Saturday, June 9. 2018
Chuck Berry's Recording Session for Dr Pepper
Of the various promotional records containing radio spots which Chuck Berry recorded for companies and associations, one stands apart. For the 1977 campaign promoting the Dr Pepper soft drink, Berry did not only provide an interview or a spoken advertisement. Here Berry and his guitar provide a full Rock and Roll version of that campaignâs advertising song.
Quite recently, a video was uploaded to YouTube showing the recording of the song and the corresponding interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgJfpexPfEc. Thanks to Anne Chanu for finding it!
The video is interesting, but even more interesting is a note in the video description which points to a book written by Susan Hamilton who was the producer of the Dr Pepper spots and also of this Chuck Berry song. I bought and read the book, which is called âHit Womanâ. So should you. Itâs an interesting and funny read about a segment of the music industry you usually donât hear much about.
Susan Hamilton was the owner of HEA Production in New York, one of the top advertising music production companies (also known as a âjingle houseâ) in the US. You can read a short bio at susanhamilton.com, but you better read the full book.
Video and book made me write this blog post about one of the rarest Chuck Berry records ever.
It all started when the Dr Pepper company and their advertising agency Young & Rubicam came up with a new campaign called âThe Most Original Soft Drinkâ. Itâs not quite clear when, but it must have been in late 1973, early 1974 when HEA Productions was contracted to create the music for this campaign. Through HEA founder Herman Edel and NY attorney Lee Eastman, HEA hired Eastmanâs son-in-law to write the song: Paul McCartney.
Susan Hamilton recalls meeting Paul and Linda McCartney in Los Angeles to discuss the project with the client and agency. To everyoneâs surprise McCartney was not interested at all in learning about the planned campaign. Instead he told them that he had already written the song needed and played a cassette with a demo recording.
Fellow singer-songwriter Jake Holmes rewrote the verse lyrics and the song was used for the 1975 Dr Pepper campaign and the following ones until 1977. (Sheet music for this song as below is currently available as ebay item 253525494577.)
For the radio spots, Susan Hamilton recorded the same song in various musical styles using a number of well-known artists. All these recordings were made over a few months in the fall of 1974.
A first set of recordings was used for the initial 1975 campaign. These were from bluegrass star Doc Watson, blues legend Muddy Waters, jazz pianist Eubie Blake, singer Anita OâDay and banjo player Grandpa Jones. A (December?) 1974 promotional album (Dr Pepper DP-1274) contains these recordings and other spots for the campaign. Susan recalls:
According to Susan Hamilton, she recorded Chuck Berry probably in October 1974, just before they flew to Chicago to record Muddy Waters.
The standard procedure was to record the base track in HEAâs own studio in Manhattan using a fixed set of very capable (and musically flexible) studio musicians. Susan Hamilton and her team then went to the featured artist and recorded solos and voice over the prerecorded track. Unusual for radio spots, but a film crew joined them in every studio to create a video of the recording and an interview with the artist. This is why we can see today how Berry performed the tune. The film was used only for promoting the artists and the campaign to Dr Pepper partners such as dealers or bottlers.
These partners were also the only recipients for the corresponding Dr Pepper promotional record given out at the kick-off convention. Very few of these promotional records seem to have survived. Even discogs.com misses it. Thus before we continue to learn about the crazy creation of this recording, letâs have a more detailed look at the beautiful record which this site's Morten Reff discovered in June 2012.
âThe Sights and Sounds of Dr Pepper â77â (DP-76 in dead wax) comes in a gatefold cover:
Besides a 12â LP there are two booklets, a red one for the Regular Dr Pepper campaign, a blue one for the Sugar Free Dr Pepper campaign.
Likewise the LP has a red and a blue label. The contents can be seen in the two scans. Basically the red side contains the 60-second radio spots and the soundtracks of the TV spots, while the blue side has the soundtracks for the little films containing the interviews and session footage. The Chuck Berry radio spot is at the beginning of the red side, the interview (followed by a count-in and the same song recording) is at the beginning of the blue side.
The 16-page red booklet and the 12-page blue booklet each contain descriptions and photos of the TV spots, photos and some detail about the artists contracted for the radio spots plus separate reproductions of the outdoor advertisements.
This is the segment about Chuck Berry which also includes photos taken from the film as shot during the recording session. All looks so perfect and in harmony.
And this is in total contrast to what Susan Hamilton writes about this recording. Chapter 28 is only seven pages long, but itâs well worth buying the book just for this story.
It all started when Hamilton, engineer Scheiner and HEA salesman Drayton flew to St. Louis with the agencyâs Dennis Powers as well as cameraman Jim Desmond and his sound guy. The flight was late so they arrived close to midnight and tired. At the airport they were refused to get their rental cars until Chuck had a talk with the agent. Next they couldnât sleep in a comfortable hotel in St. Louis but had to follow Berry for an hour by car to get to Berry Mansion, Summer Camp for Inner City Children â a dark, unlit wasteland of broken glass and cracked asphalt with no coffee, no showers, no food.
In the morning they drove back to a broken-down studio of Berryâs in downtown St. Louis (not the Berry Park studios, seemingly), only to learn that Berry requested another $5000 for the recording. Susan Hamilton managed to get the approval from the agency and was forced to write a, in her mind non-binding anyway, contract on the back of empty envelopes. Finally they recorded the overdubs onto the track they brought with them.
I asked Susan if she can identify the session men from the video. She says that any shots in the film of musicians other than Chuck were added for creative interest by the film crew. These were not the original session men. Itâs fairly easy to see at the end where the film shows a sax player. There is no sax on the whole recording.
Asked whether she remembers the original musicians, Susan tells that she can only guess. So despite the nice Dr Pepper video we are left with the unknownâs in our database.
All quotes from Susan Hamilton have been taken from her excellent book âHit Womanâ (Hitwoman Publishing, 2013) and from emails in which Susan was so kind to answer my additional questions. Many thanks!
Quite recently, a video was uploaded to YouTube showing the recording of the song and the corresponding interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgJfpexPfEc. Thanks to Anne Chanu for finding it!
The video is interesting, but even more interesting is a note in the video description which points to a book written by Susan Hamilton who was the producer of the Dr Pepper spots and also of this Chuck Berry song. I bought and read the book, which is called âHit Womanâ. So should you. Itâs an interesting and funny read about a segment of the music industry you usually donât hear much about.
Susan Hamilton was the owner of HEA Production in New York, one of the top advertising music production companies (also known as a âjingle houseâ) in the US. You can read a short bio at susanhamilton.com, but you better read the full book.
Video and book made me write this blog post about one of the rarest Chuck Berry records ever.
It all started when the Dr Pepper company and their advertising agency Young & Rubicam came up with a new campaign called âThe Most Original Soft Drinkâ. Itâs not quite clear when, but it must have been in late 1973, early 1974 when HEA Productions was contracted to create the music for this campaign. Through HEA founder Herman Edel and NY attorney Lee Eastman, HEA hired Eastmanâs son-in-law to write the song: Paul McCartney.
Susan Hamilton recalls meeting Paul and Linda McCartney in Los Angeles to discuss the project with the client and agency. To everyoneâs surprise McCartney was not interested at all in learning about the planned campaign. Instead he told them that he had already written the song needed and played a cassette with a demo recording.
This song was simply done; it was classic McCartney; it had a great hook, but it had absolutely nothing to do with our campaign. There was no relevance to all of the spots that have been tailored for the campaign â the precious campaign that had been worked on for months and (more importantly) sold to the client.McCartney refused to come up with something else and so Susan Hamilton was left finding a different composer within very short time. Through Tim Newman who worked for Young & Rubicam she got into contact with his cousin who agreed to write the jingle. The new composer was famous singer-songwriter Randy Newman who came up with the melody and lyrics for âThe Most Original Soft Drink Everâ.
Fellow singer-songwriter Jake Holmes rewrote the verse lyrics and the song was used for the 1975 Dr Pepper campaign and the following ones until 1977. (Sheet music for this song as below is currently available as ebay item 253525494577.)
For the radio spots, Susan Hamilton recorded the same song in various musical styles using a number of well-known artists. All these recordings were made over a few months in the fall of 1974.
A first set of recordings was used for the initial 1975 campaign. These were from bluegrass star Doc Watson, blues legend Muddy Waters, jazz pianist Eubie Blake, singer Anita OâDay and banjo player Grandpa Jones. A (December?) 1974 promotional album (Dr Pepper DP-1274) contains these recordings and other spots for the campaign. Susan recalls:
The Muddy Waters session for Dr Pepper was recorded in Chicago at Chess Records Studio, and it was a nightmare. The studio was in disrepair. When mixing the spots, we found the harmonica and the electric bass on the same track. Worse yet, Muddy and the band hadnât a clue how to handle Randy Newmanâs charming, chromatic shuffle tune. I had to somehow wrangle it into a 12/8 blues song. It took a while âŠFurther recordings seem to have stayed in the can and were used for a later campaign in 1977. Artists selected then were Teresa Brewer, Hank Snow, B. B. King, the Mills Brothers, Lynn Anderson, and Chuck Berry. Again each performed the Newman/Holmes tune according to their specific style.
Bernie [Drayton] had to sit next to Muddy on a piano bench and whisper-feed him the words just before he spoke/sang the lyrics. The choruses were fine, but the word âoriginalityâ in the verse was mangled almost beyond recognition. Eliot [Scheiner] and I ended up piecing it together, syllable by syllable.
According to Susan Hamilton, she recorded Chuck Berry probably in October 1974, just before they flew to Chicago to record Muddy Waters.
The standard procedure was to record the base track in HEAâs own studio in Manhattan using a fixed set of very capable (and musically flexible) studio musicians. Susan Hamilton and her team then went to the featured artist and recorded solos and voice over the prerecorded track. Unusual for radio spots, but a film crew joined them in every studio to create a video of the recording and an interview with the artist. This is why we can see today how Berry performed the tune. The film was used only for promoting the artists and the campaign to Dr Pepper partners such as dealers or bottlers.
These partners were also the only recipients for the corresponding Dr Pepper promotional record given out at the kick-off convention. Very few of these promotional records seem to have survived. Even discogs.com misses it. Thus before we continue to learn about the crazy creation of this recording, letâs have a more detailed look at the beautiful record which this site's Morten Reff discovered in June 2012.
âThe Sights and Sounds of Dr Pepper â77â (DP-76 in dead wax) comes in a gatefold cover:
Besides a 12â LP there are two booklets, a red one for the Regular Dr Pepper campaign, a blue one for the Sugar Free Dr Pepper campaign.
Likewise the LP has a red and a blue label. The contents can be seen in the two scans. Basically the red side contains the 60-second radio spots and the soundtracks of the TV spots, while the blue side has the soundtracks for the little films containing the interviews and session footage. The Chuck Berry radio spot is at the beginning of the red side, the interview (followed by a count-in and the same song recording) is at the beginning of the blue side.
The 16-page red booklet and the 12-page blue booklet each contain descriptions and photos of the TV spots, photos and some detail about the artists contracted for the radio spots plus separate reproductions of the outdoor advertisements.
This is the segment about Chuck Berry which also includes photos taken from the film as shot during the recording session. All looks so perfect and in harmony.
And this is in total contrast to what Susan Hamilton writes about this recording. Chapter 28 is only seven pages long, but itâs well worth buying the book just for this story.
It all started when Hamilton, engineer Scheiner and HEA salesman Drayton flew to St. Louis with the agencyâs Dennis Powers as well as cameraman Jim Desmond and his sound guy. The flight was late so they arrived close to midnight and tired. At the airport they were refused to get their rental cars until Chuck had a talk with the agent. Next they couldnât sleep in a comfortable hotel in St. Louis but had to follow Berry for an hour by car to get to Berry Mansion, Summer Camp for Inner City Children â a dark, unlit wasteland of broken glass and cracked asphalt with no coffee, no showers, no food.
In the morning they drove back to a broken-down studio of Berryâs in downtown St. Louis (not the Berry Park studios, seemingly), only to learn that Berry requested another $5000 for the recording. Susan Hamilton managed to get the approval from the agency and was forced to write a, in her mind non-binding anyway, contract on the back of empty envelopes. Finally they recorded the overdubs onto the track they brought with them.
We got a bunch of takes and in a very short time. I knew I had plenty of material to be able to compile a great performance. Of course it was a little difficult to judge because we didnât get to hear some of our previously recorded instruments. They just wouldnât play from the 24 track machine through the broken faders. Oh well. We just imagined them.When the team was packing up in the afternoon, Berry demanded his money. He wanted the extra $5000, now and in cash. âYouâre not leaving here until I get it. The tape is not leaving here, and your people ainât leaving here, neither,â Berry said and locked people and tape in a back room. It was late on a Friday in St. Louis and Susan Hamilton had no chance to contact the New York agency nor the client.
I picked up the phone and dialed my office. God was merciful, and someone was there. I had them wire the money out of our account to the Western Union facility in downtown St. Louis. I told them it was ransom money. I was serious.Eventually the money arrived, Susan got tape and people out of the back room after counting it out into Chuckâs hands. To top it, Berry forced them to go out with him for some soul food in one of the scariest parts of the town.
The whole two-day Chuck experience was both hilarious and terrifying, as you can imagine â felt like I was in some dark comedy of a movie!Given this story, itâs no wonder we should be very suspicious watching the session footage on YouTube. The film shows Berry accompanied by session musicians on drums, bass, piano and sax. Look carefully and you will not find a single image where you see Berry together with one of the musicians. You canât, because Susan Hamilton recorded Berry in St. Louis alone without a band. The prerecorded track had been made in New York already.
I asked Susan if she can identify the session men from the video. She says that any shots in the film of musicians other than Chuck were added for creative interest by the film crew. These were not the original session men. Itâs fairly easy to see at the end where the film shows a sax player. There is no sax on the whole recording.
Asked whether she remembers the original musicians, Susan tells that she can only guess. So despite the nice Dr Pepper video we are left with the unknownâs in our database.
All quotes from Susan Hamilton have been taken from her excellent book âHit Womanâ (Hitwoman Publishing, 2013) and from emails in which Susan was so kind to answer my additional questions. Many thanks!
Friday, May 4. 2018
Jack Wiener and the Sheldon Recording Studios
Two years ago we had a long discussion on this blog regarding the recording of Johnny B. Goode. This included some comments about a man not only present at the recording but also deeply involved: Jack Wiener.
This is when I started researching about Wiener who was one of the most interesting record men in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Very little is known about Wiener's work. Therefore I started to write a short article about him. As I researched more, the article became longer and longer. Finally the text is now online as part of this site.
Most of his life Jack Wiener operated using the brand Sheldon Recording Studios named after his middle name. So when you were uninterested in Wiener so far, record collectors should now start to pay attention. Sheldon is a famous name not only to Chuck Berry collectors.
Looking at your Chuck Berry 45s you will see a tiny Sheldon stamp in the dead wax area around the label.
This Sheldon stamp signifies that this record has been mastered by Jack Sheldon Wiener. You will find this on a huge number of singles, EPs and albums from dozens of independent record companies such as Chess, Atlantic, or Vee-Jay.
Looking at your Chuck Berry LPs you will see the logo "Sheldon Recording Studios" on the back of One Dozen Berrys as well as on other Chess/Checker/Argo albums.
Now you're paying attention, don't you?
Jack Wiener (1935-1999) was a sound engineer by profession. From what he did, he was also an inventor, a designer, an architect, a producer, and a studio owner.
In his teens, Wiener built and sold high-fidelity cabinet speakers. At the age of 17 he entered the recording business and started to work at Universal Recording, Chicago and later at Master Recorders, Los Angeles. As an account executive he handled independent record companies such as DOT, CHESS or SUN for which he mastered, doctored, overdubbed and recorded artists such as Pat Boone, Chuck Berry, or Elvis Presley.
In 1956 Wiener started to build a first recording studio on his own located at 2120 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago. Yes, the famous Chess studios weren't Chess studios at all. The Chess brothers had bought the building and provided some money for the studio, but Jack Wiener was a co-owner and did all of the planning and management. He built the recording console, he planned the room layout and construction, and he selected and bought the studio gear. The famous sound we all know from 2120 was purely Jack Wiener's achievement.
Wiener also did all of the recording and mastering at 2120 S. Michigan Av. up to mid 1958. At his so-called Sheldon Recording Studios, Wiener recorded all the Chess/Checker/Argo artists, but also performers from other labels such as the Coasters, Johnny Cash, Ronnie Haig, the Mark IV and more. Not to be forgotten, he cut and mastered Chuck Berry's Sweet Little Sixteen and Johnny B. Goode.
In July 1958 Jack Wiener was drafted and left 2120. He became a member of the Audio-Visual Branch of the Information Service at the Fifth Army Headquarters in Chicago. Concurrently to his work for Army radio broadcasts, he continued to record, to master, and to design recording studios. For instance he recorded the complete 1959 Playboy Jazz Festival. His masters for Chess, Sun, Nashboro and so on were now marked with the tiny Sheldon stamp in their dead wax area. As a consultant Wiener designed the recording console for Sam Phillips' new SUN studio in Memphis as well as the Echo Recording Studios for Jack Clement.
A 1961 client list included more than 200 companies Sheldon was working for, mostly record labels from Ace to Vee-Jay but also radio and TV stations as well as advertising agencies. With the huge list of clients, it's no wonder in a July 1959 ad in Cash Box, Wiener proudly claimed "Best in Mastering: More hits on charts than any other independent studio".
In 1962 Jack Wiener built a new Sheldon Recording Studios at 1725 North Wells Street, Chicago. This time he included everything needed for providing full service to independent record labels. This included recording and mastering, but also pressing, label printing, packaging and shipping. "48 Hours from recording to sale."
By the end of the 1960s with the decline of the independent recording labels, Wiener moved his business to TV sound recording and processing. In the 1970s and 1980s he built and sold top-of-the-line equipment used for motion picture and television production. He also developed computer hardware and software for broadcasters and recording engineers.
Jack Sheldon Wiener was one of the unnamed experts behind all the great records you love. Singer and guitarist Ronnie Haig called him "The Genius in the Sound Room". Wiener's contribution to 1950s music should not be forgotten. Therefore the whole story is here on the main site.
Acknowledgements: I wish to thank all the fellow writers and experts who helped during my research such as Jason Wiener, Nadine Cohodas, Susan Schmidt-Horning, Ronnie Haig, Fred Rothwell, Bruce Pegg, Colin Escott, Peter Guralnick, Bill Leebens, Hermann Ruwwe, Bill Daniels, Opal Louis Nations, Tim Samuelson, Kandalyn Hahn, Morten Reff, Thierry Chanu, and Steve Carr. Thank You!
This is when I started researching about Wiener who was one of the most interesting record men in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Very little is known about Wiener's work. Therefore I started to write a short article about him. As I researched more, the article became longer and longer. Finally the text is now online as part of this site.
Most of his life Jack Wiener operated using the brand Sheldon Recording Studios named after his middle name. So when you were uninterested in Wiener so far, record collectors should now start to pay attention. Sheldon is a famous name not only to Chuck Berry collectors.
Looking at your Chuck Berry 45s you will see a tiny Sheldon stamp in the dead wax area around the label.
This Sheldon stamp signifies that this record has been mastered by Jack Sheldon Wiener. You will find this on a huge number of singles, EPs and albums from dozens of independent record companies such as Chess, Atlantic, or Vee-Jay.
Looking at your Chuck Berry LPs you will see the logo "Sheldon Recording Studios" on the back of One Dozen Berrys as well as on other Chess/Checker/Argo albums.
Now you're paying attention, don't you?
Jack Wiener (1935-1999) was a sound engineer by profession. From what he did, he was also an inventor, a designer, an architect, a producer, and a studio owner.
In his teens, Wiener built and sold high-fidelity cabinet speakers. At the age of 17 he entered the recording business and started to work at Universal Recording, Chicago and later at Master Recorders, Los Angeles. As an account executive he handled independent record companies such as DOT, CHESS or SUN for which he mastered, doctored, overdubbed and recorded artists such as Pat Boone, Chuck Berry, or Elvis Presley.
In 1956 Wiener started to build a first recording studio on his own located at 2120 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago. Yes, the famous Chess studios weren't Chess studios at all. The Chess brothers had bought the building and provided some money for the studio, but Jack Wiener was a co-owner and did all of the planning and management. He built the recording console, he planned the room layout and construction, and he selected and bought the studio gear. The famous sound we all know from 2120 was purely Jack Wiener's achievement.
Wiener also did all of the recording and mastering at 2120 S. Michigan Av. up to mid 1958. At his so-called Sheldon Recording Studios, Wiener recorded all the Chess/Checker/Argo artists, but also performers from other labels such as the Coasters, Johnny Cash, Ronnie Haig, the Mark IV and more. Not to be forgotten, he cut and mastered Chuck Berry's Sweet Little Sixteen and Johnny B. Goode.
In July 1958 Jack Wiener was drafted and left 2120. He became a member of the Audio-Visual Branch of the Information Service at the Fifth Army Headquarters in Chicago. Concurrently to his work for Army radio broadcasts, he continued to record, to master, and to design recording studios. For instance he recorded the complete 1959 Playboy Jazz Festival. His masters for Chess, Sun, Nashboro and so on were now marked with the tiny Sheldon stamp in their dead wax area. As a consultant Wiener designed the recording console for Sam Phillips' new SUN studio in Memphis as well as the Echo Recording Studios for Jack Clement.
A 1961 client list included more than 200 companies Sheldon was working for, mostly record labels from Ace to Vee-Jay but also radio and TV stations as well as advertising agencies. With the huge list of clients, it's no wonder in a July 1959 ad in Cash Box, Wiener proudly claimed "Best in Mastering: More hits on charts than any other independent studio".
In 1962 Jack Wiener built a new Sheldon Recording Studios at 1725 North Wells Street, Chicago. This time he included everything needed for providing full service to independent record labels. This included recording and mastering, but also pressing, label printing, packaging and shipping. "48 Hours from recording to sale."
By the end of the 1960s with the decline of the independent recording labels, Wiener moved his business to TV sound recording and processing. In the 1970s and 1980s he built and sold top-of-the-line equipment used for motion picture and television production. He also developed computer hardware and software for broadcasters and recording engineers.
Jack Sheldon Wiener was one of the unnamed experts behind all the great records you love. Singer and guitarist Ronnie Haig called him "The Genius in the Sound Room". Wiener's contribution to 1950s music should not be forgotten. Therefore the whole story is here on the main site.
Acknowledgements: I wish to thank all the fellow writers and experts who helped during my research such as Jason Wiener, Nadine Cohodas, Susan Schmidt-Horning, Ronnie Haig, Fred Rothwell, Bruce Pegg, Colin Escott, Peter Guralnick, Bill Leebens, Hermann Ruwwe, Bill Daniels, Opal Louis Nations, Tim Samuelson, Kandalyn Hahn, Morten Reff, Thierry Chanu, and Steve Carr. Thank You!
Wednesday, April 25. 2018
Two new CDs containing old live recordings
I have no idea who the people are which release CDs under the ROUGH label name, but I'm sure they read this blog and site regularly. Just a few weeks after we finally managed to solve the mysteries about Berry's 1981 live recordings, ROUGH releases a CD containing the complete show.
The CD is called Live! Wolf & Rissmiller's Country Club - 1981 and seems to be available only on ebay. This time the ROUGH CD got a catalog number (40147), though interestingly the same product code as the previous one which contained live recordings from Seattle and Waterloo.
Of course the ROUGH people did not find the original Norman Pattiz recordings. They just combined what was found on Youtube and on previously released CDs and LPs. So here we find the twelve tracks from the first set as they were broadcast on radio plus the one track from the second set which made it to the Westwood One Radio album.
To fill the CD, ROUGH added some live recordings from other shows. Here we get three songs from the 1982 show at the Roxy which are well known from many other releases. Plus we get three songs from a French TV show 1965. These tracks have been available on video before, e.g. on Youtube or at L'Institut national de l'audiovisuel (Ina.fr). The show was recorded for the French TV series Music-Hall de France on November 4th, 1965 in Montrouge near Paris. As this is the first audio release of this recording, we have added it as a session to our database.
Concurrently to ROUGH 40147 they also released a second CD again containing known but rare Berry live recordings in high quality. ROUGH 40148 is called Saturday Rock - Live at the BBC '72.
As you can read from the title, again we know these recordings well. The Sounds for Saturday show has been released on multiple albums before, most notably the Six Two Five vinyl bootleg.
In contrast to the previous releases, the ROUGH CD contains the full show recording as it had been made available on a DVD last year. Also from a DVD are the two bonus track recorded for the Radio Bremen TV show five days before the BBC concert.
Again this CD is offered on ebay only so far.
The CD is called Live! Wolf & Rissmiller's Country Club - 1981 and seems to be available only on ebay. This time the ROUGH CD got a catalog number (40147), though interestingly the same product code as the previous one which contained live recordings from Seattle and Waterloo.
Of course the ROUGH people did not find the original Norman Pattiz recordings. They just combined what was found on Youtube and on previously released CDs and LPs. So here we find the twelve tracks from the first set as they were broadcast on radio plus the one track from the second set which made it to the Westwood One Radio album.
To fill the CD, ROUGH added some live recordings from other shows. Here we get three songs from the 1982 show at the Roxy which are well known from many other releases. Plus we get three songs from a French TV show 1965. These tracks have been available on video before, e.g. on Youtube or at L'Institut national de l'audiovisuel (Ina.fr). The show was recorded for the French TV series Music-Hall de France on November 4th, 1965 in Montrouge near Paris. As this is the first audio release of this recording, we have added it as a session to our database.
Concurrently to ROUGH 40147 they also released a second CD again containing known but rare Berry live recordings in high quality. ROUGH 40148 is called Saturday Rock - Live at the BBC '72.
As you can read from the title, again we know these recordings well. The Sounds for Saturday show has been released on multiple albums before, most notably the Six Two Five vinyl bootleg.
In contrast to the previous releases, the ROUGH CD contains the full show recording as it had been made available on a DVD last year. Also from a DVD are the two bonus track recorded for the Radio Bremen TV show five days before the BBC concert.
Again this CD is offered on ebay only so far.
Thursday, April 5. 2018
Jimmy Marsala's biased memories of Chuck
Since the late 1970s Chuck Berry traveled to shows domestic and overseas with his friend and bass player James "Jimmy" Marsala. Marsala acted as the band leader performing sound checks and instructing the keyboarder and drummer, often locals, on how to play when sharing the stage with Berry.
Now Marsala has written a book called "Memories of Chuck" in which he reports his experiences on the road.
Marsala's recollections could probably have made this a highly interesting book. Unfortunately they didn't. Given the reports from promoters and journalists about Berry's habits regarding payments or female fans, one would expect nice stories from a first-hand witness. Unfortunately the result is tame and boring.
Marsala tries to correct the public image of Berry by defending him in every way. For every incident reported, Marsala finds a probable and nice explanation, whether on leaving a promoter with paid rooms to get a different hotel, or sending the band off-stage, or overrunning fans with a rental car. All of Marsala's stories are so biased you are tempted to stop reading after one third of the book. Only in the very end you'll find a chapter on Berry's "thriftiness". Everyone else would probably call it "closefistedness". Seems as if Marsala in the end did not really liked to sleep on the floor only because Berry decided to book just a single and single-bed hotel room for the two.
Besides two chapters containing short anecdotes of Marsala's life with Berry, the book chronologically describes incidents on various shows and tours between 1979 and 2014. There are five pages about Berry/Marsala's performance at Bill Clinton's inauguration party, five pages about a show in Spain, five pages about a tour in Brazil, and so on. Everything is very brief. Of the 180 pages of the book, only about 100 contain text at all.
Most of the remaining pages contain color(!) photos from Marsala's collection. Most show Marsala and Berry on stages all over the world, or they show Marsala and the band waiting for transportation. Other photos show Berry or Marsala with other famous artist such as Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin or Bill Wyman. Unfortunately many of the photos are not of best quality.
As Marsala writes from a first-hand witness position, we are supposed to believe what we read. You should take into account that Marsala writes from memory, though. And memory may not always be trusted. I cannot judge on most of the anecdotes reported, but I have been on-site at the 1983 Eindhoven concert. This is where the Berry photo from this site's logo originated. In 1983 I wrote about this concert and what I wrote does not necessarily match Marsala's memories.
I wish Marsala would have taken the time to write more, to write more professionally and to write more openly. Then this could have been a very good book. As it is, you will still want to buy a copy, but like me you will be disappointed.
Since none of the larger publishers seems to have been interested in selling this book, Marsala published it on his own using a Canadian company called FriesenPress. This is not a publisher but a company who offers self-publishing. Marsala provided the complete book, probably along with the non-professional layout. FriesenPress stores the book's electronic file and prints a copy as soon as a buyer wants one. They work together with sellers such as amazon and even with local book-on-demand companies for fats supply. When I ordered my copy from amazon Germany, the paperback I got was printed on demand by a German company. Yours may come from some place completely different. Some sellers are listed here.
Now Marsala has written a book called "Memories of Chuck" in which he reports his experiences on the road.
Marsala's recollections could probably have made this a highly interesting book. Unfortunately they didn't. Given the reports from promoters and journalists about Berry's habits regarding payments or female fans, one would expect nice stories from a first-hand witness. Unfortunately the result is tame and boring.
Marsala tries to correct the public image of Berry by defending him in every way. For every incident reported, Marsala finds a probable and nice explanation, whether on leaving a promoter with paid rooms to get a different hotel, or sending the band off-stage, or overrunning fans with a rental car. All of Marsala's stories are so biased you are tempted to stop reading after one third of the book. Only in the very end you'll find a chapter on Berry's "thriftiness". Everyone else would probably call it "closefistedness". Seems as if Marsala in the end did not really liked to sleep on the floor only because Berry decided to book just a single and single-bed hotel room for the two.
Besides two chapters containing short anecdotes of Marsala's life with Berry, the book chronologically describes incidents on various shows and tours between 1979 and 2014. There are five pages about Berry/Marsala's performance at Bill Clinton's inauguration party, five pages about a show in Spain, five pages about a tour in Brazil, and so on. Everything is very brief. Of the 180 pages of the book, only about 100 contain text at all.
Most of the remaining pages contain color(!) photos from Marsala's collection. Most show Marsala and Berry on stages all over the world, or they show Marsala and the band waiting for transportation. Other photos show Berry or Marsala with other famous artist such as Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin or Bill Wyman. Unfortunately many of the photos are not of best quality.
As Marsala writes from a first-hand witness position, we are supposed to believe what we read. You should take into account that Marsala writes from memory, though. And memory may not always be trusted. I cannot judge on most of the anecdotes reported, but I have been on-site at the 1983 Eindhoven concert. This is where the Berry photo from this site's logo originated. In 1983 I wrote about this concert and what I wrote does not necessarily match Marsala's memories.
I wish Marsala would have taken the time to write more, to write more professionally and to write more openly. Then this could have been a very good book. As it is, you will still want to buy a copy, but like me you will be disappointed.
Since none of the larger publishers seems to have been interested in selling this book, Marsala published it on his own using a Canadian company called FriesenPress. This is not a publisher but a company who offers self-publishing. Marsala provided the complete book, probably along with the non-professional layout. FriesenPress stores the book's electronic file and prints a copy as soon as a buyer wants one. They work together with sellers such as amazon and even with local book-on-demand companies for fats supply. When I ordered my copy from amazon Germany, the paperback I got was printed on demand by a German company. Yours may come from some place completely different. Some sellers are listed here.
Saturday, March 17. 2018
Chuck Berry's Chess Albums - How they could have been
Arian Collins is a Chuck Berry fan like us. He recently wondered about the strange release strategy Chess showed with the first ten years in Berry's carrier. Songs were left on the shelf, placed on albums years after recorded or even released as singles only.
Thus Arian imagined how Berry's early albums would have looked like if Chess did release all recordings in time.
On his blog "Albums Back from the Dead - Recreating albums that never actually existed" Arian shows us Berry's Chess albums he imagined, including track listings which follow the recording dates and imaginary covers.
Look, read and enjoy
Chuck Berry 1955-59: https://albumsbackfromthedead.blogspot.com/2018/02/chuck-berry-discography-1956-59.html
Chuck Berry 1960-66: https://albumsbackfromthedead.blogspot.com/2018/03/chuck-berry-discography-1960-66.html
Thus Arian imagined how Berry's early albums would have looked like if Chess did release all recordings in time.
On his blog "Albums Back from the Dead - Recreating albums that never actually existed" Arian shows us Berry's Chess albums he imagined, including track listings which follow the recording dates and imaginary covers.
Look, read and enjoy
Chuck Berry 1955-59: https://albumsbackfromthedead.blogspot.com/2018/02/chuck-berry-discography-1956-59.html
Chuck Berry 1960-66: https://albumsbackfromthedead.blogspot.com/2018/03/chuck-berry-discography-1960-66.html
Wednesday, March 14. 2018
CBID - Twenty-eight and some
CBID is the Chuck Berry International Directory, a 2.200 page pile of Chuck Berry records information published in four volumes between 2008 and 2013. For details see the bibliography section of this site.
Now this came as a surprise to most people. A 4-LP box set with Berry in 2017, however, the first time I saw it turn up on eBay was in February 2018. It contains the original double album from 1982, same fold-out cover and even the label is the same.
More Great Chuck Berry contains B-sides and more hits. Same label as above. The front cover has some resemblance to the original More Chuck Berry Chess LP-1465.
The Live In Detroit album is surely a collectors item, first time on vinyl. It contains the first and second set from Saturday 26 October at the Walled Lake Casino in Detroit, except the two tracks marked * which are from the first set on Friday 25. The thing is that this particular Guitar Boogie is the best version from the shows. The first time these songs came to light, except for Monkey Business that was included on the Bear Family box set, was on the US Universal box âYou Never Can Tellâ in 2009. So if you wanna get the songs in correct sequence you better stick to the Bear Family box set.
As you can see the LP number is following the âAfter School Sessionâ LP-1426. The label here is the old black one with vertical silver Chess logo. (1427 was actually a Muddy Waters album. It should have followed the âOn Stageâ album, however, this is also wrong as LP-1481 was really a Slappy White album. Chess LP-1466 was not issued so that could have been used, but the compilers probably didnât know.) Finally we also get the names of the musicians who played behind Berry, plus a story on the background for this special event.
The 10â Berry Christmas album comes in red vinyl with a green Chess label that makes it look like a 78rpm except for the colour that is. The credits for Run Rudolph Run reads C. Berry-M. Brodie.
Thereâs a 36 page booklet in LP size with liner notes by Alan Light, a lot of colour and black & white images, a US discography and recording details. Bear Family, Fred Rothwell and Morten Reff are credited. Thanks.
CBID is never complete as new records and CDs appear and some old rarities are discovered. This section presents interesting additions and corrections to CBID.
Today: The re-issue of the Great 28 album comes in a box with three bonus records.
USA
THE GREAT TWENTY-EIGHT â SUPER DELUXE [4-LP]
Chess Geffen (Universal) B0027213-01 • USA, 2017
THE GREAT TWENTY EIGHT (2-LP)
Chess Geffen B0026758-01
Reissue of the original 1982 album set Chess CH-8201 (see page 86).
MORE GREAT CHUCK BERRY
Chess Geffen B0027213-01 LP01
Wee Wee Hours / No Money Down / Drifting Heart / La Juanda (Espanol) / Blue Feeling (instr) / Vacation Time+ / Joe Joe Gunne / Too Pooped To Pop+ / Our Little rendezvous / You Never Can Tell / Promised Land / Little Marie / Dear Dad / My Ding-A-Ling (live, single edit)
OH YEAH! LIVE IN DETROIT
Chess Geffen LP-1427
Guitar Boogie* (instr) / Let It Rock / Almost Grown / Chuck Berry dialogue 1 / Too Much Monkey Business* / Johnny B. Goode / Introduction â instrumental / Sweet Little Sixteen / Wee Wee Hours / Chuck Berry dialogue 2 / Maybellene / Medley: Goodnite Sweetheart Goodnite +-Johnny B. Goode-Let It Rock-School Day
BERRY CHRISTMAS
Chess Geffen B0027213-01 EP01 (10â) (red vinyl)
Run Rudolph Run / Merry Christmas Baby+ / Spending Christmas / Christmas
Now this came as a surprise to most people. A 4-LP box set with Berry in 2017, however, the first time I saw it turn up on eBay was in February 2018. It contains the original double album from 1982, same fold-out cover and even the label is the same.
More Great Chuck Berry contains B-sides and more hits. Same label as above. The front cover has some resemblance to the original More Chuck Berry Chess LP-1465.
The Live In Detroit album is surely a collectors item, first time on vinyl. It contains the first and second set from Saturday 26 October at the Walled Lake Casino in Detroit, except the two tracks marked * which are from the first set on Friday 25. The thing is that this particular Guitar Boogie is the best version from the shows. The first time these songs came to light, except for Monkey Business that was included on the Bear Family box set, was on the US Universal box âYou Never Can Tellâ in 2009. So if you wanna get the songs in correct sequence you better stick to the Bear Family box set.
As you can see the LP number is following the âAfter School Sessionâ LP-1426. The label here is the old black one with vertical silver Chess logo. (1427 was actually a Muddy Waters album. It should have followed the âOn Stageâ album, however, this is also wrong as LP-1481 was really a Slappy White album. Chess LP-1466 was not issued so that could have been used, but the compilers probably didnât know.) Finally we also get the names of the musicians who played behind Berry, plus a story on the background for this special event.
The 10â Berry Christmas album comes in red vinyl with a green Chess label that makes it look like a 78rpm except for the colour that is. The credits for Run Rudolph Run reads C. Berry-M. Brodie.
Thereâs a 36 page booklet in LP size with liner notes by Alan Light, a lot of colour and black & white images, a US discography and recording details. Bear Family, Fred Rothwell and Morten Reff are credited. Thanks.
Addition by Arne Wolfswinkel: The box version sold by uDiscover is a limited edition of 500 copies where the four LPs are made of blue Vinyl.
Addition by Dietmar Rudolph: Since the booklet finally tells the name of the five musicians who backed Berry in Detroit, we have updated the database accordingly. The band consisted of:
Joe Hunter (piano)
Henry "Hank" Cosby (tenor saxophone)
Thomas "Beans" Bowles (baritone saxophone)
James Jamerson (bass)
William "Benny / Papa Zita" Benjamin (drums)
Monday, February 26. 2018
Where have we heard this interview before?
This site's section on Radio Show and Promotional Records has a description of the most interesting Chuck Berry records which were not available for public sale. This includes the so-called Radio Show albums which are LPs (later CDs) containing pre-produced radio shows to be broadcast by radio stations nation-wide. Some of these albums contain interviews or even music not available anywhere else.
I recently received another of these radio albums containing five segments of 5 to 7 minutes each to be broadcast as House of Blues Breaks on CBS stations. The segment for Thursday, 21 April 1994 concentrates on Louis Jordan but holds an interview segment by Chuck Berry related to Jordan.
Berry says:
This does sound very well-known. We have heard Berry tell this in multiple interviews before. However, I checked the remaining radio station albums and did not find this specific segment. Do you remember where we have heard this specific interview segment before? Let me know.
I recently received another of these radio albums containing five segments of 5 to 7 minutes each to be broadcast as House of Blues Breaks on CBS stations. The segment for Thursday, 21 April 1994 concentrates on Louis Jordan but holds an interview segment by Chuck Berry related to Jordan.
Berry says:
They say that's a Chuck Berry song because it goes 'da-da-bi-da-bi-da-bi-du-a-da-bi-du-a'. Well, the first time I heard that was one of Carl Hogan's riffs in Louis Jordan's band. We have T-Bone Walker - I love T-Bone Walker and his blues. So you put a little Carl Hogan, a little T-Bone Walker, and a little Charlie Christian, the guitarist in Tommy Dorsey's band, together. Look what a span of people that you will please. And that's what I did in Johnny B. Goode, in Roll Over Beethoven. And making it simple is an important fact, I think, that resulted in a lot of the artists understanding, being able to play my music. If you can call it my music. But there's nothing new under the sun.
This does sound very well-known. We have heard Berry tell this in multiple interviews before. However, I checked the remaining radio station albums and did not find this specific segment. Do you remember where we have heard this specific interview segment before? Let me know.
Friday, February 16. 2018
No Chuck Berry on CHESS 2CH-60015
As you know, this site's database is a complete list of each and every Chuck Berry recording which has ever been published on a mass-produced record or CD.
Some people have noticed that various web sites list Chuck Berry recordings which are not in our database. All these contain "alternative facts" and it's in no way our job to correct those. One error, which even made it to Mike Callahan and David Edwards' excellent Both Sides Now website, continues to be repeated over and over, though. Time to get the facts right:
In June 1972 Chess recorded several of their main artists at the Montreux Jazz Festival. This included Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Koko Taylor and T-Bone Walker. Most were backed by The Four Aces, i.e. Lafayette Leake, Dave & Louis Myers, Fred Below. Some performances including Berry's were also broadcast on TV. From these broadcasts and from audience tapes we know it's been a poor Berry performance despite Walker and Dixon as guest artists on some tracks.
Chess decided to release the best recordings from the various shows on a two-LP set numbered 2CH-60015. Berry's complete performance seems to have been mastered for release, as both Michel Ruppli and Fred Rothwell report the master numbers CH2440 to CH2453 containing the songs from Berry's Montreux performance.
The double album was initially announced under the title "The Blues/Rock Cookbook - Volumes 1 & 2" to be released by Chess/Janus in September 1972. The track listing seems to have included Let It Rock (master CH2448) and School Day (master CH2453) from Berry's performance. [I haven't seen the original announcement yet, but I found a note in Cash Box which lists the artists, though not the songs.]
Those who know tell that the masters of these two songs have been cut from the master tape residing in the Chess vaults which otherwise still has the complete stereo recording. Thus it looks as if a master tape for the Blues/Rock Cookbook album had been created.
However, we have never seen a copy of this album nor any image thereof. It seems that it never made it to the stores. Strangely, many online discographies list 2CH-60015 under this title - and list Berry among the artists.
Correct is instead, that the final release of CHESS 2CH-60015 in February/March/April (?) 1973 has the title "Blues Avalanche" on the cover and "Blues/Rock Avalanche" on the label. The "Avalanche" album has the exact same tracks as the planned "Cookbook" album except for the two Berry tunes. There's no trace of Berry on the disk or on the cover.
It is completely unknown why this change happened? Fred Rothwell writes that Berry had a dislike for compilations. Another wild guess could be that Berry demanded additional cash for the publishing of his recordings. Or someone had noticed that Chess had just released a Chuck Berry live album (The Chuck Berry London Sessions, CH-60020). It even could be that Chess officials finally noticed that Berry's performance in Montreux was poor. Who knows?
In case you wonder, yes, there is another album missing Chuck Berry live performances. The soundtrack album for Richard Nader's movie "Let The Good Times Roll" (Bell 9002, 1973) has the best live performances by old-time rock'n'rollers such as Fats Domino, Bill Haley, and Little Richard, but misses the Berry part from the film including a performance together with Bo Diddley.
Some people have noticed that various web sites list Chuck Berry recordings which are not in our database. All these contain "alternative facts" and it's in no way our job to correct those. One error, which even made it to Mike Callahan and David Edwards' excellent Both Sides Now website, continues to be repeated over and over, though. Time to get the facts right:
In June 1972 Chess recorded several of their main artists at the Montreux Jazz Festival. This included Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Koko Taylor and T-Bone Walker. Most were backed by The Four Aces, i.e. Lafayette Leake, Dave & Louis Myers, Fred Below. Some performances including Berry's were also broadcast on TV. From these broadcasts and from audience tapes we know it's been a poor Berry performance despite Walker and Dixon as guest artists on some tracks.
Chess decided to release the best recordings from the various shows on a two-LP set numbered 2CH-60015. Berry's complete performance seems to have been mastered for release, as both Michel Ruppli and Fred Rothwell report the master numbers CH2440 to CH2453 containing the songs from Berry's Montreux performance.
The double album was initially announced under the title "The Blues/Rock Cookbook - Volumes 1 & 2" to be released by Chess/Janus in September 1972. The track listing seems to have included Let It Rock (master CH2448) and School Day (master CH2453) from Berry's performance. [I haven't seen the original announcement yet, but I found a note in Cash Box which lists the artists, though not the songs.]
Those who know tell that the masters of these two songs have been cut from the master tape residing in the Chess vaults which otherwise still has the complete stereo recording. Thus it looks as if a master tape for the Blues/Rock Cookbook album had been created.
However, we have never seen a copy of this album nor any image thereof. It seems that it never made it to the stores. Strangely, many online discographies list 2CH-60015 under this title - and list Berry among the artists.
Correct is instead, that the final release of CHESS 2CH-60015 in February/March/April (?) 1973 has the title "Blues Avalanche" on the cover and "Blues/Rock Avalanche" on the label. The "Avalanche" album has the exact same tracks as the planned "Cookbook" album except for the two Berry tunes. There's no trace of Berry on the disk or on the cover.
It is completely unknown why this change happened? Fred Rothwell writes that Berry had a dislike for compilations. Another wild guess could be that Berry demanded additional cash for the publishing of his recordings. Or someone had noticed that Chess had just released a Chuck Berry live album (The Chuck Berry London Sessions, CH-60020). It even could be that Chess officials finally noticed that Berry's performance in Montreux was poor. Who knows?
In case you wonder, yes, there is another album missing Chuck Berry live performances. The soundtrack album for Richard Nader's movie "Let The Good Times Roll" (Bell 9002, 1973) has the best live performances by old-time rock'n'rollers such as Fats Domino, Bill Haley, and Little Richard, but misses the Berry part from the film including a performance together with Bo Diddley.
Saturday, January 13. 2018
Chuck Berry live 1965 and 1980
There are hundreds of audience tapes containing Chuck Berry shows from all over the world. Few of them are worth listening to and even fewer are worth releasing.
A couple of weeks ago a new CD called Hail! Hail! Chuck Berry! Live! became available containing two shows which are really worth listening to. Although the CD says "This CD-R is a non commercial product and is for private use only", it is professionally made with a printed cardboard envelope. The label is called ROUGH. There is no catalog number, but the barcode reads 640509040147, so we take this as the catalog number.
The two shows included are well known. Seven tracks come from a show recorded in February 1965 at the TV studios of Radio Télévision Belge in Waterloo, Belgium. This show was broadcast under the title "Face au public". It's available in very good quality on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhoyMlX5avU
It's interesting to note that Berry is backed by professional Jazz musicians from Belgium: Willy Donni on guitar, Willy Albimoor (Willy Noël De Moor) on piano, Ed Rogers (Roger Van Hoverbeke) on double bass, and Eddie Hunton on drums.
Besides his greatest hits, Berry also performs his latest singles and The Things That I Used To Do, a blues by Guitar Slim.
Further 14 tracks on this new CD come from a September 1980 show at the Seattle Arts Festival "Bumbershoot". Again this recording is of highest sound quality. It probably was recorded and broadcast by Seattle radio station KSIW. At least KSIW DJ Gary Crow introduces Berry and the band and promotes the radio station.
Fred, Thierry and myself spent some time trying to find out who backed Berry at this show. Crow introduces them as the "Northwest All Stars" and they are much better than the average pickup band Berry used to play with. The guitar player and the piano player both get time to solo which is a strong indication for Berry really liking their play.
With the help of Eric Predoehl and Ned Neltner we finally got into contact with guitarist Barry Curtis (ex-Kingsmen) and drummer George Rudiger (of Jr. Cadillac) from the band. Both Barry and George remember the show well. They report that the electric piano was played by Tom "Cadillac" Katica (Jr. Cadillac as well), who died in 2010. They didn't know the bass player who was traveling with Berry. This indicates that here again we hear Jim Marsala playing.
Eric has a great photo shot on his louielouie.net site showing Chuck, George, and Barry during the Bumbershoot show: http://www.louielouie.net/blog/?p=9074
Besides all his greatest hits, the show includes nice versions of You Don't Have To Go and Baby What You Want Me To Do written by Jimmy Reed as well as Lousiana Blues written by Muddy Waters. Note that in contrast to the known audience tapes, the show on this CD has been shortened. Due to time limitations, Johnny B. Goode was excluded, Reelin' And Rockin'/House Lights was shortened by two minutes. Also missing is the introduction by Gary Crow and an initial guitar instrumental based on Rockin' At The Philharmonic.
Right now we haven't seen this CD offered in stores or mailorder catalogs. It is offered on ebay, though.
A couple of weeks ago a new CD called Hail! Hail! Chuck Berry! Live! became available containing two shows which are really worth listening to. Although the CD says "This CD-R is a non commercial product and is for private use only", it is professionally made with a printed cardboard envelope. The label is called ROUGH. There is no catalog number, but the barcode reads 640509040147, so we take this as the catalog number.
The two shows included are well known. Seven tracks come from a show recorded in February 1965 at the TV studios of Radio Télévision Belge in Waterloo, Belgium. This show was broadcast under the title "Face au public". It's available in very good quality on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhoyMlX5avU
It's interesting to note that Berry is backed by professional Jazz musicians from Belgium: Willy Donni on guitar, Willy Albimoor (Willy Noël De Moor) on piano, Ed Rogers (Roger Van Hoverbeke) on double bass, and Eddie Hunton on drums.
Besides his greatest hits, Berry also performs his latest singles and The Things That I Used To Do, a blues by Guitar Slim.
Further 14 tracks on this new CD come from a September 1980 show at the Seattle Arts Festival "Bumbershoot". Again this recording is of highest sound quality. It probably was recorded and broadcast by Seattle radio station KSIW. At least KSIW DJ Gary Crow introduces Berry and the band and promotes the radio station.
Fred, Thierry and myself spent some time trying to find out who backed Berry at this show. Crow introduces them as the "Northwest All Stars" and they are much better than the average pickup band Berry used to play with. The guitar player and the piano player both get time to solo which is a strong indication for Berry really liking their play.
With the help of Eric Predoehl and Ned Neltner we finally got into contact with guitarist Barry Curtis (ex-Kingsmen) and drummer George Rudiger (of Jr. Cadillac) from the band. Both Barry and George remember the show well. They report that the electric piano was played by Tom "Cadillac" Katica (Jr. Cadillac as well), who died in 2010. They didn't know the bass player who was traveling with Berry. This indicates that here again we hear Jim Marsala playing.
Eric has a great photo shot on his louielouie.net site showing Chuck, George, and Barry during the Bumbershoot show: http://www.louielouie.net/blog/?p=9074
Besides all his greatest hits, the show includes nice versions of You Don't Have To Go and Baby What You Want Me To Do written by Jimmy Reed as well as Lousiana Blues written by Muddy Waters. Note that in contrast to the known audience tapes, the show on this CD has been shortened. Due to time limitations, Johnny B. Goode was excluded, Reelin' And Rockin'/House Lights was shortened by two minutes. Also missing is the introduction by Gary Crow and an initial guitar instrumental based on Rockin' At The Philharmonic.
Right now we haven't seen this CD offered in stores or mailorder catalogs. It is offered on ebay, though.
Sunday, January 7. 2018
Yet another Carol
While Carol is one of Berry's best-known records, the recording itself is kind of a mystery. This starts with two different master tapes which have been used to create the hit single vs. the LP release. Most readers will know the LP master originally created for the 1959 album Chuck Berry Is On Top (CHESS LP 1435). This has a wide range of loudness throughout the song and is used for almost all LP or CD re-issues. In contrast, the master used for the 1958 single (CHESS 1700) is much more compressed to give a more leveled sound. To many people this variant sounds much more vivid and overall better.
The single master is more difficult to get as it was used only for the hit single and the follow-up EP. According to Thierry Chanu, the single master has been used only once since then, on the British album More Chuck Berry (PYE NPL-28028). In the US this master seems to have been lost which is why Bear Family in 2014 reconstructed it from a Vinyl single to re-issue it on their 16-CD box set.
Also lost are session tapes showing the development of the recording as well as the overdubs tried. So it came out as a surprise when in April we found a variant of Carol having an additional piano overdub which is not on the original single or LP release. This piano overdub version has been published only once: on the 1973 double album Chuck Berry's Golden Decade, Vol. 2.
This made us listen to Carol in greater detail trying to find a second release of this piano overdub. We didn't.
But in December Thierry Chanu found something else: On the Japanese 1983 box set Very Good!! (CHESS PLP 834-6) there is a third variant of Carol!! Again it sounds almost the same as the hit version but has additional piano playing. And this is a different piano overdub than the one on Golden Decade.
The piano overdub on this version is much more audible, but concurrently it's also worse. It doesn't fit the song very well. And the master runs approximately 5% faster than the hit version, whether on purpose or not. According to Morten Reff, this second piano overdub was also used on a second Japanese box set called From The Beginning 1955-1960 (CHESS SJET 9523-5) released probably in 1973. And Thierry found it on a strange European CD called Greatest (Goldies GLD63035, Portugal 1991).
Given these results we have to state that session tapes of the Carol overdubs must still have existed in 1973 as two alternative overdubs were used on compilation albums both in the US and in Japan. As these seem to have been lost in MCA's archives, one wonders if master tape copies still exist in Japan or elsewhere.
The single master is more difficult to get as it was used only for the hit single and the follow-up EP. According to Thierry Chanu, the single master has been used only once since then, on the British album More Chuck Berry (PYE NPL-28028). In the US this master seems to have been lost which is why Bear Family in 2014 reconstructed it from a Vinyl single to re-issue it on their 16-CD box set.
Also lost are session tapes showing the development of the recording as well as the overdubs tried. So it came out as a surprise when in April we found a variant of Carol having an additional piano overdub which is not on the original single or LP release. This piano overdub version has been published only once: on the 1973 double album Chuck Berry's Golden Decade, Vol. 2.
This made us listen to Carol in greater detail trying to find a second release of this piano overdub. We didn't.
But in December Thierry Chanu found something else: On the Japanese 1983 box set Very Good!! (CHESS PLP 834-6) there is a third variant of Carol!! Again it sounds almost the same as the hit version but has additional piano playing. And this is a different piano overdub than the one on Golden Decade.
The piano overdub on this version is much more audible, but concurrently it's also worse. It doesn't fit the song very well. And the master runs approximately 5% faster than the hit version, whether on purpose or not. According to Morten Reff, this second piano overdub was also used on a second Japanese box set called From The Beginning 1955-1960 (CHESS SJET 9523-5) released probably in 1973. And Thierry found it on a strange European CD called Greatest (Goldies GLD63035, Portugal 1991).
Given these results we have to state that session tapes of the Carol overdubs must still have existed in 1973 as two alternative overdubs were used on compilation albums both in the US and in Japan. As these seem to have been lost in MCA's archives, one wonders if master tape copies still exist in Japan or elsewhere.
Sunday, December 31. 2017
Chuck Berry over Bissingheim - review
Does it make sense to write a review of a book you'll never read? Maybe. I got this nice little book for Christmas and would like to share it with you. It's about Chuck Berry, kind of. But unfortunately it's available in German language only.
Bissingheim is a suburb of Duisburg which itself is a suburb of the largest megacity in Germany, the Ruhrgebiet. Duisburg is best known for having the world largest in-land port.
"Chuck Berry over Bissingheim", subtitled "The true story of rock and roll", is a 2017 book by Frank "Zepp" Oberpichler. Oberpichler is a German musician and writer. He played guitar in various cover bands such as "Ten Beers After", "Substitute" or "Freeway Cash" and published some CDs alone and with US or German musicians. His homepage is at http://www.oberpichler.de.
In "Chuck Berry over Bissingheim", the first-person protagonist tells about his Grandpa ("Oppa") Wallusch, an electrical engineer working at the railroads. Oppa Wallusch just passed and his grandson remembers the stories they shared. So we learned that while Bissingheim was never on the tour plan of any famous rock band (or any unknown highschool band either), Bissingheim was indeed the birthplace of Rock'n'Roll.
Oppa Wallusch learned to play guitar in the early 1940s while staying in England during the war. He got friends with an American Blues musician by the name of Big Joe Turner. Back home Wallusch formed a band which on weekends played at weddings and barn dances near Bissingheim. Here Oppa Wallusch merged Blues with Polka dance music and created what he called "Ruck und Roll".
Over the years, his employer sent Wallusch to England and to the States several times and wherever he went, Oppa Wallusch left his traces by educating young musicians or helping them write famous songs. Together with Jim Marshall he invented the guitar amplifier and taught Jimi Hendrix and Pete Townshend how to use it. Wallusch met Woody Guthrie and Jerry Garcia, was on stage at Woodstock and shaped rock music as we know it.
A whole chapter covers Wallusch's stay in Chicago in the late 1940s where he met and educated Chuck Berry on how to do the "Ruck und Roll", how to play guitar and how to write story songs.
The book is a report of Wallusch's talks with his grandson. But concurrently the book is its own soundtrack album. The chapter headings read Track 1 to Track 11 (along with run-in and run-out). Each chapter starts with a quote from a famous railway song (which Wallusch might have been involved in). And each chapter includes the lyrics of a German-language song Wallusch wrote and which is very close to a hit you might remember. Unfortunately no recordings of Wallusch's originals survived.
Track 11 is a song about a guy trying to get a number from the operator to get his loved-one on the phone. The lyrics end explaining that the guy is trying to phone his daughter, not his girl-friend. Wallusch's song is called "Meiderich - Kennen Sie?". (Meiderich is another suburb of Duisburg, "Kennen Sie" is German for "Do you know".) And, believe it or not, Chuck Berry took Wallusch's idea and melody to create a famous English-language version.
Oberpichler's book is a nice read. It could have used less slang, though. I guess even many Germans will not fully understand Wallusch's recollections. But mainly I wish the book would have been longer: Just eleven tracks are much too short for a soundtrack album nowadays.
It's a pity nobody else remembers Oppa Wallusch, this hero of Rock'n'Roll. Even in Bissingheim he is long forgotten, as Oberpichler shows in this nice video trying to find the roots of rock music in Duisburg: https://youtu.be/45WnyUKgkzY
If you can read German, get yourself a copy at your local bookstore using the ISBN 9783942094726. The book is also available at amazon.com or amazon.de. Recommended.
Bissingheim is a suburb of Duisburg which itself is a suburb of the largest megacity in Germany, the Ruhrgebiet. Duisburg is best known for having the world largest in-land port.
"Chuck Berry over Bissingheim", subtitled "The true story of rock and roll", is a 2017 book by Frank "Zepp" Oberpichler. Oberpichler is a German musician and writer. He played guitar in various cover bands such as "Ten Beers After", "Substitute" or "Freeway Cash" and published some CDs alone and with US or German musicians. His homepage is at http://www.oberpichler.de.
In "Chuck Berry over Bissingheim", the first-person protagonist tells about his Grandpa ("Oppa") Wallusch, an electrical engineer working at the railroads. Oppa Wallusch just passed and his grandson remembers the stories they shared. So we learned that while Bissingheim was never on the tour plan of any famous rock band (or any unknown highschool band either), Bissingheim was indeed the birthplace of Rock'n'Roll.
Oppa Wallusch learned to play guitar in the early 1940s while staying in England during the war. He got friends with an American Blues musician by the name of Big Joe Turner. Back home Wallusch formed a band which on weekends played at weddings and barn dances near Bissingheim. Here Oppa Wallusch merged Blues with Polka dance music and created what he called "Ruck und Roll".
Over the years, his employer sent Wallusch to England and to the States several times and wherever he went, Oppa Wallusch left his traces by educating young musicians or helping them write famous songs. Together with Jim Marshall he invented the guitar amplifier and taught Jimi Hendrix and Pete Townshend how to use it. Wallusch met Woody Guthrie and Jerry Garcia, was on stage at Woodstock and shaped rock music as we know it.
A whole chapter covers Wallusch's stay in Chicago in the late 1940s where he met and educated Chuck Berry on how to do the "Ruck und Roll", how to play guitar and how to write story songs.
The book is a report of Wallusch's talks with his grandson. But concurrently the book is its own soundtrack album. The chapter headings read Track 1 to Track 11 (along with run-in and run-out). Each chapter starts with a quote from a famous railway song (which Wallusch might have been involved in). And each chapter includes the lyrics of a German-language song Wallusch wrote and which is very close to a hit you might remember. Unfortunately no recordings of Wallusch's originals survived.
Track 11 is a song about a guy trying to get a number from the operator to get his loved-one on the phone. The lyrics end explaining that the guy is trying to phone his daughter, not his girl-friend. Wallusch's song is called "Meiderich - Kennen Sie?". (Meiderich is another suburb of Duisburg, "Kennen Sie" is German for "Do you know".) And, believe it or not, Chuck Berry took Wallusch's idea and melody to create a famous English-language version.
Oberpichler's book is a nice read. It could have used less slang, though. I guess even many Germans will not fully understand Wallusch's recollections. But mainly I wish the book would have been longer: Just eleven tracks are much too short for a soundtrack album nowadays.
It's a pity nobody else remembers Oppa Wallusch, this hero of Rock'n'Roll. Even in Bissingheim he is long forgotten, as Oberpichler shows in this nice video trying to find the roots of rock music in Duisburg: https://youtu.be/45WnyUKgkzY
If you can read German, get yourself a copy at your local bookstore using the ISBN 9783942094726. The book is also available at amazon.com or amazon.de. Recommended.
Wednesday, December 13. 2017
CBID - Renewed CDs, old Vinyl, and a postcard
CBID is the Chuck Berry International Directory, a 2.200 page pile of Chuck Berry records information published in four volumes between 2008 and 2013. For details see the bibliography section of this site.
CBID is never complete as new records and CDs appear and some old rarities are discovered. This section presents interesting additions and corrections to CBID.
Today: Universal Japan re-issued their Mini-LPs, some singles were found or newly released, there's a postcard from Poland, and some bootlegs of unknown origin.
JAPAN
In June 2017 following the death of Chuck Berry, Universal Japan re-issued their 2010 package of 16 original US Chess albums with bonus tracks (page 2007). All had new catalog numbers as follows:
AFTER SCHOOL SESSION - Universal (Chess) UICY-78357 • June 2017
ONE DOZEN BERRYS - Universal (Chess) UICY-78358 • June 2017
BERRY IS ON TOP - Universal (Chess) UICY-78359 • June 2017
ROCKINâ AT THE HOPS - Universal (Chess) UICY-78360 • June 2017
NEW JUKE BOK HITS - Universal (Chess) UICY-78361 • June 2017
TWIST - Universal (Chess) UICY-78362 • June 2017
CHUCK BERRY ON STAGE - Universal (Chess) UICY-78363 • June 2017
ST. LOUIS TO LIVERPOOL - Universal (Chess) UICY-78364 • June 2017
CHUCK BERRY IN LONDON - Universal (Chess) UICY-78365 • June 2017
FRESH BERRYâS - Universal (Chess) UICY-78366 • June 2017
BACK HOME - Universal (Chess) UICY-78367 • June 2017
SAN FRANCISCO DUES - Universal (Chess) UICY-78368 • June 2017
LONDON SESSIONS - Universal (Chess) UICY-78369 • June 2017
BIO - Universal (Chess) UICY-78370 • June 2017
CHUCK BERRY - Universal (Chess) UICY-78371 • June 2017
HAIL! HAIL! ROCKâNâROLL - Universal (Chess) UICY-78372 • June 2017
And in July 2017 Universal Japan finally released the 5 Mercury CD albums with the extra tracks that came out in the US in 1989 (pages 102-104). As with the 16 Chess albums each CD is packaged in a replica mini LP sleeve.
GOLDEN HITS - Universal UICY-78376 • July 2017
CHUCK BERRY IN MEMPHIS - Universal UICY-78377 • July 2017
LIVE AT THE FILLMORE AUDITORIUM - Universal UICY-78378 • July 2017
FROM ST. LOUIE TO FRISCO - Universal UICY-78379 • July 2017
CONCERTO IN B GOODE - Universal UICY-78380 • July 2017
CANADA
Rock And Roll Music / Blue Feeling (instr)
Chess Golden Treasures CHGT-317X • 1986
The label says âDeep Feelingâ but plays âBlue Feelingâ.
Nadine / OâRangutang (instr)
Chess Golden Treasures [Quality] CHGT-323X • 1986
âNadineâ is in stereo, and âOâRangutangâ is the complete three-minute version. This is astonishing as according to common belief the unabridged version was first released on a British CD in 1998. Further research then revealed that there was an even earlier release in the late 1960s. See the US single below.
Reelinâ And Rockinâ (1957) / My Ding-A-Ling (single edit)
Quality Gold Collection GC-337X • 1986
See pages 273 and 1993 for the other singles in this series regarding especially the year of all three releases, as the labels on the above singles say 1981.
US
Nadine / OâRangutang (instr)
Chess 1883 (re-issue) • ca. 1967
The original 1964 release exists with three different labels. Page 29 shows these labeled first to third pressing, though it seems that these labels were used concurrently in different pressing plants. All had âNadineâ in mono and âOâRangutangâ faded at 2:18. On this light-blue label re-release âNadineâ is in stereo, and âOâRangutangâ is the complete three-minute take heard here for the first time!
NEW ZEALAND
SAN FRANCISCO DUES
Chess (Polygram) CH-50008 • 1972
Same cover as US album from 1971.
UK
School Day / Sweet Little Sixteen
Demon CLASSIC 45001/3 • 2016
This is record no.3 in a series of 10 7â singles released as a box-set by Demon Records in the UK, titled âRock ânâ Roll Classic 45sâ Classic-45001. The two songs are the original classic Chess cuts. The other greats are Bill haley & His Comets, Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, The Everly Brothers, Carl Perkins, Fats Domino and Gene Vincent. Talking about the Golden Era of rockânâroll from the â50s, two are missing, Elvis and Bo Diddley. They should have made 12.
POLAND
Guitar Boogie (instr)
PoozĂłwka Zwiekowa 45 rpm. • year unknown
Polish sound postcard, 15x11 cm, colour picture of flowers in a vase and the grooves pressed onto it. The card says it plays âThings I Used To Doâ but it doesnât.
BOOTLEGS - EUROPE (?)
These are two bootlegs which combine sides from past records including their original labels each.Havana Moon / El Loco Cha Cha (Rene Touzet)
no label or number • 2017
This is a reissue combining Havana Moon (1956) by Berry on one side and El Loco Cha Cha (1955) by Rene Touzet on the other. It is advertised as being the roots of âLouie Louieâ. The song by Rene Touzet has actually nothing to do with Havana Moon but the opening of El Loco Cha-Cha has something to do with Louie Louie. It has the same riff, so to speak.
You Can't Catch Me / The Downbound Train
no label or number • 2012
This is a repro (bootleg) since the two songs were not on the same single back then in '56. Anyway, there's no matrix numbers either, just the title on each side written by hand in the dead wax. I bought it from a seller in the UK so it was released in Europe, probably pressed in Kroatia or something like the Berry/Touzet one.
Monday, December 4. 2017
Cover and label variants of CHESS LP-1480 'Chuck Berry On Stage'
[This article first appeared here on December 16, 2014. Just recently Thierry Chanu found yet another cover variant of LP-1480. Therefore I re-post this blog entry with Thierry's addition edited in below.]
[Now that was fast: A week ago we proudly presented our finding of the very rare sticker version of CHESS LP-1480. And we asked some questions which this finding opened. Immediately I received several emails from our French reader Thierry Chanu which not only answered our open questions but also contributed much much more. Thus we have to re-write the story of 'Chuck Berry On Stage'.]
When you read about the 'Chuck Berry On Stage' album released as CHESS LP-1480 in August 1963, such writing often comes with a photo of the album cover looking like this:
This is typically considered to be the original cover of CHESS LP-1480. As such for instance it was used for the Japanese mini-LP replica Universal Music Japan UICY-94630 we wrote about in October 2010.
While this is the best known cover for this album and certainly is the variant sold most often, it is not necessarily the 'original' album cover — if you define 'original' as the first version of this cover.
The interesting thing to look at is the line saying including "MEMPHIS" & "SURFIN' USA" above the artist name. It is printed in black letters and refers to the then current famous cover versions of Memphis, Tennessee and Sweet Little Sixteen (as Surfin' USA).
When Morten Reff described Berry's seventh CHESS album on page 60 in his Chuck Berry International Directory, Volume 1, he noted:
The original pressings of this LP had a sticker on the front cover saying 'Including "MEMPHIS" & "SURFIN' USA"'.
Thus there was no printing, just a sticker containing the same wording as the printed text, though 'Including' is written with a capital I. The text on the sticker is in blue instead of black and it uses a different font.
The sticker version is very rare. We were happy to finally get one and we proudly presented it here last week. (Click for a higher resolution image.)
A contemporary ad from Chess showed a black and white image of the sticker version of the album. And the sticker seems to be applied hastily just before the photo shooting as crooked as it is.
Thierry Chanu then wrote that he as well has a version of this album having the sticker. Though his has been sent out as a promotional advance copy to DJs and marked as such. Here's the back of Thierry's copy:
Given that the sticker is both on the advertisement and on the advance copies, we can state that the sticker version existed before the printed version. It must have been commercially available as well, since Morten's copy is not a promotional one.
[Addition 04-12-2017:
There seem to have been two variants of this sticker. The images above show that the sticker contains just the incorrect song title "Surfin' USA". There's a second version of the sticker which adds the correct song title "Sweet Little Sixteen" in small print below "Surfin' USA". Here's a photo of the second sticker version:
end addition.]
What may be under the sticker, we then asked, as it would be logical that there was no printed text there. So last week we wrote this request to all Chuck Berry collectors reading this site:
Do you have a copy of CHESS LP 1480 which has no sticker and no printing of the 'including' text? If you do, send us an image and we would be happy to show it here.
Again Thierry:
Yes, the cover exists without the sticker. I have one and the record label is black with the golden CHESS on top. It has the same label, writing, and matrix as the DJ copy.
Here's the proof from Thierry's collection:
The second part of Thierry's reply refers to the other question we had wondered about: When receiving the sticker version album, Morten had found
"The copy I bought features the second label, the black label (repress) image on page 60."
Thierry's two records make clear that the label with the golden logo is not from a later re-pressing such as Morten's book had suggested. Obviously this is the original label (left: non-sticker version, right: DJ copy), at least for the early copies.
As this was the brand-new CHESS label containing the new multi-colored logo, it's safe to assume that CHESS wanted at least the DJs see this new logo and label. Thierry however makes clear that one has to be careful to distinguish CHESS records just by their label into 'original' and 'later' pressings.
Chess used three or four pressing plants at the same time, so we can find an original record with different labels.
These are additional early labels of CHESS LP-1480. All came in the third variant of the cover, i.e. the one with the printed text. Even though these look like earlier CHESS labels, we probably shall regard them as used interchangeably at the same time.
Once more Thierry:
Here's one more regular copy with the black label and vertical Chess logo (different than the other black). This one though has been pressed using a different matrix. It was pressed by the Monarch pressing plant in July 1963. This can be told by the etching located in the run-off (dead wax) area of the record. The Monarch pressing plant is identified by an MR inside a circle, always in the trail-off area. The numbers following this symbol tell the date of mastering.
Thus we can sum up the history of CHESS LP-1480 as follows:
- The 'original' cover of 'Chuck Berry On Stage' did not have any printed text except for artist, label, and album name. At least some of these first versions had been available commercially.
- Before advertisements for this album were created and before advance copies were sent out to DJs, CHESS added a sticker referring to the most important songs. This became the second cover version.
- The third and final version must have been printed shortly after or even together with public release. This version had the song titles printed.
- The earliest copies had the multi-colored label with the chess knight logo, probably to demonstrate the new logo to DJs.
- Concurrently older design labels containing the vertical CHESS logo were used. These exist in blue as well as in different black variants.
- At least two different matrices existed to produce the bulk of the 1963 pressings.
To show just a few of these variants, Thierry arranged this photo:
Many thanks to Thierry Chanu for providing all the additional information about the 'Chuck Berry On Stage' album. If we ever find the time, we'll continue this story with the international releases of this album which have different overdubs, longer fades, completely different covers (in multiple variation) and so on... [Done: http://www.crlf.de/ChuckBerry/blog/archives/235-Vinyl-variants-of-CHESS-LP-1480-Chuck-Berry-On-Stage.html]
Monday, November 6. 2017
Variations of the CHUCK album - round 2
[Editors note: Thierry Chanu owns one of the largest collections of Chuck Berry records I know of, maybe the second largest world-wide after Morten's. For some time Thierry has provided us with many details about Berry recordings and releases. You've seen his name mentioned in various blog posts lately. As this entry is based solely on Thierry's work, it's only fair to list him as the author. Please welcome Thierry to the team of writers of this blog!]
In June we started to make a list of variations of the CHUCK album we had found by then. Here's a second, more complete list. It's still not exhaustive, so if you have additions, let us know.
For those of you who want all the different releases of the CHUCK album, this is your shopping list. Let's start with the Vinyl releases. The same gatefold cover is used for the US and EUROPE markets. The records are different, though:
EUROPE
Decca 00602557561241, black wax
etching in deadwax on side 1: BH 73415-01 A1 HL 5575 612, on side 2: BH 73415-01 B1 HL 5575 612
US
Dualtone 80302-01793-18
etching in deadwax on side 1: DUAI-1793A 5-99804 carl-JLM, on side 2: DUAI-1793B 5-99805 carl-JLM
black wax
clear red wax
white wax (Barnes&Nobles exclusive edition)
NOTE:Â Black is the rarest, red is for audiophiles, white is for the beauty.
The CD album comes in a lot more variations:
EUROPE
Decca 00602557561142, digipack with lyric/photo book inside
matrix print on CD: 5756114 15A00IFPI L555 SONY DACC universal ifpi 948t
UK - Promotional Copy
Decca no number, single sleeve, watermarked and traceable
matrix print on CD: Z.... might be traceable thus excluded here
US
Dualtone 80302-01793-25, digipack with lyric/photo book inside
matrix print on CD: V30432 CRT DUA1793 3/27/17Â 10:21:36 AM
BRAZIL
Decca 060255756114 AA0001000, digipack with more glossy paper, lyric/photo book inside
matrix print on CD: /#/ NOVODISC CD /#/ 060255756114 49353
JAPAN
Decca UICO-1293 in jewel case with book + obi, eight pages in Japanese
matrix print on CD: IFPI LT46 UICO-1293 MT 262
THAILAND
Decca 00602557561142, digipack with lyric/photo book inside
matrix print on CD: universal 0 51 00 317 universal IFPI LK76 5756114
AUSTRALIA
Decca 5756114, digipack with lyric/photo book inside
matrix print on CD: universal ANZ ifpi lv90 5756114 A0101090118-0101 15
RUSSIA
Decca 00602557561142, in jewel case with lyric/photo book
The cover say Decca, the CD says Dualtone, so this might be a bootleg
matrix print on CD: IFPI LP7612 V30432 CRT DUA 1793
While you can buy digital downloads of every single song from the album, there haven't been any physical singles (CD or Vinyl) available in stores. There have been several physical promotional singles, though:
US - Big Boys
Dualtone DUA-1793-S1, jewel case, back insert only
matrix print on CD: ZIE.... individual
UK - Big Boys
Decca no number, single sleeve
matrix print on CD: ZIE.... individual
UK - Wonderful Woman
Decca no number, single sleeve
matrix print on CD: ZIE.... individual
NOTE: If you have a friend who works for a media press agency or on the radio market THIS IS THE ONE TO HAVE. This edited version is 3:38 minutes instead of the album version which runs 5:19 minutes. See the database for details.
UK - Lady B. Goode
Decca no number, single sleeve
matrix print on CD: ZIE.... individual
In June we started to make a list of variations of the CHUCK album we had found by then. Here's a second, more complete list. It's still not exhaustive, so if you have additions, let us know.
For those of you who want all the different releases of the CHUCK album, this is your shopping list. Let's start with the Vinyl releases. The same gatefold cover is used for the US and EUROPE markets. The records are different, though:
EUROPE
Decca 00602557561241, black wax
etching in deadwax on side 1: BH 73415-01 A1 HL 5575 612, on side 2: BH 73415-01 B1 HL 5575 612
US
Dualtone 80302-01793-18
etching in deadwax on side 1: DUAI-1793A 5-99804 carl-JLM, on side 2: DUAI-1793B 5-99805 carl-JLM
black wax
clear red wax
white wax (Barnes&Nobles exclusive edition)
NOTE:Â Black is the rarest, red is for audiophiles, white is for the beauty.
The CD album comes in a lot more variations:
EUROPE
Decca 00602557561142, digipack with lyric/photo book inside
matrix print on CD: 5756114 15A00IFPI L555 SONY DACC universal ifpi 948t
UK - Promotional Copy
Decca no number, single sleeve, watermarked and traceable
matrix print on CD: Z.... might be traceable thus excluded here
US
Dualtone 80302-01793-25, digipack with lyric/photo book inside
matrix print on CD: V30432 CRT DUA1793 3/27/17Â 10:21:36 AM
BRAZIL
Decca 060255756114 AA0001000, digipack with more glossy paper, lyric/photo book inside
matrix print on CD: /#/ NOVODISC CD /#/ 060255756114 49353
JAPAN
Decca UICO-1293 in jewel case with book + obi, eight pages in Japanese
matrix print on CD: IFPI LT46 UICO-1293 MT 262
THAILAND
Decca 00602557561142, digipack with lyric/photo book inside
matrix print on CD: universal 0 51 00 317 universal IFPI LK76 5756114
AUSTRALIA
Decca 5756114, digipack with lyric/photo book inside
matrix print on CD: universal ANZ ifpi lv90 5756114 A0101090118-0101 15
RUSSIA
Decca 00602557561142, in jewel case with lyric/photo book
The cover say Decca, the CD says Dualtone, so this might be a bootleg
matrix print on CD: IFPI LP7612 V30432 CRT DUA 1793
While you can buy digital downloads of every single song from the album, there haven't been any physical singles (CD or Vinyl) available in stores. There have been several physical promotional singles, though:
US - Big Boys
Dualtone DUA-1793-S1, jewel case, back insert only
matrix print on CD: ZIE.... individual
UK - Big Boys
Decca no number, single sleeve
matrix print on CD: ZIE.... individual
UK - Wonderful Woman
Decca no number, single sleeve
matrix print on CD: ZIE.... individual
NOTE: If you have a friend who works for a media press agency or on the radio market THIS IS THE ONE TO HAVE. This edited version is 3:38 minutes instead of the album version which runs 5:19 minutes. See the database for details.
UK - Lady B. Goode
Decca no number, single sleeve
matrix print on CD: ZIE.... individual
Friday, November 3. 2017
How much is a Chuck Berry collection worth?
We often get the same kind of questions:
Most askers are disappointed with our reply. There are a very few records which value a significant amount. For all others the main problem is not the value but to find a collector interested who doesn't already own it.
Less and less collectors exist and for records which you paid $100 some years ago you're lucky if someone pays $10 today.
A good example is last month's auction of records and memorabilia from the collection of BBC's famous DJ "Dr. Rock". The auction company was wise enough not to offer each record on its own. Instead they created a lot of all the Berry albums.
So they offered a
This is an almost complete collection of Berry's UK albums from the 1960's onwards, mostly unplayed. See here.
The estimated value was 80 to 120 UK Pounds, i.e. $100 to $150. It sold for 85 UK Pounds, i.e. approximately $110 or $3/record. Go figure.
I have this and this Chuck Berry record or a whole collection of Chuck Berry records. How much is it worth?
Most askers are disappointed with our reply. There are a very few records which value a significant amount. For all others the main problem is not the value but to find a collector interested who doesn't already own it.
Less and less collectors exist and for records which you paid $100 some years ago you're lucky if someone pays $10 today.
A good example is last month's auction of records and memorabilia from the collection of BBC's famous DJ "Dr. Rock". The auction company was wise enough not to offer each record on its own. Instead they created a lot of all the Berry albums.
So they offered a
Collection of 36 Chuck Berry LP records including Chuck Berry The Chess Box Set, The Latest and The Greatest, I Am A Rocker, New Jukebox Hits, One Dozen Berries, Greatest Hits, After School Session, Rockit, Chuck Berry at the Fillmore Auditorium, The London Chuck Berry Sessions x 2, The Greatest Hits Spot Records, Golden Decade Volume 3, Concerto in B Goode, You Never Can Tell, Golden Decade Volume 2, San Francisco Dues, You Never Can Tell Diploma For Two Marble Arch Records, Back in the USA Live Everest Records, Bio, Hail Hail Rock & Roll, Greatest Hits Marble Arch Records including Roll Over Beethoven, Rock & Roll Rarities from the Golden Era of Chess Records, Back Home, Chuck Berry's Golden Decade, The Blues Volume 1, Chuck Berry in Memphis, Fresh Berries, Hail Hail Rock & Roll MCA6217, Rock & Roll Rarities, Jukebox Hits, In London and Chuck Berry Americas Hottest Wax, many with copies of photographic prints of Chas White and Chuck Berry
This is an almost complete collection of Berry's UK albums from the 1960's onwards, mostly unplayed. See here.
The estimated value was 80 to 120 UK Pounds, i.e. $100 to $150. It sold for 85 UK Pounds, i.e. approximately $110 or $3/record. Go figure.
Main Page
This weblog is an addition to my Chuck Berry fansite called "A Collector's Guide to the Music of Chuck Berry" which describes all books and records of interest to everyone enjoying Chuck Berry's music.
Categories
What You Missed
Some earlier but important entries:
- Unanswered questions about the recording of Memphis, Tennessee
- Sweet Little Eight Variants of Sweet Little Sixteen
- The Johnny B. Goode Session
- Chuck Berry in Stereo
- Chuck Berry's Recording Session for Volkswagen
- Chuck Berry's Recording Session for Dr Pepper
- Tim McFarlin Introduces the Berry-Johnson Test into American Copyright Law
- Chuck Berry's Early Recording Locations
- Run! Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer â and the copyright mystery
- Chuck Berry live in New York 1956
- The very first Chuck Berry LP album
- The Chuck Berry On Stage (Chess LP-1480) confusion continues
- The Chuck Berry Vinyl Bootlegs, Vol. 1: Rare Berries
- Rocksmuk album - bootleg or not?
- 6034 cover versions of Chuck Berry songs
- Chuck Berry's Greatest Hits (Chess LP-1485) variants
Recent Entries
- CBID - 6034 and counting ...
- Friday, November 1 2024
- CBID - 6034 cover versions of Chuck Berry songs
- Friday, July 5 2024
- CBID - The Never Ending Story - pt. 9
- Monday, June 10 2024
- CBID - The Never Ending Story - pt. 8
- Tuesday, June 4 2024
- CBID - The Never Ending Story - pt. 7
- Monday, April 22 2024
- Peter OâNeilâs So-Called Disorder
- Friday, April 12 2024
- The Chuck Berry Sound according to Atomicat
- Wednesday, April 10 2024
- CBID - The Never Ending Story - pt. 6
- Wednesday, April 3 2024
- CBID - The Never Ending Story - pt. 5
- Saturday, March 16 2024
- CBID - The Never Ending Story - pt. 4
- Monday, February 19 2024
- CBID - The Never Ending Story - pt. 3
- Monday, February 5 2024
- CBID - The Never Ending Story - pt. 2
- Monday, January 22 2024
- The Chuck Berry Vinyl Bootlegs, Vol. 3: America's Hottest Wax
- Tuesday, January 16 2024
- Chuck Berry in Fake Stereo
- Friday, January 12 2024
- CBID - The Never Ending Story
- Thursday, January 11 2024
- CBID - 5639 cover versions of Chuck Berry songs
- Tuesday, October 31 2023
- CBID - Covers, Chart Listings, and Not-Covers
- Monday, August 28 2023
- CBID - And they play Chuck Berry music - final part 10
- Monday, March 27 2023
- Little Queenie overdubs
- Monday, March 13 2023
- CBID - And they play Chuck Berry music - part 9
- Saturday, March 4 2023
- Lonely School Days - the variants explained
- Tuesday, January 31 2023
- An Interview with Johnnie Johnson - 1987
- Sunday, January 29 2023
- Chuck Berry: An American Life - by RJ Smith
- Thursday, January 12 2023
- CBID - And they play Chuck Berry music - part 8
- Wednesday, January 11 2023
- CBID - Sounding like Chuck Berry
- Tuesday, January 10 2023
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Copyright and Disclaimer
The complete contents of this weblog is
© Dietmar Rudolph
No part of this document may be used or published without written consent by the author.
Impressum/Haftungsausschluss/Datenschutz/Disclaimer
To contact the authors, email to cbguide@crlf.de.
© Dietmar Rudolph
No part of this document may be used or published without written consent by the author.
Impressum/Haftungsausschluss/Datenschutz/Disclaimer
To contact the authors, email to cbguide@crlf.de.