Anthology (Chuck Berry album)

Last updated
The Anthology
Chuck Berry - Anthology.jpg
Greatest hits album by
ReleasedJune 27, 2000 [1]
RecordedMay 21, 1955 – December 22, 1969 in Chicago, Illinois
September 28, 1958 in St. Louis
February 3, 1972 at the Lanchester Arts Festival, Coventry, England
Genre Rock and roll
Length2:13:16
Label Chess
Producer Andy McKaie
Chuck Berry chronology
Live!
(2000)
The Anthology
(2000)
Live on Stage
(2000)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [2]
Robert Christgau A− [3]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg

Anthology is a two-disc compilation album by American rock and roll musician Chuck Berry released on July 27, 2000, by Chess Records. It duplicates in its entirety the previous anthology The Great Twenty-Eight ranked at No. 21 on the Rolling Stone 500 greatest all time albums list, as well as the entirety of the later Definitive Collection issued in 2006 as part of the Universal series. The album was later reissued and packaged in 2005 as part of the Universal Records Gold series, and simply retitled Gold. [4] It charted at No. 110 in the UK Albums Chart.

Contents

Content

An overview of Berry's Chess recordings, it contains every 45 rpm single released by Berry on the Chess label from his debut in 1955 through March 1965 with the exceptions of the holiday record "Merry Christmas, Baby," "Anthony Boy," "Chuck's Beat" with Bo Diddley, and "Little Marie." This does not include content from every released EP single, but of the 28 A-sides from this time period, 14 were top ten hits on the Billboard R&B singles chart and ten were Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100.

It also includes an additional three singles, "Tulane" from 1970, "Bio" from 1973, and his only No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, "My Ding-a-Ling" from 1972. After the 31 A-sides, the set's 50 songs total includes eleven b-sides, seven album tracks, and one that appeared on the 1990 rarities compilation, Missing Berries. Four of the b-sides charted independently from their plug side.

Robert Christgau states that although Anthology is less expensive than The Chess Box , it removed several good songs like "Have Mercy Judge" and "Anthony Boy". [3] David McGee, Milo Miles, and Mark Kemp, of Rolling Stone magazine, are of the opinion that Anthology is one of the best of Berry's compilation albums. [3]

Track listing

All tracks written by Chuck Berry, except where noted. [1]

Disc one
No.TitleWriter(s)Chess sourceLength
1."Maybellene" Chess 1604 A2:22
2."Wee Wee Hours" Chess 1604 B3:05
3."Thirty Days" Chess 1610 A2:24
4."You Can't Catch Me" Chess 1645 A2:45
5."Downbound Train" Chess 1615 B2:51
6."No Money Down" Chess 1615 A2:59
7."Brown Eyed Handsome Man" Chess 1635 A2:18
8."Roll Over Beethoven" Chess 1626 A2:24
9."Too Much Monkey Business" Chess 1635 B2:56
10."Havana Moon" Chess 1645 B3:09
11."School Days" Chess 1653 A2:43
12."Rock and Roll Music" Chess 1671 A2:33
13."Oh Baby Doll" Chess 1664 A2:39
14."Sweet Little Sixteen" Chess 1683 A3:03
15."Guitar Boogie"  One Dozen Berrys 2:21
16."Reelin' and Rockin'" Chess 1683 B3:17
17."Johnny B. Goode" Chess 1691 A2:42
18."Around and Around" Chess 1691 B2:41
19."Beautiful Delilah" Chess 1697 A2:11
20."House of Blue Lights" Don Raye, Freddie Slack Chess 1671 B2:29
21."Carol" Chess 1700 A2:50
22."Jo Jo Gunne" Chess 1709 B2:47
23."Memphis" Chess 1729 B2:15
24."Sweet Little Rock and Roller" Chess 1709 A2:24
25."Little Queenie" Chess 1722 B2:44
26."Almost Grown" Chess 1722 A2:19
Disc two
No.TitleWriter(s)Chess sourceLength
1."Back in the U.S.A." Chess 1729 A2:29
2."Do You Love Me" Missing Berries2:24
3."Betty Jean"  Rockin' at the Hops 2:28
4."Childhood Sweetheart" Chess 1737 A2:45
5."Let It Rock" Chess 1747 A1:49
6."Too Pooped to Pop" Billy Davis Chess 1747 B2:37
7."I Got to Find My Baby" Chess 1763 A2:17
8."Don't You Lie to Me" Hudson Whittaker New Juke Box Hits 2:05
9."Bye Bye Johnny" Chess 1754 A2:07
10."Jaguar and Thunderbird" Chess 1767 A1:52
11."Down the Road a Piece"Don RayeRockin' at the Hops2:16
12."Confessin' the Blues" Jay McShann, Walter Brown Rockin' at the Hops2:10
13."I'm Talking About You" Chess 1779 A1:51
14."Come On" Chess 1799 A1:51
15."Nadine (Is It You?)" Chess 1883 A2:36
16."You Never Can Tell" Chess 1906 A2:44
17."Promised Land" Chess 1916 A2:25
18."No Particular Place to Go" Chess 1898 A2:44
19."Dear Dad" Chess 1926 A1:52
20."I Want to Be Your Driver"  Chuck Berry in London 2:17
21."Tulane" Chess 2090 A2:39
22."My Ding-a-Ling" (live single edit) Dave Bartholomew Chess 2131 A4:19
23."Reelin' and Rockin'" (live)  The London Chuck Berry Sessions 7:04
24."Bio" Chess 2140 A4:24

Personnel

Technical personnel

Charts

Chart (2017)Peak
position
France (Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique) [5] 175
Switzerland (Swiss Hitparade) [6] 48
UK (UK Albums Charts)110

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References

  1. 1 2 Gold (CD liner). Chuck Berry. United States: Geffen Records/Chess Records. 2005. pp. 20–25, 27. 0602498805589.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  2. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Chuck Berry - The Anthology". AllMusic.
  3. 1 2 3 Christgau, Robert. "Review: Anthology by Chuck Berry". Robert Christgau . Retrieved December 4, 2010.
  4. Chuck Berry - Gold AllMusic
  5. Ies Charts - Chuck Berry - Gold
  6. Hitparade - Chuck Berry - Gold