Chuck Berry: C or D?

I am not really sure about the Johnnie Johnson thing--that JJ wrote a lot of those songs. Need to read more about it.

Lots of "minor" Berry is great, too. "Rockin' at the Philharmonic" is a really good instrumental. I like the weird stuff on his earlier LPs, too, like "Berry Pickin'" and "Drifting Heart." And the insane "13 Question Method." "Deep Feeling" is very good too.

I enjoy him lots more than I do Bob Dylan, too. "Talkin' About You" is one song that never fails to amaze me. Chuck Berry is rock and roll, period, far more than Elvis or anyone else. And it's NOT rockabilly...

http://www.hip-oselect.com/scr.public.product.asp?product_id=B7A49F2E-8468-4D4A-89E2-68E8BBC66368

: - O

yeah this looks good! about time this stuff was upgraded -- that 3 cd chess set came out like in 1988. wish it was a tad bit cheaper, but what the hey ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Berry

we should celebrate this King of Rock & Roll while he's still alive + still playing!

He's 82!

totally love the great 28 compilation, but have no idea why 'you never can tell' wasn't featured. still it's all a pretty joyous ride.

I'm kind of hooked on Tulane these days. It feels like a movie. Such a great story with so much going on - it kind of reminds me of the that amazing sequence in Goodfellas leading up to the bust.

holy shit dudes i found this one in a garbage can and am floored
http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/s1452681.jpg
first i was put off by it cuz its a compilation then i listened to it and was like damn
then i considered the album cover and was like fukin a man a young girl in nothing but a leather jacket
man that is rock n roll dude

I think my impressions of Chuck Berry have always been so clouded that I never sat down and just listened to Johnny B. Goode, like really LISTENED TO IT man. Such great guitar work. I get it now.

Yeah, very influential iirc.

Yeah I guess I had always thought of it as "yeah that guy invented rock and roll" like as in "steve jobs invented the personal computer -- that's awesome but it doesn't mean I actually want to use an original apple computer"

Short uptempo guitar-based songs were the worst thing to ever happen to music

yeah i had big breakthroughs on berry and buddy holly last year

not that i didn't like them, i just never really sat down and listened to them before, just knew em from oldies etc

you should get on Little Richard next

My Epiphany About Chuck Berry

kind of wish chuck had a whole album that was like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7XWfNVTEQ8
mesmerizing

JOHHNY B. POLLED: chuck berry's great twenty-eight

^^^ best chuck thread IMO

yeah i had big breakthroughs on berry and buddy holly last year

not that i didn't like them, i just never really sat down and listened to them before, just knew em from oldies etc

Me too! I picked up "Chuck Rocks" and "The Definitive Buddy Holly" and, while I expected to like them, I was really surprised at how much I totally loved it all. Not played out at all.

Perhaps it is time for Whiney to shine a fresh light on these forgotten acts lest they be forgotten by the new generation.

Short uptempo guitar-based songs were the worst thing to ever happen to music

this is the dumbest post to ever happen to ILX

little richard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3ELjAfhs2M

this is the dumbest post to ever happen to ILX

I think he might have been kidding, but it is impossible to tell. Like Andy Kaufman reading The Great Gatsby or something.

yeah i never got his deal, he was funny sometimes, i think he was mostly gone by time i started posting a lot. he's like this weird ghost in the machine now.

doc casino otm, that is one of my all-time fav ilm threads. ppl don't talk about chuck enough these days. (little richard too, for that matter.)

has anyone else read his book? i read it as a teen but remember almost nothing about it.

BIg upping the Great Twenty-Eight Poll thirded.

Don't bother me, leave me alone--celebrating.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCT-xMbxb8w

But when the sun went down, the rapid tempo of the music fell

Playing guitar like a-ringing a bell
And looking like he should

A few Chuck Berry threads, so this might have been posted elsewhere.

http://i1059.photobucket.com/albums/t427/sayhey1/chuck_zps50a3e4e8.jpg

I could start a ceremonial "Chuck Berry is still alive" thread, but then again the last one ended (ended?) badly...

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/rftmusic/2014/06/chuck_berry_reviews_classic_punk_records_in_unearthed_jet_lag_zine_from_1980.php

The Sex Pistols' "God Save the Queen":
What's this guy so angry about anyway? Guitar work and progression is like mine. Good backbeat. Can't understand most of the vocals. If you're going to be mad at least let the people know what you're mad about.

The Clash's "Complete Control":
Sounds like the first one. The rhythm and chording work well together. Did this guy have a sore throat when he sang the vocals?

The Ramones' "Sheena is a Punk Rocker":
A good little jump number. These guys remind me of myself when I first started, I only knew three chords too.

The Romantics' "What I Like About You":
Finally something you can dance to. Sounds a lot like the sixties with some of my riffs thrown in for good measure. You say this is new? I've heard this stuff plenty of times. I can't understand the big fuss.

Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer":
A funky little number, that's for sure. I like the bass a lot. Good mixture and a real good flow. The singer sounds like he has a bad case of stage fright.

Wire's "I Am the Fly" and Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures:
So this is the so-called new stuff. It's nothing I ain't heard before. It sounds like an old blues jam that BB and Muddy would carry on backstage at the old amphitheatre in Chicago. The instruments may be different but the experiment's the same.

The idea of BB and Muddy jamming on "I Am The Fly" is killing me right now.

ST. LOUIS, MO - OCTOBER 18, 2016 -- Chuck Berry, the artist who codified the sound, rhythm and language of rock and roll, celebrated his 90th birthday today with the surprise announcement that he will release a new album - titled simply 'CHUCK' - in 2017 on Dualtone Records (an Entertainment One Company). Comprised primarily of new, original songs written, recorded and produced by the founding rock and roll legend, 'CHUCK' is Berry's first new album in thirty-eight years. It was recorded in various studios around St. Louis and features Berry's longtime hometown backing group - including his children Charles Berry Jr. (guitar) and Ingrid Berry (harmonica), plus Jimmy Marsala (Berry's bassist of forty years), Robert Lohr (piano), and Keith Robinson (drums) - which has supported him for over two decades on over two hundred residency shows at the famed Blueberry Hill club. More details about 'CHUCK' and other Berry-related events will be revealed in the coming weeks.

"This record is dedicated to my beloved Toddy," said Berry, referring to his wife of 68 years, Themetta Berry. "My darlin' I'm growing old! I've worked on this record for a long time. Now I can hang up my shoes!"

"What an honor to be part of this new music," says Charles Berry Jr. "The St. Louis band, or as dad called us 'The Blueberry Hill Band,' fell right into the groove and followed his lead. These songs cover the spectrum from hard driving rockers to soulful thought provoking time capsules of a life's work."

Dualtone president Paul Roper adds: "It is a great honor to be a part of this record and the broader legacy of Chuck Berry. This body of work stands with the best of his career and will further cement Chuck as one of the greatest icons of rock and roll."

http://www.trbimg.com/img-580560ff/turbine/la-1476747727-snap-photo/450/450x450

I get why he's just calling the album Chuck, but calling it Almost Grown would have been hilarious.

Anyway, as I said on Facebook, there is no album I will not turn off in a second if somebody suggests listening to Chuck Berry instead. Happy 90th birthday to the man without whom probably about 2/3 of my record collection would not exist.

want this to be good so much

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUb3QM39QeA

so God damned great

yeah! cool that he's just using his regular band (as opposed to getting Flea on bass or something).

the way he changes up the pronunciation of "here" when it's his mother speaking...just so good

(as opposed to getting Flea on bass or something).

I would actually be in favor of this for the reason that, during the sessions, Flea would undoubtedly play something moronic, for which Chuck would not hesitate to punch his lights out.

haha, yeah that is true.

Don't you guys remember what Iggy said to Mike Watt?

Indeed

excellent revive!

Y’all should have been there when I did “Run Rudolph Run” at karaoke last week.

lily I love that song & your post

Seconded.

the way he purposely mispronounces a la carte "workin' on a t-bond steak alla cart-y flyin' over to the Golden State" is pure genuis

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, December 28, 2023 12:35 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

The verb "working" is perfect too, you can almost picture him with plastic utensils hacking a tough airline steak on his tray.

― BrianB, Thursday, December 28, 2023 12:43 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

totally, also he's conscious of exactly how many syllables he needs to make the syncopation of the line work perfectly

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, December 28, 2023 12:56 PM

Wait -- which version of "Promised Land"?

had never looked into the "bypassed Rock Hill" line!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendship_Nine

i agree that LD's post is great and that "Promised Land" is a towering masterpiece

just thinking about it gives me chills!

totally, also he's conscious of exactly how many syllables he needs to make the syncopation of the line work perfectly

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, December 28, 2023 11:56 AM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

his almost clipped delivery and the efficiency with which he gets out most of lyrics make it all the more rewarding when he lingers on "swing low chariot, come down eeeeee-asy"; one of many small details that really make the song

Elijah Wald with help from New York Rocker’s Andy Schwartz re Chuck Berry’s “Promised Land” and lyrical references to the civil rights Freedom Riders. As an aside ,Wald’s playing of song in his video there is too folky

https://www.elijahwald.com/songblog/promised-land/?fbclid=IwAR3kqa1tOdHzex-5FqpvtB9OM7ZJdvEKf0I37GA39mrvzyDpRQvuUqM8Xew_aem_AcqFkEBw7IEBpxkyPKgWQwhEwCrZ1BfFV6zIzmlZWyqKz300hnHydDMyRCfzgWaJwXg

damn. the video he posted of himself performing "promised land" is kind of brutal and has sort of altered how i see him fundamentally

Can you elaborate on that?

i just mean that it's terrible and makes me wonder why he'd post something like that. what the fuck is this shit

it's an older guy who enjoys a song playing it to boost engagement, and having a good time playing it. one can see how a person would get really aggro and weird about that, and how it would "alter how [they] see him fundamentally," I mean that's just really rational and sensible

You'll never earn yr top Grateful Dead fan badge if you keep on objecting to shitty Chuck Berry covers.

hi can we all just please calm down and have a rational and sensible discussion about chuck berry? thanks

lol, Ward

Also, “they’ll hear it the way Elijah Ward played it!”

(xp) Elijah or Fowler? Or both?

Heh, meant Fowler but realized the problem after posting

I feel like I am an outlier, but I have never totally bought or wanted to dig into EW’s übercontrarian shtick which from where I sit looks like endless iterations of “actually, Robert Johnson wasn’t a blues singer at all, and if he was, he was terrible, he was really just a creation of John Hammond’s febrile mind” or “actually Beatlemania wasn’t really a thing” shockas.

And then this Maxwell’s Demon of authenticity games goes and does a super-corny oldbro Chuck Berry cover without any Peter Stampfel Wollheim weirdness to skew it and add interest.

lol. that's interesting. he has always seemed okay to me, even astute, but on reflection i think that might just come down to the recommendations of others i esteem who have read and enjoyed EW, because i've never read one of his books.

but have read little things here and there, like the blog post linked about "promised land." which i think is great. the video's another story.