Chuck Berry - Chuck Berry Is on Top (1959)

Artist: Chuck Berry

Album: Chuck Berry Is on Top

Genre: Rock & Roll

Released: 1959 [2013]

***

If you had to sweat all of Chuck Berry's early albums on Chess (and some, but not all, of his subsequent greatest-hits packages), this would be the one to own. The song lineup is exemplary, cobbling together classics like "Maybellene," "Carol," "Sweet Little Rock & Roller," "Little Queenie," "Roll Over Beethoven," "Around and Around," "Johnny B. Goode," and "Almost Grown." With the addition of the Latin-flavored "Hey Pedro," the steel guitar workout "Blues for Hawaiians," "Anthony Boy," and "Jo Jo Gunne," this serves as almost a mini-greatest-hits package in and of itself. While this may be merely a collection of singles and album ballast (as were most rock & roll LPs of the 1950s and early '60s), it ends up being the most perfectly realized of Chuck Berry's career.

AllMusic Review by Cub Koda

Tracklist

1. Almost Grown

2. Carol

3. Maybellene

4. Sweet Little Rock & Roller

5. Anthony Boy

6. Johnny B. Goode

7. Little Queenie

8. Jo Jo Gunne

9. Roll over Beethoven

10. Around and Around

11. Hey Pedro

12. Blues for Hawaiians

+

13. Down the Road Apiece

14. No Money Down

15. Downbound Train

16. Jaguar and the Thunderbird

17. The Things I Used to do

18. No Particular Place to go

19. Fraulein

20. Nadine

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