If you see this mid-price compilation from Spain from 1967 grab it as it is a re-badging of the Mercury Studios 1966 re-takes session Berry did when he swapped labels moving from Chess to Mercury (Fontana over here).
Original Mercury album cover from states
The session involved :
- Chuck Berry – guitar, vocals
- Ebby Hardy – drums
- Johnnie Johnson – piano, electric piano
- Quincy Macon – rhythm guitar
- Eugene Washington – drums
They hit the hits at quite a lick and all in all it a feisty reinterpretation of the Chess standards with one new track Club Nitty Gritty that came out as the first mercury single and hence very rare.
More info on the Mercury Releases here : http://www.crlf.de/ChuckBerry/mercury.html
My particular favourite is the take on Roll Over Beethoven which almost punk like in its speed and intensity. The whole session sounds one-take live throughout. Leadbitter and Slaven’s Blues Records 1943-1970 states it recorded Clayton Mo, Oct/Nov 1966.
Full track listing:
Side one
- “Sweet Little Sixteen” (2:32)
- “Memphis” (2:07)
- “School Days (Ring Ring Goes the Bell)” (2:35)
- “Maybellene” (2:35)
- “Back in the U.S.A.” (2:27)
Side two
- “Johnny B. Goode” (2:45)
- “Rock and Roll Music” (2:33)
- “Roll Over Beethoven” (2:02)
- “Thirty Days” (2:10)
- “Carol” (2:24)
- “Club Nitty Gritty” (2:18)