In the firmament of rock 'n' roll's
first-generation creators, no artist looms larger than Chuck Berry. In a
consistently innovative recording career that spanned more than 60 years, the
iconic singer-songwriter-guitarist, who passed away on March 18, 2017, laid
much of the groundwork for modern rock 'n' roll, while creating some of rock's
most distinctive and enduring anthems, from "Johnny B. Goode" to
"Roll Over Beethoven," "Rock and Roll Music" to
"Reelin and Rockin'," and many more.
Geffen/UMe
are paying tribute to the immortal spirit of Chuck Berry with the ultimate
vinyl version of his landmark greatest hits compilation, The Great
Twenty-Eight, with The Great Twenty-Eight: Super Deluxe Edition. Available
today, the five-disc vinyl box set housed in a textured box, complements the
original two-LP, 28-song compilation with an additional LP, More Great Chuck
Berry, containing 14 more hits, rarities and B-sides missing from the original,
as well as a rare live album, Oh Yeah! Live in Detroit, available on vinyl for
the first time. The collection also includes a newly created bonus ten-inch EP
Berry Christmas, featuring four holiday-themed classics on
"Rudolph-Red" vinyl, with one song on vinyl for the first time as
well.
Berry's
recordings for Chicago's seminal Chess label have been extensively anthologized
in the CD era. But for many Berry devotees, the two-LP vinyl collection The
Great Twenty-Eight remains both a sentimental favorite and a definitive
document of Berry's musical genius. It's no wonder that The Great Twenty-Eight
was ranked number 21 on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums of All
Time," the highest-ranking hits compilation on that list. For those
interested in the original 28-track edition of The Great Twenty-Eight, it is
now back in print in its original two-LP format for the first time since its
initial release in 1982.
The Great
Twenty-Eight: Super Deluxe Edition also includes a handsome 12" x 12"
book featuring a special introductory essay by Keith Richards, a new essay by
best-selling author and SiriusXM host Alan Light, complementing Michael Lydon's
liner notes from the original version of The Great Twenty-Eight, and reminiscences
from DJ Lee Alan, plus complete U.S. single, album and EP discographies. The
text is enhanced by reproductions of Berry's original LP cover art and
rarely-seen photographs.
As Light
writes, "When The Great Twenty-Eight was released in 1982, it was
immediately recognized as one of the essential albums in rock 'n' roll
history... Enter this edition of The Great Twenty-Eight, with thirty more Chuck
Berry recordings—the Great Fifty-Eight, as it were—fleshing out the story of
rock 'n' roll's poet laureate while also demonstrating, through the addition of
a riveting live album from 1963, his power as a stage performer... The opportunity to spotlight additional
facets of his music is the greatest contribution to his history that this
collection offers."
A survey of
Berry's first decade of recording on Chess, the original The Great Twenty-Eight
contains 21 singles along with six of their b-sides and one album track from
Chuck Berry in London. Of those singles, eleven were top ten hits on the
Billboard R&B singles chart and ten were Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot
100. During his Chess years, Berry created a massive—and massively
influential—body of work that includes countless beloved classics, from
"Maybellene" to "Roll Over Beethoven" to "Johnny B.
Goode" to "Memphis, Tennessee" and beyond. Indeed, Berry's music
is so deeply ingrained into our culture that NASA launched "Johnny B.
Goode" into outer space on the Voyager spacecraft as a representation of
the sounds of the human race for the benefit of our cosmic neighbors. All of
these songs are included on The Great Twenty-Eight, which also includes the
ubiquitous hits "Rock and Roll Music," "Sweet Little
Sixteen" and "No Particular Place To Go" and many others that
have become part of the collective consciousness.
More Great
Chuck Berry comprises 14 classic Berry tunes not included on The Great
Twenty-Eight, including the sultry, simmering number "Wee Wee Hours,"
the original flip side of "Maybellene"; "My Ding-A-Ling,"
Berry's only No. 1 pop single; "Too Pooped To Pop (Casey)," the top
20 R&B A-side of "Let It Rock"; the Top 10 R&B hit "No
Money Down"; the celebratory "Promised Land"; and the rollicking
"You Never Can Tell," which earned cinematic immortality as the
accompaniment to John Travolta and Uma Thurman's twist in the film Pulp
Fiction.
Oh Yeah!:
Live In Detroit is a thrilling, rare concert performance from October 1963,
celebrating Berry's return to the stage after a break from performing. With
support from local DJ and TV host Lee Alan, Berry, backed by Motown's Funk
Brothers rhythm section and horn players, recorded the live album during a
series of performances at Detroit's Walled Lake Casino.
Returning to
the spotlight after a year-and-a-half brought out an energy and intensity in
Berry that can be heard clearly in this historic 12-song set, which launches
with "Guitar Boogie" and includes "Let It Rock, "Too Much
Monkey Business (available for the first time in the U.S.)," "Johnny
B. Goode," Sweet Little Sixteen" and a lengthy, edge-of-chaos medley,
as Berry feeds off an audience that sings along with nearly every track.
Throughout the show, Berry tells jokes that slyly address racial tensions. But
the record was scrapped at the time and has been previously only available as
part of a limited-edition CD set; this marks its first time on vinyl, and as
any kind of standalone release.
The bonus EP
Berry Christmas collects together four Christmas classics on
"Rudolph-Red" vinyl. The 10-inch disc features Berry's chestnuts,
"Run Rudolph Run" and "Merry Christmas Baby" along with
"Christmas" and "Spending Christmas," the latter making its
vinyl debut as it was previously available only in a limited-edition CD box
set.
Bob Dylan
once called Berry "the Shakespeare of rock 'n' roll." John Lennon
stated, "If you tried to give rock 'n' roll another name, you might call
it 'Chuck Berry.'" As Keith Richards writes in the booklet intro,
"Chuck Berry is the gentleman who started it all."
And if those
testimonials aren't convincing enough, one listen to The Great Twenty-Eight:
Super Deluxe Edition will make the case for Chuck Berry's singular, timeless
rock 'n' roll brilliance.
LP 1 &
2: The Great Twenty-Eight
The original
classic 2-LP compilation
Side 1
1.Maybellene
2.Thirty
Days (To Come Back Home)
3.You Can't
Catch Me
4.Too Much
Monkey Business
5.Brown-Eyed
Handsome Man
6.Roll Over
Beethoven
7.Havana
Moon
Side 2
1.School Day
(Ring! Ring! Goes The Bell)
2.Rock And
Roll Music
3.Oh Baby
Doll
4.Reelin'
And Rockin'
5.Sweet
Little Sixteen
6.Johnny B.
Goode
7.Around And
Around
Side 3
1.Carol
2.Beautiful
Delilah
3.Memphis,
Tennessee
4.Sweet
Little Rock And Roller
5.Little
Queenie
6.Almost
Grown
7.Back In
The U.S.A.
Side 4
1.Let It
Rock
2.Bye Bye
Johnny
3.I'm
Talking About You
4.Come On
5.Nadine (Is
It You?)
6.No
Particular Place To Go
7.I Want To
Be Your Driver
LP 3: More
Great Chuck Berry
Side 1
1.Wee Wee
Hours
2.No Money
Down
3.Drifting
Heart
4.La Jaunda
(Español)
5.Blue
Feeling
6.Vacation
Time
7.Joe Joe
Gun
Side 2
1.Too Pooped
To Pop "Casey"
2.Our Little
Rendezvous
3.You Never
Can Tell
4.Promised
Land
5.Little
Marie
6.Dear Dad
7.My
Ding-A-Ling (live single version)
LP 4: Oh
Yeah! Live In Detroit
Recorded at
the Walled Lake Casino, October 25 & 26, 1963
First time
on vinyl
*First U.S.
release
Side 1
1.Guitar
Boogie
2.Let It
Rock
3.Almost
Grown
4.Chuck
Berry Dialogue 1
5.Too Much
Monkey Business*
6.Johnny B.
Goode
7.Introduction
/ Instrumental
8.Sweet
Little Sixteen
Side 2
1.Wee Wee
Hours
2.Chuck
Berry Dialogue 2
3.Maybellene
4.Medley:
Goodnite Sweetheart Goodnite/Johnny B. Goode/Let It Rock/School Day
Bonus: Berry
Christmas EP
Side 1
1.Run
Rudolph Run
2.Merry
Christmas Baby
Side 2
1.Spending
Christmas (first time on vinyl)
2..Christmas
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