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From 1966 to 1969 Chuck Berry recorded for Mercury Records. This era produced five albums, many of the songs also released on little successful 45 rpm singles. In later years Mercury also published some songs not released during Chuck's time with the company. This chapter first introduces the five Mercury LPs and then looks at the additional Mercury recordings. For a chronological list of the recording sessions as well as for details about each individual recording, see The Chuck Berry Database on this site.
Chuck
Berry's first release with Mercury was the 45 rpm single Club Nitty Gritty b/w Laugh and Cry in November
1966 (Mercury 72643,
image shows the picture cover of the Dutch version). Both were new songs. Since Laugh and Cry never
made it to a Mercury album until the Nineties, this single was a
long-time rarity for the Chuck Berry collector.
Club
Nitty Gritty was also used for the following Mercury album.
However, it was the only new song used. The remaining tracks on Chuck
Berry's Golden Hits (Mercury 21103, March 1967) were as the
name implied well-known: Back in the USA, Carol, Johnny B. Goode, Maybellene, Memphis, Rock and Roll Music, Roll Over Beethoven, School Day, Sweet Little Sixteen, and Thirty Days. All these were re-recordings made in the Mercury
studios.
Chuck Berry's Golden Hits was released with two covers and catalog numbers: one saying Mono (Mercury MG 21103), the other Stereo (Mercury SR 61103). However, both covers contained the exact same true stereo pressing etched "2/61103". Note that Club Nitty Gritty does not exist in true stereo: The album version is artificially created from the mono single. Chuck Berry's Golden Hits has been re-issued many times. The same name CD (Mercury 826256-2) has additional contents.
Because the
audience did not want to hear Chuck performing his old hits once
again, the next Mercury album came back to the line of the late
Chess records: new Berry songs combined with cover versions of
well-known standards. Chuck Berry in Memphis (Mercury
21123/61123 - this time in true Mono and true Stereo) appeared in September 1967. For a hardcore rock 'n' roll
fan there was a bit too much saxes and trumpets included, but if
you were more into Rhythm & Blues, you liked the album,
specially Chuck's version of Nat Cole's Ramblin' Rose.
Additional songs on this LP are Back to Memphis, Bring Another Drink, Check Me Out, Goodnight, Well It's Time to Go, I Do Really Love You, It Hurts Me Too, My Heart Will Always Belong to You, So Long, and re-recordings of Oh Baby Doll
and Sweet Little Rock and Roller. Again the CD re-issue
of Chuck Berry in Memphis (Mercury 836071-2) contains additional material.
The same month
also saw the release of the very first Chuck Berry live album.
For Live at Fillmore Auditorium (Mercury 21138/61138 - mono/stereo) Chuck
was acompanied by the Steve Miller Blues Band. Contents of this
album is mainly Blues and Rhythm & Blues. There's only one
rock 'n' roll number on the whole LP: the closing song Johnny B. Goode combined with Goodnight, Well It's Time to Go.
Additional songs are the Medley Rockin' at the Fillmore/Everyday I Have the Blues, C. C. Rider, Driftin' Blues,
Feelin' It, Flying Home, I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man, It Hurts Me Too (duet with Steve Miller), Fillmore Blues, and
Wee Baby Blues. Again the CD re-issue (Mercury 836072-2) contains additional material
from the show.
From
St. Louie to Frisco (Mercury 61176, November 1968) contained
just new songs, more or less written by Chuck himself. It's a mix
of Rock 'n' Roll, Rhythm & Blues, and Soul. The record was
released in the U.S. and in France, which made it some kind of
rarity in most parts of Europe. The only release in the UK was on cassette tape. Most songs have been re-published on various budget LPs,
though. On From St. Louie to Frisco you'll hear Louie to Frisco, Ma Dear, The Love I Lost, I Love Her, I Love Her,
Little Fox, Rock Cradle Rock, Soul Rockin', I Can't Believe,
Misery, Oh Captain, and Mum's the Word. In addition
there is an early version of his later Number 1 hit My
Ding-A-Ling, here named My Tambourine. Again the CD
re-issue (Mercury 836073-2) contains additional Mercury
recordings.
Chuck's last
album for Mercury is called Concerto in B. Goode
(Mercury 61223, June 1969). The album contains just five songs
with the instrumental title track taking up a complete side of
the LP. The Concerto in B. Goode lasts almost 20
minutes. The remaining songs are Good Looking Woman, My
Woman, It's Too Dark in There, and Put Her Down. Concerto
in B. Goode has been re-issued on CD (Mercury 836074-2, no additional tracks). Collectors should be aware that the 45 rpm promotional single released in parallel (Mercury 72963, August 1969, probably no regular release) contains Good Looking Woman and a version of It's Too Dark in There where the guitar solo is omitted. This 2:58 minutes edited version is only available on this hard to find promo single.
After the release of Concerto in B. Goode Chuck returned to Chess Records.
After
Chuck left, Mercury re-used his recordings on many budget albums.
Only two of these low-cost albums were of special interest to the
Chuck Berry collector: Johnny B. Goode (Pickwick SPC-3327) was released in 1972, just at the time when Chuck back on CHESS was successfull with the London Sessions album and the My Ding-A-Ling and Reelin' and Rockin' live singles. Mercury had not published a re-recording of Reelin' and Rockin' yet, although they cut one during the sessions which led to the Chuck Berry's Golden
Hits album. Thus in addition to some well-known re-recordings of
Chuck Berry classics, this Pickwick album also came with a Mercury version of Reelin' and Rockin' prominently displayed on the cover.
Likewise the German album Rock! Rock! Rock 'n' Roll!
(Mercury 6463044, 1980) re-used material from Chuck Berry's Golden
Hits and Chuck Berry in Memphis (although the
version of Oh Baby Doll contained here is the Chess
recording). In addition this record contains both Reelin' and Rockin' and the previously unreleased Mercury version of Let it Rock.
In 1989 Mercury re-released the five original LPs on CD. These CDs contain the original songs and artwork, but even though the covers don't tell the first four of them include additional, previously unreleased recordings. On Chuck Berry's Golden Hits (Mercury 826256-2) you'll find the two songs from the Pickwick and German albums plus re-recordings of Around and Around and Brown Eyed Handsome Man. On Chuck Berry in Memphis (Mercury 836071-2) there's an additional studio recording of Flying Home. The re-release of Live at Fillmore Auditorium (Mercury 836072-2) added five songs from the live show: Good Morning Little Schoolgirl, Bring Another Drink, Worried Life Blues, Reelin' and Rockin', and a first version of My Ding-A-Ling. Finally on From St. Louie to Frisco (Mercury 836073-2) there are unpublished versions of Almost Grown and The Song of My Love, the previously unreleased song Campus Cookie, and Laugh and Cry from Mercury's first Chuck Berry single, though now in stereo.
The complete contents of these five CDs including all additional songs were re-released on Bear Family's omnibus Rock And Roll Music - Any Old Way You Choose It (Bear Family BCD 17273 PL, 2014). There are two more recordings from Berry's Mercury era in this 16-CD set: a slightly longer mix of Rock Cradle Rock and a so-called "synchronized version" of Oh Captain which has the two stereo channels in sync. They were separated several seconds on the original releases.
While working for Mercury, Berry also recorded a radio spot promoting the YMCA. While this spot was distributed to the radio stations on a not-for-sale record only, it finally appeared on the CD The Sheik of Chicago (Smashing Pumpkin Records PMK-1126, 2016).
Besides the shows recorded for Live at Fillmore Auditorium, there are three additional contemporary live recordings from San Francisco available online (for details read here). The December 29th, 1967 show has also been published on a bootleg CD called Career on the riffs (Vintage Masters VMCDR-116, 2011). All three concerts as well as a short concert from 1972 can be found on a 2-CD set called "Check Me Out!" (Crying Steel CSR02, 2014).
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Last modified: 13.03.2024