New Chuck Berry Session - 25 October 1985

A CD released this month requires us to add yet another session to Fred Rothwell's sessionography as it contains tracks available on record (CD or vinyl) for the first time.
Here are the details for this session to be placed between sessions 85 and 86:

Date:	25 October 1985
Location:	Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, Los Angeles, USA
Personnel:	Chuck Berry (vcl, gtr on My Ding-A-Ling and Bio) Ron Wood, The Rolling Stones (gtr) Carl Wilson, The Beach Boys (gtr) John Paul Hammond (gtr, harm on Bio) Carmine Grillo (gtr) Kenny Jones, The Who (perc, dms on Rock And Roll Music) Mick Fleetwood, Fleetwood Mac (dms) Carmine Appice, Vanilla Fudge (perc, backgroud vcl) Bill Champlin, Chicago (organ) John Mayall, Bluesbreakers (kbd, harm on Rock And Roll Music) John Lodge, The Moody Blues (perc, background vcl) Phil Chen, Rod Steward Band (bs) Rudy Sarzo, Quiet Riot (bs) Chuck Norman, Three Dog Nite (vcl on Rock And Roll Music) Barbara Paine (perc, background vcl) Aniyah Shockley (perc, background vcl) Bobby Keys (horns) Phil Kenzie (horns) Mike Chicowitz (horns) Lee Thornberg (horns) Jimmy Zavala (sax) Jim Ladd (announcer)
Songs:	My Ding-A-Ling Bio (incorrectly titled Destination) Rock And Roll Music
First published:	Pepper Cake 2042-2

The concert this CD is taken from was to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Rock'n'Roll - well, at least the 30th anniversary of Bo Diddley's and Chuck Berry's first hits. Recorded for TV broadcast, the concert was shown on HBO in late 1985. In 1989 parts of the concert were published on video tape, less the Berry tracks, though. Since 1999 the show is available on DVD. And since November 2008 the same concert can be found on an audio CD. As this site is concentrating on audio releases, we note this as a new release, then.
In this case it makes a lot of sense to watch the DVD in addition to listening to the CD. Just have a look on Ron Wood's face when Berry selects My Ding-A-Ling as his first song. Having top names and top musicians in one of the best backup bands in his whole career, Berry performs the silliest and musically simplest of all his songs. Sigh! On the DVD Chuck's segment is introduced by Carl Wilson saying "Chuck Berry is the reason I play guitar!" He can not have meant Berry's intro to the second song here, Bio, which is just one thing: BAD! After this botched start, the song runs fine, though. If you listen to the CD only, be aware that the nice guitar solo near the song's end is not Chuck but Ron Wood playing. And lets not talk about Rock And Roll Music, the show's finale. Berry does not even sing his own lyrics. Look at the DVD to see Ron Wood chasing Berry trying to give him his guitar to play. The audience is complaining loud as Berry refuses to touch it.
As you see, this audio CD is one you don't want to have, unless you're a completionist such as I am. The audio CD is available here, one version of the DVD can be ordered here.