''Rockit'' is the nineteenth studio album by

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the " Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into th ...

, released in 1979 by

Atco Records ATCO Records is an American record label founded in 1955. It is owned by Warner Music Group and operates as an imprint of Atlantic Records. After several decades of dormancy and infrequent activity under alternating Warner Music labels, the comp ...

. It was his only release for the label, following Berry's departure in 1975 from

Chess Records Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock and roll ...

and his last studio album for 38 years, until ''

Chuck Chuck is a masculine given name or a nickname for Charles or Charlie. It may refer to: People Arts and entertainment * Chuck Alaimo, American saxophonist, leader of the Chuck Alaimo Quartet * Chuck Barris (1929–2017), American TV producer * C ...

'' in 2017.

Title and packaging

The album cover depicted Berry's guitar in the image of the ''

Millennium Falcon The ''Millennium Falcon'' is a fictional starship in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. Designed by Joe Johnston for the movie ''Star Wars'' (1977), it has subsequently appeared in '' The Star Wars Holiday Special'' (1978), ''The Empire Strikes Back ...

'' starship, from the 1977 film ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

''. According to

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

, the artwork bizarrely (and somewhat appealingly)" capitalized on "the post-''Star Wars'' wave as it features Chuck's signature Gibson orbiting the Earth (which also nicely plays into the pun of the title, a pun so slight that it's possible to not realize it's a pun without the artwork)".

Critical reception

Reviewing ''Rockit'' in 1979 for ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

'',

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

gave the album a B-plus grade and was surprised by its quality: Along with 1964's '' St. Louis to Liverpool'', Christgau considered ''Rockit'' one of two full-length albums recorded by Berry in his lifetime that were "worthy of the name", a "groove" record "sharpened by two back-end songs skewering the racist society he'd striven so audaciously to integrate and enlighten". ''

Observer An observer is one who engages in observation or in watching an experiment. Observer may also refer to: Computer science and information theory * In information theory, any system which receives information from an object * State observer in con ...

'' journalist Ron Hart named it among Berry's five best albums. In a retrospective review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, Erlewine gave ''Rockit'' three-and-a-half out of five stars and said, despite conceding to contemporary music trends with a somewhat "bright and tight" production, Berry offered "three or four terrific songs and a bunch of enjoyable straight-ahead rockers that aren't quite as memorable but sure sound good as they play".

Track listing

All songs written by Chuck Berry # "Move It" – 2:27 # "Oh What a Thrill" – 3:06 # "I Need You Baby" – 3:09 # "If I Were" – 3:02 # "House Lights" – 4:28 # "I Never Thought" – 3:50 # "Havana Moon" (re-recording) – 5:05 # "Wuden't Me" – 2:41 # "California" – 2:16 # "Pass Away" – 5:33

Personnel

Musicians

* Chuck Berry –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

Kenny Buttrey Aaron Kenneth Buttrey (April 1, 1945 – September 12, 2004) was an American drummer and arranger. According to Country Music Television, CMT, he was "one of the most influential session musicians in Nashville history". Buttrey was born in Nashvi ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

* Johnnie Johnson –

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

* Jim Marsala – bass * Bob Wray – bass

Technical

* Tony Gottlieb – production assistance * Doug Morris –

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

Kyle Lehning Kyle Lehning is an American record producer whose work is mainly in the field of country music. He has produced virtually every album released by Randy Travis, who described their partnership "an interesting relationship." The only exceptions are ...

–

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

, mixing * Bob Defrin –

art direction Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the visi ...

* Don Brautigam – cover illustration

References

External links

* Chuck Berry albums 1979 albums Albums produced by Chuck Berry Atco Records albums {{1970s-rock-album-stub