Chuck Berry: Berry Is on Top (Chess 75 series) [CHESS]

Why you'll love it

This Chess 75 series edition is remastered from the original analog tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl in mono and housed in a tip-on gatefold jacket. It gathers "Johnny B. Goode," "Maybellene," "Carol," "Sweet Little Rock & Roller" and "Roll Over Beethoven" on one LP.

This edition

• Chess 75 series
• 180g vinyl
• Remastered from the original analog tapes
• Mono
• Tip-on gatefold jacket

About the album

Most rock and roll albums of the 1950s were a couple of hits and some filler. Berry Is on Top, his third LP for Chess, reads more like a list of the songs every band since has had to learn. It came out in 1959, at the height of his run of hits for Chess, and collects a good number of them on one record.

"Maybellene," his very first single from 1955, sits next to "Johnny B. Goode," the guitar intro that launched a thousand garage bands. "Roll Over Beethoven" later became a Beatles staple, and the Rolling Stones took both "Carol" and "Around and Around" to heart. "Almost Grown," "Little Queenie" and "Jo Jo Gunne" show off his wit as a writer, and the instrumentals "Blues for Hawaiians" and "Hey Pedro" let the guitar do the talking.

Hearing these in mono, the way Chess cut them, puts the duck walk right back in the room. "Johnny B. Goode" also went out on the Voyager Golden Record in 1977, so this is one of the few LPs in the shop with fans outside the solar system.

Also at Kops: more Chuck Berry on vinyl · browse Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Chess (cat# LP 1435), a reissue of the 1959 album.