Chuck Berry might feel like an embodiment of 50's rock'n'roll but as is the case with most great artists, there are nuggets found throughout their careers and not just in their heyday period.
This 4 CD set contains 108 recordings, 18 previously unreleased tracks, 2 songs previously only available on a publishing sampler, plus numerous other rarities. Besides the hits, the great blues covers, and other familiar fare, the rarities include a 45 minute live in concert segment recorded in Michigan during October of 1963 that was intended for release but was shelved and features hot versions of “Guitar Boogie,” “Johnny B. Goode,” and “Let It Rock,” among others. There is also a previously unreleased July 1965 session wherein Chuck performs a pair of Big Joe Turner hits, “Honey Hush” and “Shake Rattle & Roll,” and the package also includes previously unreleased instrumental versions of “Brown Eyed Handsome Man,” “My Mustang Ford,” and “Wee Wee Hours.”
All of this great music is amplified by in-depth liner notes by Chuck Berry biographer/discographer Fred Rothwell and features complete session by session recording credits, period graphics and photos, and a ’60 to ’66 singles discography. As with the “Complete ‘50s Chess”, this set was compiled by author Rothwell and Universal’s reissue producer Andy McKaie.
Thanks to RWR
Disc 1
1. Drifting Blues
2. I Got To Find My Baby
3. I Got To Find My Baby (stereo remix)
4. Don’t You Lie To Me
5. Worried Life Blues
6. Our Little Rendezvous
7. Bye Bye Johnny
8. Bye Bye Johnny (stereo remix)
9. Run Around
10. Run Around (stereo remix)
11. Jaguar And Thunderbird
12. Diploma For Two
13. Little Star
14. The Way It Was Before
15. Away From You
16. Down The Road Apiece
17. Down The Road Apiece (stereo remix)
18. Confessin’ The Blues
19. Sweet Sixteen
20. Thirteen Question Method
21. Stop And Listen
22. I Still Got The Blues
23. I’m Just A Lucky So And So
24. Mad Lad (instrumental)
25. Surfin’ Steel (Cryin’ Steel) (instrumental)
26. Route 66 (take 10)
27. Route 66 (alt. take 11)
28. I’m Talking About You
29. Rip It Up
30. Come On
31. Come On (alternate – stereo)
32. Adulteen – previously unreleased commercially
33. The Man And The Donkey
Disc 2
1. Go Go Go (alternate take)*
2. Go Go Go
3. Trick Or Treat
4. Brown Eyed Handsome Man (instrumental)*
5. Brown Eyed Handsome Man
6. Brown Eyed Handsome Man (stereo remix)
7. All Aboard
8. Guitar Boogie*
9. Let It Rock*
10. Almost Grown*
11. Chuck Berry dialog*
12. Johnny B. Goode*
13. Introduction /Instrumental*
14. Sweet Little Sixteen*
15. Wee Wee Hours*
16. Chuck Berry dialog*
17. Maybellene*
18. Medley: Goodnight Sweetheart Goodnight/Johnny B. Goode/School Day*
19. Nadine (Is It You?)
20. You Never Can Tell
21. The Little Girl From Central
22. (The) Things I Used To Do
23. I’m In The Danger Zone – previously unreleased commercially
Disc 3
1. Fraulein (2:54)
2. Lonely All The Time (Crazy Arms)
3. O Rangutang (unfaded instrumental)
4. Big Ben (Blues)
5. Promised Land
6. Brenda Lee
7. No Particular Place To Go
8. You Two
9. Liverpool Drive (instrumental
10. Chuck’s Beat (instrumental)
11. Bo’s Beat (instrumental)
12. Little Marie
13. Go, Bobby Soxer
14. Lonely School Days
15. His Daughter Caroline
16. Dear Dad
17. Want To Be Your Driver
18. Spending Christmas*
19. The Song Of My Love
20. Butterscotch (instrumental
21. After It’s Over (instrumental)
22. Why Should We End This Way
Disc 4
1. You Came A Long Way From St. Louis
2. She Once Was Mine
3. Jamaica Farewell
4. My Little Love Light
5. I Got A Booking
6. St. Louis Blues
7. Shake Rattle & Roll (take 23)*
8. Wee Wee Hours (instrumental)*
9. Honey Hush (take 3)*
10. Run Joe
11. It’s My Own Business
12. One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)
13. Every Day We Rock And Roll
14. My Mustang Ford (instrumental)*
15. My Mustang Ford
16. My Mustang Ford (stereo remix)
17. Merrily We Rock And Roll
18. Vaya Con Dios
19. Wee Hour Blues
20. It Wasn’t Me
21. It Wasn’t Me (stereo remix)
22. Ain’t That Just Like A Woman
23. Right Off Rampart Street
24. Welcome Back Pretty Baby
25. Sad Day, Long Night (instrumental)
26. Ramona Say Yes
27. Ramona Say Yes (alternate mix)
28. Viva Viva Rock ‘n’ Roll
29. His Daughter Caroline (fast version)*
30. Lonely School Days (fast version)
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