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Chuck's 60th Birthday Celebrations (1986)

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In 1985 Stephanie Bennett of Delilah Films started negotiations with Chuck Berry about a TV documentary. In the end the project became a theatrical film published by Universal Pictures in 1987 called Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll.

Key part of the Taylor Hackford directed rock documentary film was a live show held on October 16th, 1986 in St. Louis, Missouri to celebrate Chuck Berry's 60th birthday on the 18th. Chuck Berry was backed by an All-Star Band including Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, and Robert Cray with vocal accompaniment from Julian Lennon, Linda Ronstadt, and Etta James.

Parts of this show - which were in fact two shows held within a few hours - have been released by MCA on a soundtrack album. Other parts became available on other media such as DVDs, Bootleg records and CDs.

The Film

For many years, the film had been available on video tape only. The video contains the original movie which has recordings from the shows as well as interviews, segments from other live shows and rehearsals.

In 2005, segments from the film surfaced on a bootleg DVD which promised "unreleased excerpts". It did not fulfill this promise, though. The DVD Chuck Berry - Rock & Roll Years (PINUP Productions) contains just some parts of the original video tape and even those in less than optimum quality. It does include additional twenty older TV and movie clips, though.

In 2006 the movie finally was re-released on an official DVD. 20 years after the original filming the DVD perfectly fitted as a celebration of Chuck's 80th birthday. The DVD contains the original movie, though completely new digitized for perfect quality and 5.1 sound. But that's not enough! The DVD comes with a huge amount of additional material filmed during the creation of the movie. The publisher Image Entertainment released three different versions of the new DVD containing different amounts of additional material:

A One-DVD package has been produced for Hearmusic, the music division of Starbucks, the coffee shops. This One-DVD version was for sale only in the Starbucks shops in the U.S. and Canada. It contains the complete movie, an introduction by director Taylor Hackford (with an advertizement of the upcomming more-DVD versions), plus short excerpts of interviews Hackford recorded with other Rock and Roll stars. The DVD came bundled with an audio CD containing Chuck's greatest hits. It contains a few scenes not included in the other DVD sets below.

A Two-DVD package published by Image Entertainment contains one DVD with the complete movie as well as trailer and introduction by Taylor Hackford. The other DVD contains pure bonus material of highest interest to a Chuck Berry collector. Here we get various clips taken during the rehearsals at Berry Park in Wentzville which have not been used in the film. There are absolutely great performances such as a guitar jam of Berry, Clapton and Richards, or a fantastic recording of Etta James singing Hoochie Coochie Man, eh... Girl. In addition there is a one-hour "Making-Of" of the film including deep insights of the chaotic production.

A Four-DVD set (Image Entertainment ID3156THDVD, 2006) was released by Image Entertainment concurrently with the Two-DVD package. It contains the same two DVDs plus what Hachford calls "Witnesses to History". These are interviews taken for the film but used there only in very small excerpts. Here you see the complete several hours long interviews with Bo Diddley, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Willie Dixon, Roy Orbison and more. There is also more Chuck Berry material such as Chuck and Robbie Robertson digging through Chuck's collected memorabilia.

The four DVDs contain everything that is in the other sets except for a discussion between Berry and Eric Clapton about their musical influences which is only on the Starbucks DVD. Anyway the four-DVD box is the one to buy. Be aware, though, that for an unknown reason the DVD is region coded. Currently the 4-DVD version does not work on DVD players outside of North America, while for the 2-DVD version there are different variants coded for North America and for Europe. When purchasing, check to get a version you can watch.

The Books

As you can see from the DVD extras, production of the movie was everything but straight. To Chuck Berry this was just another gig to perform and so he paid no more attention than to any concert he played at. Where Bennett, Hackford and Richards wanted to celebrate Berry, all he wanted was to get paid - for the shows, for the interviews, for the rehearsals, for using his property. Beginning with Berry's passing in 2017, Bennett collected an oral history of what team members still remember about the production. The result was published as Johnny B. Bad - Chuck Berry and the Making of Hail! Hail! Rock 'N' Roll (Rare Bird Books, 2019). Most of the book is a transcription of the DVD extra chapters. There are also some additional details plus some nice color photos from the movie production.

In addition you might want to read Victor Bockris' description of the preparation and creation of film and album in his Keith Richards - The Biography.

The Records

Excepts from the show have appeared on a number of records and CDs.

The Official Soundtrack Album

The soundtrack album Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll (MCA LP 6217) contains live versions of Maybellene, Around and Around, Sweet Little Sixteen, Brown Eyed Handsome Man, Memphis, Too Much Monkey Business, Back in the USA, Wee Wee Hours, Johnny B. Goode, Little Queenie, Rock and Roll Music, and Roll Over Beethoven. In addition there is a version of I'm Through With Love recorded during rehearsals. Note that for several songs of this soundtrack album Chuck Berry overdubbed his voice later in a studio.

The Bootlegs

Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones was the musical leader of the All-Star Band and, of course, wherever a Stone performs, collectors and bootleggers are around to capture every single note played. There are, therefore, three bootleg recordings containing parts of the show and segments from the rehearsals.

Two additional songs from the show have been made available on a bootleg album called Keith Richards - Still on the Road (Papa Records DS011, 1988): Everyday I Have the Blues and a lengthy untitled Instrumental.

Two songs from the show's rehearsals filmed at Berry's home can be found on a bootleg CD called Keith Richards - Exposures (Silver Shadow CD 9109, 1991): Come On and Carol. In addition this CD contains some talks by Keith about Chuck and a heated discussion between the two, which occurred during the rehearsals. The audio quality is bad, having been taken from a very poor video tape copy of the film.

Finally in 2000 bootleggers created a two-CD set incorrectly called Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll Rehearsals (no label, no number, probably from Japan). Even though they did not manage to spell Keith's name correctly, the CDs themselves - which are just burned ones, not pressed - are of very high quality. You'll find many more recordings from the two shows: Wee Wee Hours, No Particular Place To Go, Instrumental, Keith's Rock 'N' Roll # 1 (Jo Jo Gunne), Keith's Rock 'N' Roll # 2 (Havana Moon), Eric's Blues, Rock And Roll Music, Reelin' 'N' Rockin', Wee Wee Hours, Chuck's Rock 'N' Roll # 1 (Havana Moon) (part), Chuck's Rock 'N' Roll # 1 (Havana Moon), Chuck's Rock 'N' Roll # 2 (Jo Jo Gunne), Everyday I Have The Blues, and Rock 'N' Roll Music.

The Radio Show

To promote the DVD sets released in 2006, Tres Hombres Productions (Paul Rappaport, Jym Fahey, Mitch Maketansky) created a one-hour music-intensive radio special called Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! The King of Rock 'n' Roll. The radio show was distributed by Cahn Media to broadcasters in the U.S. at no cost. As far as I know the show was sent out on individual CD-R media and not as a pressed CD like the commercial pre-produced radio shows from UniStar and the like.

The radio show contains many live segments taken from the birthday concert together with introductions and explanations by director Taylor Hackford. Also some short dialogue segments from the movie can be heard. Interestingly this radio show CD comes with several songs which are not on the official soundtrack album.

The Concert Vault

The Concert Vault is a commercial website which hosts a huge number of concert recordings from different sources. There are a few Chuck Berry concerts available at the Concert Vault, including the complete second show recorded for the film.

In 2015 an edited version of the recording available at Concert Vault made it to a bootleg CD called Long Live Rock 'n' Roll - 60th Birthday Celebrations (Crying Steel Records CSR03, 2015). In addition the CD includes the audio tracks of seven concert songs previously available only on the DVDs.

The Audience Tapes

A film, a soundtrack album. a radio show, and three bootlegs, what more could a poor boy want? Well, in fact there is more. As stated above, collectors are looking for every single note Keith plays. And in every Stones concert there is someone taping the show on a cheap cassette or Minidisc recorder. This concert was no exception. Within the collectors community you can find tapes not only from both shows, but also from the dress rehearsal which took place the day before the shows. The sound quality is pretty bad and it is clear the aforementioned bootlegs are not taken from these tapes. They are, however, useful to get an insight into how the film was produced.

The Shows

Following is a complete list of the shows used to create the film. You'll find every song played and where you can get it. This detailed list is a joint work between me and fellow researcher Claude Schlouch.

The Cosmopolitan Club

A segment of the film presents excerpts from a "show" played at the Cosmopolitan Club, St. Louis. Chuck plays along with Johnnie Johnson (piano), Frank Dunbar (dms), and Chuck Clay (bs). The film crew had tried to reconstruct how Berry shows might have looked like in the early 1950s. The filming of this segment took place on October 8th, 1986.

A small interview segment of the film with Chuck presenting the Cosmo has been used on a radio station record by Westwood One Radio Networks (see the chapter on Radio Show and Promotional Records) and as such landed on a bootleg cassette Chuck Berry Interview 10-17-1988 (GFP K0097, 2000).

Rehearsals at Berry Park

Between October 10th and 14th, 1986 the band rehearsed for the shows to be filmed. Some of these rehearsals were filmed, displaying the often complicated process of getting decent recordings from the headstrong members of the band, particularly Mr. Berry. The "Chuck Berry Band led by Keith Richards", as Berry puts it, consisted of Johnnie Johnson on piano, Joey Spampinato (NRBQ) on bass, Bobby Keys on sax, Chuck Leavell on organ, and Steve Jordan on drums. The latter three having performed with Keith many times before. Also participating in the rehearsals were some of the guest stars.

An interview segment recorded during the rehearsals taken from the movie was used for a short 7-minute "Blues Break" created by House of Blues Productions (CBS) for broadcast on April 21, 1994. Berry talks about his influences and the show continues with Louis Jordan's "Blue Night Boogie" (see the chapter on Radio Show and Promotional Records).

The Dress Rehearsal

On Wednesday, October 15th the performers met at the Fox Theatre, St. Louis to rehearse and sound check the complete show. A fan taped this dress rehearsal so we have the chance to listen to what became everything but rehearsals. After several hours of setting up the stage, Chuck refused to sing! Here's a quote from Bill German's "Beggars Banquet" fanzine describing it:

"I gotta save my voice for tomorrow," he [Chuck] argued. Keith tried to cajole Chuck, but no way. Instead Chuck played his lyrics on the guitar, thus making the run-through virtually useless. "Just once," Keith pleaded, actually kissing Chuck on the cheek. Such a tender moment! Chuck gave in, halfway, by whispering the lyrics to songs like "Memphis" and "Sweet Little 16." Other times, the words, "Keith, you gotta let me do it my way," were a familiar utterance from Chuck.

As we learn from the Making-Of segment of the DVD sets, Chuck had performed a concert in Ohio only a few days before and lost his voice almost completely.

The First Show

On October 16th the show took place. Again hear what Bill German relates:

What the 4500 fans were about to see was not a concert per sé. The majority of them were disappointed by the many lengthy interruptions from the film crew to reload film or check on things. (A phenomenal show, no matter how you diced it. But that was just the point - It was diced!) It seemed, there was a break after each song. "This is Hollywood!" Chuck reminded us. "I feel like a bull," Chuck added, a possible double entendre. He was actually referring to the person on the side of the stage who held up a red card that acted as a stop sign to the band. Action halts when the card is up. To fill the awkward pauses, Chuck began reciting poetry, as Keith and the others paced around the stage. There was no impromptu jamming at first. "The reason we can't jam," explained Chuck, "is that when we get into a groove, we won't want to stop." So folks who left their seats for a few minutes were able not to miss some great guest appearances. Finally they couldn't deny us any longer. During the next pause, Chuck said, "Let these guys play the blues," allowing Keith and Eric to wail away and trade licks, as the audience howled.

There wasn't a break after each song, but as Hackford was filming on 35mm film, there was only space for three songs per roll. So after three songs, they had to change film in all the ten cameras which of course took time.

Another reason for not jamming is told by drummer Steve Jordan on the DVDs: They simply were exhaused by backing Johnnie Johnson's Boogies over and over. Almost two hours of the show were recorded by a fan so we get a chance to listen also to the false starts and repeats. Better and/or edited excerpts are available on the soundtrack album, in the film itself and on the bootlegs.

The Second Show

Five hours after the start of the first show, the whole concert was repeated to film some other segments. Since it was already after midnight, this show took place October 17th. Again Bill German relates:

The second concert ran a lot smoother. There were only three breaks the whole show, and this time, the crew realizes it wisest to let the band take part in impromptu jams to fill the void. And wouldn't you know, while most of the cameras weren't rolling, Etta James stepped up and led the band through the most incredible rendition of "Hoochie Coochie Man" that anyone's ever heard. Mouths hung open. For the finale of "School Days," all the guests (plus Joe Walsh and Chuck's daughter Ingrid) came back out as Chuck rolled onto stage in a red Cadillac convertible. The confetti was flying, and over 4500 people toasted the sexagenerian. Uncle Chuck, here's to another sixty!

Etta James's version of Hoochie Coochie Man did not make it to the film, but can be heard on the raw Concert Vault recording. On the DVDs there is a rehearsal version, which truely is fantastic.

Another difference between the two shows is Berry singing the correct lyrics now. After having noticed that he messed up the lyrics of some songs, the film crew gave him cue cards to remember the correct lyrics. So they were able to film close-up shots without fearing that lyrics and lips don't match.

The Birthday

Chuck's 60th birthday was the next day: October 18th, 1986. And again on this day a birthday concert took place, this time at the Felt Forum, New York. According to visitors of that show and judging from an audience tape, with Dave Edmunds on guitar, John Entwistle on bass and Chuck Leavell on keyboards this must have been a great concert as well.

Further filming in Los Angeles

After the shows, the team moved to Los Angeles for postproduction and additional filming. Taylor Hackford interviewed various musicians such as Bruce Springsteen and Jerry Lee Lewis to get further quotes to be included in the film. This includes an interesting segment of Berry sitting with Bo Diddley and Little Richard at a piano and talking about their lifes in the 1950s. Another segment was filmed in Berry's "Circular Acre Home" on Bronson Avenue in LA. Here Berry talks to Robbie Robertson of The Band who worked as a consultant to the production team. The two look through Berry's burnt scrapbook and end up performing together.

Overdubbing Berry's voice

Due to Chuck's bad voice which can be heard very good on the Concert Vault recording, many segments of the shows had to be overdubbed. In fact there have been two overdubbing sessions.

Overdubbing for the movie

Shortly after the shows, the film crew had decided which songs they wanted to include in the film. Stephanie Bennett's book contains an image of a typed sheet called 'Song Selection'. This tells us which songs made it into the movie. Interestingly is the list of 'Combined Songs'.

Wee Wee Hours, Nadine, Almost Grown, and Too Much Monkey Business are combinations. Each one starts with the beginning recorded in show 1 and ends with verses recorded in show 2.

To correct Berry's scratchy voice, Billy Youdelman met with Berry in Berry's home studio at Berry Park shortly after the show. They went through the songs which were selected for the movie and overdubbed Berry's voice were needed and possible. It's not clear where edits were made, but at least the film versions of Around And Around, No Particular Place To Go, Nadine, and Roll Over Beethoven have a different singing than on the original tapes.

Overdubbing for the soundtrack album

For the soundtrack album, all songs by the guest stars were selected. This included the combined Wee Wee Hours with Eric Clapton.

As the Berry-sung tracks on the MCA album, Keith Richards selected some recordings which did not make it to the film. As these had not been overdubbed by Billy Youdelman, a second overdub session was necessary.

For this, Berry and Richards met at Giant Studios in New York City in February 1987. The studios were next door to Richards' manager's office. Don Wershba was selected to engineer the overdubs. Wershba had to work with the original live recordings. Due to this, they overdubbed Roll Over Beethoven one more time. The vocals in the film are notably different from the vocals on the soundtrack album.

Further songs on the soundtrack album having their vocals overdubbed are Maybellene and Around And Around. According to Don Wershba, they also overdubbed some of Berry's guitar playing, but we haven't found a proof for this.

When talking to this site's authors, Don Wershba remembers that they also added a new chorus to some songs to improve the performance. According to his memories, the new background was sung by Keith Richards, Joey Spampinato, and Joey's wife, country singer Skeeter Davis. However, the only song with a chorus which made it to the soundtrack album is Back In The U.S.A.. When comparing the soundtrack album's version to the segment in the film as well as to the unreleased original recording heard on the audience tape, there seems to be no difference in the background vocals. Just some of Berry's shouts to Ronstadt have been edited out. Thus if they recorded new background vocals for some songs, those were never released.

A complete discussion of the contents of the soundtrack album and its edits against the original recordings is covered by an article in the blog which goes along this site.

The whole world knows the music. Nobody knows the man.
(Movie Headline)

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