GREAT TWENTY-EIG(LP)

Personnel: Chuck Berry (guitar, vocals); Jimmy Rogers, Matt Murphy (guitar); L.C. Davis (tenor saxophone); Gene Barge (saxophone); Johnny Johnson, Lafayette Leake, Otis Spann, Paul Williams (piano); Willie Dixon, G. Smith (bass); Ebby Harding, Fred Below, Jasper Thomas, Odie Payne (drums); Jerome Green (percussion); The Equadors, The Moonglows (background vocals); Martha Berry. Recorded at Chess Studios, Chicago, Illinois and London, England. Includes liner notes by Michael Lydon. A seminal figure in the evolution of rock 'n' roll, Chuck Berry's influence as songwriter and guitarist is incalculable. His cogent songs captured adolescent life, yet the artist was 30 years old when he commenced recording. In 1955, during a chance visit to Chicago, Berry met bluesman Muddy Waters, who advised the young singer to approach the Chess label. Berry's demo of 'Ida May', was sufficient to win a recording contract and the composition, retitled 'Maybellene', duly became his debut single. Berry enjoyed further hits with 'Thirty Days' and 'No Money Down', but it was his third recording session that proved even more productive, producing a stream of classics, 'Roll Over Beethoven', 'Too Much Monkey Business' and 'Brown-Eyed Handsome Man'. The artist's subsequent releases read like a lexicon of pop history - 'School Days', 'Rock And Roll Music' (all 1957), 'Sweet Little Sixteen', 'Reelin' And Rockin', 'Johnny B. Goode' (1958), 'Back In The USA', 'Let It Rock' (1960) and 'Bye Bye Johnny' (1960) are but a handful of the peerless songs written and recorded during this prolific period. Berry was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 1986. His stature as an essential figure in the evolution of popular music cannot be underestimated.