Berry Blues, who knew?
04/05/2015
A few weeks back (23/04/15) I purchased the unimaginatively but honestly titled great buy at left, "5 Classic Albums Plus Bonus Singles And Rare Tracks" by Chuck Berry for only NZ$9.99.
I thought I might find this much Chuck Berry at once too much to listen to, but have been pleased to find he has made recordings in a variety of styles. There is also the variety of some fine piano work by Otis Spann, Johnnie Johnson and Lafayette Leake. |
Some examples: -
Disc 1
Tracks 1 & 2 open the collection with a distinctly Calypso-flavoured number, and then a Latin number complete with
bongo/conga percussion. These were early recordings done under the name of Joe Alexander and the Cubans.
Track 21 "Downbound Train" is sort of country-skiffle sounding.
Track 22 "Drifting Heart" is also latin-style.
Disc 2
Track 3 "La Juanda" is a partly Spanish language Latin-style Mexican story.
Track 4 "Rockin At The Philharmonic" gets almost jazzy in the style of Barney Kessell/Wes Montgomery.
Track 8 "In-Go" shows the transition in styles between its blues structure and his Rock & Roll riffing.
Track 17 "Do You Love Me" leans toward New Orleans.
Blues
I have only played two discs so far, but I was surprised to find there are a number of pretty straight-up Blues numbers included. I don't know how many people know Chuck Berry did Blues, but I certainly had no idea how Bluesy he could get. I have since found in Wikipedia that his early experience involved "playing the blues since his teens, and he borrowed both guitar riffs and showmanship techniques from blues player T-Bone Walker."
I immediately added the most unusual one to my YouTube playlist "Blues Surprises", covered in my Blog post of 29/11/14 on Blues by people maybe you didn't know did Blues.
Disc 1
Tracks 1 & 2 open the collection with a distinctly Calypso-flavoured number, and then a Latin number complete with
bongo/conga percussion. These were early recordings done under the name of Joe Alexander and the Cubans.
Track 21 "Downbound Train" is sort of country-skiffle sounding.
Track 22 "Drifting Heart" is also latin-style.
Disc 2
Track 3 "La Juanda" is a partly Spanish language Latin-style Mexican story.
Track 4 "Rockin At The Philharmonic" gets almost jazzy in the style of Barney Kessell/Wes Montgomery.
Track 8 "In-Go" shows the transition in styles between its blues structure and his Rock & Roll riffing.
Track 17 "Do You Love Me" leans toward New Orleans.
Blues
I have only played two discs so far, but I was surprised to find there are a number of pretty straight-up Blues numbers included. I don't know how many people know Chuck Berry did Blues, but I certainly had no idea how Bluesy he could get. I have since found in Wikipedia that his early experience involved "playing the blues since his teens, and he borrowed both guitar riffs and showmanship techniques from blues player T-Bone Walker."
I immediately added the most unusual one to my YouTube playlist "Blues Surprises", covered in my Blog post of 29/11/14 on Blues by people maybe you didn't know did Blues.
For any reader interested in hearing Chuck's Blues stylings, below is a playlist I created
and took the liberty of entitling "One Dozen Blue Berrys", with some Blues numbers by the man.
and took the liberty of entitling "One Dozen Blue Berrys", with some Blues numbers by the man.