Fred Rothwell's
Long Distance Information: Chuck Berry's Recorded Legacy (Music Mentor Books, 2001) is the ultimate book for any serious Chuck Berry record collector: All Berry sessions, all the songs, all the session musicians, where to find which song if ever released, and tons of additional stuff.
First published in 2001 the book consists mainly of a 240 page commented "sessionography", a list of 93 recording sessions Chuck participated in between 1954 and 2000. For each session Fred lists the musicians and the songs recorded, whether released or not. For every song he shows a few main records containing it. He also fully describes and critizises every recording.
Chuck Berry's recorded legacy is not complete yet, though. After publication of Fred Rothwell's book we found out about an additional recording session which took place in Summer 1972:
On August, 5th 1972 Chuck performed at the Wembley Stadium, London, UK. Parts of this show were filmed by Peter Clifton and published as
The London Rock And Roll Show. The film includes additional performances by The Houseshakers, Heinz, Screaming Lord Sutch, Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bill Haley, and Little Richard. Chuck's segment includes the songs
School Days, Memphis, Tennessee, Sweet Little Sixteen, Mean Ole Frisco, Beer Drinking Woman, Wee Wee Hours, Let It Rock, Carol, Little Queenie, and
Reelin' and Rockin'.
The film was re-released on
video tape in 1992 by Magnum Music. In 2001 Magnum finally released Chuck's performance along with those by Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bill Haley, and Little Richard on a
soundtrack CD (Magnum Music CDMF 105).