'' The London Chuck Berry Sessions'' is the sixteenth 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 ...

, and consists of studio recordings and live recordings released by

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 ...

in October 1972 as

LP record The LP (from "long playing" or "long play") is an analog sound storage medium, a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specification; and a ...

, 8 track cartridge and

audio cassette The Compact Cassette or Musicassette (MC), also commonly called the tape cassette, cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Otten ...

. Side one of the album consists of studio recordings, engineered by Geoff Calver; side two features three live performances recorded by the Pye Mobile Unit, engineered by Alan Perkins, on February 3, 1972, at the Lanchester Arts Festival in

Coventry, England Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed by ...

. At the end of the live section, the recording includes the sounds of festival management trying in vain to get the audience to leave so that the next performers,

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...

, can take the stage; the crowd begins chanting "We want Chuck!". His backing band were Onnie McIntyre (guitar), Robbie McIntosh (drums),

Nic Potter NIC may refer to: Banking and insurance companies * National Insurance Corporation, Uganda * NIC Bank, a commercial bank in Kenya Politics, government and economics * National Ice Center, an agency that provides worldwide navigational ice a ...

(bass) and Dave Kaffinetti (piano). Both McIntosh and McIntyre would later form

The Average White Band The Average White Band (also known as AWB) are a Scottish funk and R&B band that had a series of soul and disco hits between 1974 and 1980. They are best known for their million-selling instrumental track " Pick Up the Pieces", and their album ...

. " My Ding-a-Ling", from the live side of the album, was edited to approximately 4 minutes for release as a single. A novelty song based around sexual double-entendres, it was Berry's first and only single to reach number 1 in both the US and the UK.

Background

In May 1970,

Howlin' Wolf Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer and guitarist. He is regarded as one of the most influential blues musicians of all time. Over a four-decade care ...

traveled to

Olympic Sound Studios Olympic Studios was a renowned British independent commercial recording studio based in Barnes, London, Barnes, London. It is best known for its recordings of many artists throughout the late 1960s to the first decade of the 21st century, inclu ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, to record songs for ''

The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions ''The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions'' is an album by blues musician Howlin' Wolf released in 1971 on Chess Records, and on Rolling Stones Records in Britain. It was one of the first super session blues albums, setting a blues master among famous mu ...

''. The album was released in August 1971 and peaked at number 28 on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' magazine's

R&B Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated J ...

chart and number 79 on the ''Billboard'' 200. Because of Wolf's success,

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post-war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago b ...

recorded his own ''London Sessions'' album in December 1971, and Berry did the same in 1972.

Critical reception

William Ruhlmann of

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 ...

called the album Chuck Berry's "commercial, if not artistic, peak".

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 ...

thinks the album is of bad quality, that his voice is croaky and the studio material only fillers.

Commercial performance

The album was not even out for a month, when on October 27, 1972, ''The London Chuck Berry Sessions'' was certified gold by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

with sales of 1,000,000 units. It is Berry's only album to be certified by the RIAA,RIAA Certification Search
Type "Chuck Berry" under ''Artist'' for search results. and is his most successful release.

Track listing

All songs written by Chuck Berry except as noted Side one (studio recordings) # "Let's Boogie" – 3:10 # "

Mean Old World "Mean Old World" is a blues song recorded by American blues electric guitar musician T-Bone Walker in 1942. It has been described (along with the single's B-side) as "the first important blues recordings on the electric guitar". Over the years ...

" (

Little Walter Marion Walter Jacobs (May 1, 1930 – February 15, 1968), known as Little Walter, was an American blues musician, singer, and songwriter, whose revolutionary approach to the harmonica had a strong impact on succeeding generations, earning him ...

) – 5:45 # "I Will Not Let You Go" – 2:49 # "London Berry Blues" – 5:55 # "I Love You" – 3:26 Side two (live recordings) # "

Reelin' and Rockin' "Reelin' and Rockin'" is a song written and recorded by Chuck Berry. It was originally recorded in 1957 and released as the B-side of "Sweet Little Sixteen". Recording The song was recorded on December 29-30, 1957 in Chicago, Illinois. * Chuck Be ...

" – 7:07 # " My Ding-a-Ling" ( Dave Bartholomew) – 11:33 # "

Johnny B. Goode "Johnny B. Goode" is a 1958 rock song written and first recorded by Chuck Berry. Released as a single, it peaked at number two on ''Billboard'' magazine's Hot R&B Sides chart and number eight on its pre-Hot 100 chart. "Johnny B. Goode" is con ...

" – 4:23 The release on cassette exchanged "I Love You" and "

" to create sides of near-equal length. This version of "Johnny B. Goode" replaces the first verse of the original with the first verse of "Bye Bye Johnny".

Personnel

Musicians

According to sleeve notes *Chuck Berry –

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 ...

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 ...

*Derek Griffiths – guitar on side one *

Kenney Jones Kenneth Thomas "Kenney" Jones (born 16 September 1948) is an English drummer best known for his work in the groups Small Faces, Faces, and the Who. Jones was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 as a member of Small Faces/Faces ...

–

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 ...

on side one *Dave Kaffinetti –

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 ...

on side two *

Robbie McIntosh Robbie McIntosh (born 25 October 1957) is an English guitarist. McIntosh is well known as a session guitarist and member of The Pretenders from 1982 until 1987. In 1988 he began doing session guitar work for Paul McCartney joining his band fu ...

– drums on side two *Onnie Owen McIntyre – guitar on side two *

Ian McLagan Ian Patrick McLagan (; 12 May 1945 – 3 December 2014) was an English keyboardist, best known as a member of the rock bands Small Faces and Faces. He also collaborated with the Rolling Stones and led his own band from the late 1970s. He was in ...

– piano on side one *

–

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

on side two

Technical

Esmond Edwards Esmond Edwards (October 29, 1927 – January 20, 2007) was an American photographer, record producer, and recording engineer. He worked for the jazz label Prestige Records during the 1950s and early 1960s. He was originally hired by founder Bob We ...

–

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

*Bob Scerbo - production supervision *Mia Krinsky - album coordination *David Krieger –

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

*Tim Lewis –

cover art Cover art is a type of artwork presented as an illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, newspaper ( tabloid), comic book, video game (box art), music album (album art), ...

Charts

Album

US Singles

UK Singles

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:London Chuck Berry Sessions 1972 albums Chuck Berry albums Albums produced by Esmond Edwards Chess Records albums