The 50s had been good to Chuck Berry. Signed to Chicago’s Chess label in 1955, the St Louis singer-songwriter chalked up 16 US R&B smashes, including the No 1 hits Maybellene, School Day and Sweet Little Sixteen. When 1960 arrived, however, everything changed. Indiscretions in Berry’s personal life – resulting from his predilection for underage girls – caught up with him and a series of protracted court hearings threatened to derail his career.
Berry only notched up a solitary chart entry in 1960 and it would be his last for four years: in early 1962, Berry was sentenced to jail for 18 months. While incarceration might have spelled the end for some performers, the informative sleevenotes to this 4-CD retrospective reveal that Berry – besides swatting up on accountancy – wrote a batch of great tunes that would revitalise his ailing career. These were Nadine, No Particular Place To Go, You Never Can Tell and Promised Land, all now regarded as rock’n’roll classics and featured on this tremendous archival collection comprising 108 remastered tracks. Collectors will be pleased that 18 previously unissued songs have been unearthed, which include tracks recorded live at a canned comeback concert in 1963.
