rambunctious throughout his opening instrumental “Liverpool Driver” and even more on the nearly 11 minute “Chuck’s Beat”, where he improvises and Diddley keeps rhythm guitar in the background. At times in this song, Berry gets very distorted in his guitar, predating what most hard rock, heavy metal, and noise rock bands would discover. There is even some improv feedback going on. Turn it up loud!
I’m even more of a fan of Bo Diddley’s “Bo’s Beat”, a rhythmic shuffle that changes tempo several times and allows for a kind of ferocity this time being 14 minutes long. With Diddley on lead, Berry is allowed to roam in the background even more, though percussion rules this track much more as that is Bo Diddley’s claim to fame. The other song is “When The Saints Go Marching In”, a lame cover that does nothing for the album unfortunately. With the two longer jams and “Liverpool Driver”, Berry and Diddley form one of the first spontaneous ‘supergroups’ in rock music and combine their energies to make a great improvisational beast of an album.
Best Songs: Bo’s Beat, Chuck’s Beat
1964
St Louis to Liverpool - 77%
The record company compiled this as an album to get in on the success of so many British invasion band’s loving his sound and being influenced by him. There are some older songs on here in slightly different versions ( “Merry Christmas Baby”, “Our Little Rendezvous” which could have been left in the b-side closet ) but a lot of this is new and a lot of it produces new classics: “No Particular Place to Go” is an ode to teenage life style like only Berry can produce; “You Never Can Tell” is a tale of two teenagers who get married and grow up and grow apart using many French language cues; “Little Marie” is a lyrical sequel to his earlier “Memphis, Tn”; “Promised Land” is a tale of touring life in the Southern USA.
Elsewhere, “Bobby Soxer” is a typical Berry romp with another take on the guitar solo, “Brenda Lee” is a typical high school adoration tune but has a nice feel to it. There is some filler, the typical blues of “Things I used to Do” and the turgid “Night Beat”, instrumental “Liverpool Drive”. In all, another very solid outing by Berry and probably his last good solo record before the rest of the world took over with the new wave of Rock music.
Best Songs: No Particular Place to Go, You Never Can Tell, Brenda Lee, Little Marie
Compilations
1984
The Great Twenty Eight - 92%
For the most compact version of Chuck Berry, this is the best compilation. It captures all of the great 50’s singles and wades comfortably through the 60’s and 70’s after. It’s probably the best Berry to get first, though I would recommend some of his albums above, as he helped form the art of the album itself even if it wasn’t a conscious effort (but maybe it was?). That is the enigma of Chuck Berry to me, every single aspect of rock music owes something to his DNA so it seems like a conscious act…
Best Songs: I mean what are his best songs I’ve already gone over…some more I don’t think I’ve mentioned- Brown Eyed Handsome Man, You Can’t Catch Me, Havanna Moon, School Days, Beautiful Deliah, Come One, Nadine