The Chuck Berry Collectors Blog

While the computer behind me is busy doing some heavy-duty calculations, I'll add some more information about the new series of album replicas issued by Universal Music Japan.
Here's the third summary of bonus tracks hidden on the re-issues, one more to follow. [Read part 1] [Read part 2]
As you can see, these are the same recordings as published on the American four-CD sets. In contrast to a strict chronological sequence, the compilers in Japan tried to put the alternate takes and versions close to the originally released ones. Recordings not used in the 1950s are placed where they fit chronologically (mostly).

Album	Original Number	Re-issue Number	Bonus Tracks
Chuck Berry in London	CHESS LP 1495	UICY-94632	Chuckwalk Liverpool Drive Chuck's Beat (long LP version) Bo's Beat (long LP version) Spending Christmas
Fresh Berry's	CHESS LP 1498	UICY-94633	Shake Rattle & Roll (teke 23) Wee Wee Hours (inst.) Honey Hush (take 3) My Mustang Ford (inst.) My Mustang Ford (stereo remix) It Wasn't Me (stereo remix) Sad Day, Long Night His Daughter Caroline (fast)
Back Home	CHESS LPS-1550	UICY-94634	Untitled Instrumental (1969) My Ding-A-Ling (1969) Gun (fast) Gun (slow That's None of Your Business My Pad (poem)
San Francisco Dues	CHESS CH-50008	UICY-94635	Ramona Say Yes Ramona Say Yes (alt. mix) Lonely School Days (slow)

Note: Clicking on the re-issue number takes you to sellers of this CD.

As promised, I try to report more about the new series of album replicas issued by Universal Music Japan.
Here's a second summary of bonus tracks hidden on the re-issues, more to follow. [Read part 1]
As you can see, these are the same recordings as published on the American four-CD sets. In contrast to a strict chronological sequence, the compilers in Japan tried to put the alternate takes and versions close to the originally released ones. Recordings not used in the 1950s are placed where they fit chronologically (mostly).

Album	Original Number	Re-issue Number	Bonus Tracks
New Juke Box Hits	CHESS LP 1456	UICY-94628	I Got to Find My Baby (stereo remix) Bye Bye Johnny (stereo remix) Run Around (stereo remix) Jaguar And Thunderbird Down the Road Apiece (stereo remix) I'm Just a Lucky So And So Route 66 (stereo remix) Come On Come On (alt.) Adulteen Go Go Go (alt.) Go Go Go Brown-Eyed Handsome Man (inst.) Brown-Eyed Handsome Man (stereo remix)
Twist	CHESS LP 1465	UICY-94629	Brown-Eyed Handsome Man Too Much Monkey Business Memphis, Tennessee Nadine (Is It You?) Promised Land No Particular Place to Go My Ding-A-Ling (1972 single) Now this compilation is strange as several bonus tracks were not even recorded when the original album was released. And what has Ding-A-Ling to do here???
On Stage	CHESS LP 1480	UICY-94630	all 11 tracks from the 1963 Detroit concert first published on You Never Can Tell - His Complete Chess Recordings 1960-1966 (HIP-O-Select B0012485-02, 2009) Read more on this Japanese release ...
St. Louis to Liverpool	CHESS LP 1488	UICY-94631	Nadine (Is It You?) The Little Girl From Central I'm In the Danger Zone FrauleinO Rangutang (unfaded instrumental) Big Ben (Blues)

Note: Clicking on the re-issue number takes you to sellers of this CD.

CHESS LP 1480, Chuck Berry On Stage, is one of the strangest albums released during Chuck Berry's work with Chess Records.
Released while Berry was in jail, the Chess brothers had no new material available. Therefore they looked through their archive and found some lower quality tracks from older sessions. Even combined with some greatest hits, the album did not look as if it could be a commercial success. Thus, the Chess brothers went one step further.
By adding noise from an audience crowd and some shouting MC they made the album look like it would have been recorded live in concert. Next they changed the titles of some songs for further obfuscation. So Sweet Little Sixteen became Surfing USA, and Let It Rock became Rocking on the Railroad.
It didn't help and interest for this album was low. Seems like record buyers are not as stupid as companies want to believe.
When CDs became popular, nobody expected sales from re-releasing this album. Especially as the previously unreleased tracks became available without the fake applause over the years, one after the other which, however, took until 2009. If you were interested to listen to the original album with all the damage Chess introduced, you had to go to your Vinyl collection.
Finally, as part of the new series of album replicas issued by Universal Music Japan, CHESS LP 1480 is available on CD now!



The CD contains the original contents of the CHESS album including all the fake applause and shouts. It also includes How High the Moon which was not listed on the original cover, though on the disk. To fill up the re-issue CD, Universal added a true live concert from 1963, which makes the album title correct in some sense. The Detroit concert has been published before on You Never Can Tell - His Complete Chess Recordings 1960-1966 (HIP-O-Select B0012485-02, 2009). Note that the "enhanced" versions having the fake applause were omitted from that complete set. Here they are, finally.
To get the Japanese re-issue, click here: UICY-94630

As promised, I try to report more about the new series of album replicas issued by Universal Music Japan.
Here's a first summary of bonus tracks hidden on the re-issues, more to follow.
As you can see, these are the same recordings as published on the American four-CD sets. In contrast to a strict chronological sequence, the compilers in Japan tried to put the alternate takes and versions close to the originally released ones. Recordings not used in the 1950s are placed where they fit chronologically (mostly).

Album	Original Number	Re-issue Number	Bonus Tracks
After School Session	CHESS LP 1426	UICY-94624	You Can't Catch Me I've Changed Untitled instrumental (1956) Maybellene (live WINS) Roll Over Beethoven (live WINS) Rock and Roll Music (demo) Thirteen Question Method (early version) Sweet Little Sixteen (demo) Sweet Little Sixteen (take 3) Night Beat (take 3) Time Was (slow, take 4) Time Was (slow) Reelin' and Rockin' (take 1) Merry Christmas Baby
One Dozen Berrys	CHESS LP 1432	UICY-94625	Rock and Roll Music (alt.) Sweet Little Sixteen (take 11) Sweet Little Sixteen (original master) Reelin' and Rockin' (take 7/8) Johnny B. Goode (take 2/3) Around and Around (overdub take 2) Around and Around (overdub (take 3) Ingo (overdub take 3) Beautiful Delilah (take 15/16) Beautiful Delilah (take 6) 21 Blues 21 21 (take 14) Vacation Time
Berry is on Top	CHESS LP 1435	UICY-94626	Oh Yeah Time Was (fast) House of Blue Lights Sweet Little Rock'n'Roller (take 5) Long Fast Jam Long Slow Jam Run Rudolph Run Little Queenie (take 8 ) That's My Desire Do You Love Me (alt.) Do You Love Me
Rockin' at the Hops	CHESS LP 1448	UICY-94627	Almost Grown (take 14) Almost Grown (take 28) Blue on Blue (Upchuck) Blue on Blue Betty Jean (take 14) Betty Jean (take 17) County Line Childhood Sweetheart (alt.) One O'Clock Jump I Just Want to Make Love to You (take 3) Broken Arrow (take 21) Let It Rock (alt. mix) Too Pooped to Pop (take 4A) Say You'll Be Mine (Equadors) Let Me Sleep Woman (Equadors)

Note: Clicking on the re-issue number takes you to sellers of this CD.

Great news for Chuck Berry collectors!
Over the last years, the U.S. branch of Universal Music provided us with three superb four-CD sets documenting Chuck Berry's complete recordings for CHESS Records from 1955 to 1975 including many previously unissued tracks:

• Johnny B. Goode - His Complete '50s Chess Recordings (HIP-O-Select B0009473-02, 2008)
• You Never Can Tell - His Complete Chess Recordings 1960-1966 (HIP-O-Select B0012485-02, 2009)
• Have Mercy - His Complete Chess Recordings 1969-1974 (HIP-O-Select B0013790-02, 2010)

Now, the Japanese branch of Universal Music fulfills another long-standing collectors' wish: Perfect CD re-issues of Berry's original CHESS albums.
In a series called the "Chuck Berry 55 Papersleeve Edition", Universal Music Japan re-released 15 original CHESS albums and one MCA album. Of most interest is that this includes albums previously not available on CD such as Bio, Back Home, or San Francisco Dues. Each album is sold separately, but many collectors will want to get the whole set. Unfortunately the retail price of 2,800 Yen translate to approximately $35 each, plus packaging, postage, customs and taxes.
If you can afford buying some, you will be glad to get:

• a 100% exact replica of the original album sleeve scaled to CD size. This includes the exact printing of the original US edition, even on the spine. Bio and The London Sessions come in their original gatefold cover. And they even managed to duplicate the paper texture, e.g. of the London Sessions album.
• an audio CD of SHM-CD type. This CDs are made from a special enhanced transparency polycarbonate material (Super High Material) said to improve sound quality. It plays on every CD player, though.
• a many-page booklet containing a preface by Marshall Chess, recording data for all songs, complete lyrics, and a long description of the album by Kazuhiro Uda, that one unfortunately in Japanese language only.

Given this high-quality outfit, two things are a bit astonishing. First of all, the CD does not come in a hard box. You just get a plastic envelope which includes the papersleeve and the typical obi strip. This "tasuki" is common to Japanese CDs and includes information about the CD such as price or track listing, all in Japanese language. Secondly, because the obi strip is lost easily, you are left with the papersleeve, which contains absolutely no indication of its Japanese origin.
And without the obi strip and its Japanese-language track listing you might easily overlook another important aspect of these re-releases: Bonus Tracks!
While the original London Sessions album contains five studio tracks and three tracks from the Coventry concert, this re-issue has another eight tracks. This includes the five additional songs from Coventry as released on Have Mercy - His Complete Chess Recordings 1969-1974 (HIP-O-Select B0013790-02, 2010), the single edits of both Roll 'Em Pete and My Ding-A-Ling, and the live version of South of the Border from the 1972 BBC concert in London.
I will try to find out which additional bonus tracks are on the remaining CDs, but I guess they used all or most of the additional tracks from the American four-CD sets. Stay tuned.



Currently these CDs seem to not be stocked by the typical Internet shops. The only offers I found so far were on eBay:

• Set 1 of eight papersleeve albums of the 1950s and 1960s
• Set 2 of eight papersleeve albums from In London to the birthday concert

Thanks to Morten, Andy, and the folks at Universal Music Japan for information about this release!

The Association for Recorded Sound Collections (arsc-audio.org) just announced the 2010 ARSC Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research. Since 1991, "the awards are presented to authors and publishers of books, articles, liner notes, and monographs, to recognize outstanding published research in the field of recorded sound. In giving these awards, ARSC recognizes outstanding contributions, encourages high standards, and promotes awareness of superior works." (Quote from the press release)

One of the awards for excellence honors the best research in recorded Blues, Rhythm & Blues, or Soul Music. And the winner is:

Morten Reff
for his outstanding
Chuck Berry International Directory
published by Music Mentor Books in 2009

Congratulations to Morten and to the team at Music Mentor Books! You deserved it well!

Yesterday I got two emails about a certain Chuck Berry 45rpm single which would not be in my discography and therefore would be ultra-rare.
Doug pointed me to an eBay auction which sells this telling "only two known to exist". See here: eBay item 200525623767
And concurrently reader Peter asks "I have a single I can't find any mention of in the discographies I've looked at." Go figure ...

One comment first: I do have a huge collection of Berry records and I count myself as one of the experts on Chuck Berry recordings, but the one and only expert on Chuck Berry RECORDS is Morten Reff. So if you ever need to know something about a strange record you find, go and look at Morten's "Chuck Berry International Directory" available in a book shop near you.

The record in question is a 45rpm single having the blue CHESS label of the original 1950's records. It's A side is 'Rock and Roll Music', but in contrast to the original CHESS 1671 which has 'Blue Feeling' on side B, this record contains 'House of Blue Lights'. That songs was unissued in the 1950's and first surfaced on "Chuck Berry's Golden Decade Vol. 3" in 1973. So is this a rare misprint with only two known to exist? And having a complete original CHESS label printed? No way!

Thus you open Morten's "Chuck Berry International Directory, Volume 2" and there it is, right on the first page. This variant of CHESS 1671 is part of a series of bootleg records which came out in the early 1970s, certainly after 1973. It looks like a real CHESS release, but it isn't. It's from some doubtful source we don't know about.

The record IS rare. We don't know how many were pressed, but definitely more than two. Count for yourself: Peter has one, I do, Morten does, and the eBay seller does as well. So that's at least four

If you are collecting Berry records and if you don't have this one, you might consider buying it. The initial price asked seems to be a bit high, but that's up to you.

Those who are interested in this bootleg 45rpm single should also notice the only other interesting single from this bootleg series. CHESS 1700 'Carol' containing 'County Line' on the flip side instead of 'Hey Pedro'. This record is for sale on eBay for months and did not find a buyer yet. Look here: eBay item 290216887081