Chuck Berry - Have Mercy: His Complete Chess Recordings, 1969-1974
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CD Details
Artist: Chuck BerryEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
CD Release Date: 2010-03-23
Music Label: Hip-O Select
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
- Tulane
- Have Mercy Judge
- Untitled Instrumental *
- My Ding-A-Ling *
- Gun (instrumental - fast) *
- Gun (instrumental - slow) *
- Gun (instrumental) (2:47)
- That's None Of Your Business *
- Instrumental
- Christmas
- I'm A Rocker
- Flyin' Home (instrumental)
- Fish & Chips
- Some People
- My Pad (poem)
- Oh Louisiana
- Festival
- Let's Do Our Thing Together
- Your Lick
- Bound To Lose
- Bordeaux In My Pirough
- San Francisco Dues
- My Dream (poem)
- Sweet Little Sixteen (live) *
- Roll 'Em Pete (live) *
- It Hurts Me Too (live) *
- Around And Around (live) *
- Promised Land (live) *
- Reelin' And Rockin' (live)
- My Ding-A-Ling (live)
- Johnny B. Goode (live)
- Roll `Em Pete (live single edit)
- My Ding-A-Ling (live single edit)
- Let's Boogie
- Mean Old World
- I Love You
- I Will Not Let You Go
- London Berry Blues
- South Of The Border (live) **
- Blues #1 *
- Annie Lou *
- Rain Eyes
- Me And My Country *
- Sue Answer
- Got It And Gone
- A Deuce
- Talkin' About My Buddy
- Hello Little Girl, Goodbye
- One Sixty Nine AM *
- Aimlessly Driftin'
- Woodpecker
- Bio
- Roll Away *
- I'm Just A Name
- Too Late
- Turn On The Houselights *
- Heel Sneakers
- Jambalaya *
- The Song Of My Love *
- South Of The Border
- Swanee River
- You Are My Sunshine
- Johnny B. Blues *
- Dust My Broom *
- Don't You Lie To Me
- My Babe
- Here Today *
- I Just Want To Make Love To You
- Rockin' *
- Shake, Rattle And Roll
- Baby, What You Want Me To Do
Music reviews of Have Mercy: His Complete Chess Recordings, 1969-1974
Music Review: "...She Worked Night And Day To Keep Us Six Kids Alive..."
Rating: 4 Stars
"Have Mercy..." is the 3rd and final volume of Chuck Berry's Chess recordings. Hip-O Select/Geffen B0013790-02 houses 71 tracks across 4CDs, 23 of which are previously unreleased (plus one further track which is previously unreleased in the USA). Its packaging consists of a slightly oversized 4-way foldout digipak that is itself tied with a string on a lapel on the front - aping the layout of the two preceding sets (see PS below). It's a non-numbered worldwide limited edition of 6000 copies and Discs 1 to 4 run to 69:23, 71:37, 69:45 and 65:10 minutes respectively.
FRED ROTHWELL and ANDY McKAIE have compiled the set with Rothwell handling the 24-page booklet (he is author of the book "Long Distance Information - Chuck Berry's Recorded Legacy"). Pictured beneath the see-through trays and on the final flap are the following 5 albums from that period...
1. "Back Home" (November 1970 on Chess LPS-1550 in the USA, February 1972 on Chess 6310 113 in the UK)
2. "San Francisco Dues" (September 1971 on Chess CH-50008 in the USA, March 1972 on Chess 6310 115 in the UK)
3. "The London Chuck Berry Sessions" (June 1972 on Chess CH-60020 in the USA, July 1972 on Chess 6310 122 in the UK)
4. "Chuck Berry/Bio" [aka "Bio"] (September 1973 on Chess CH-50043 in the USA, October 1973 on Chess 6499 650 in the UK)
5. "Chuck Berry" [released as "Chuck Berry `75" in the UK] (February 1975 on Chess CH-60032 in the USA, March 1975 on Chess 9109 101 in the UK)
The three volumes of "Golden Decade" doubles are not referenced at all in the booklet (no exclusive tracks) neither is the "St. Louis To Frisco To Memphis" album from 1972 with The Steve Miller Band because that was released through Mercury Records. The studio side of "The London Chuck Berry Sessions" (Side 1) features Derek Griffiths of The Artwoods and Dog Soldier on Guitar, Rick Grech of Traffic and Family on Bass with Ian McLagan and Kenny Jones of the Faces on Piano and Drums respectively. Side 2 of that album was recorded live in Coventry in England and features the Average White Band as Berry's backing group. Elliott Randall of Steely Dan's "Reelin' In The Years" guitar-solo fame plays Pedal Steel guitar on "I'm Just A Name" and "Too Late" on Disc 4, while Jazz Fusion favourite and multi-instrumentalist Phil Upchurch plays Bass on Tracks 1 to 8 on Disc 1. A rarity for US collectors is the UK-only 7" single live version of "South Of The Border" (Chess 6145 027), which features Jimmy Campbell of Vertigo Spiral Label fame on Guitar (its the previously unreleased in the USA track).
The A & B sides of the US 7" single Chess 2090 ("Tulane" and "Have Mercy Judge") start things off strongly on Disc 1 and you immediately hear two things - the quality song-writing and the cool sound upgrade. The 1st-generation master tapes have been remastered by ace-engineer ERICK LABSON (has over 850 credits to his name including the majority of the Chess catalogue) and his work here is again exemplary - the sound is great. There's hiss on a few tunes for sure and the unreleased live stuff is untreated so it sounds very rough - but there's a fab little instrumental called "Woodpecker" tucked away on Side 2 of "Bio" that I've been trying to get a good CD copy of for years - and here it is at last - and (if you'll forgive the pun) it's ring, ringing like a bell. So too when the British band back up Berry on the T-Bone Walker cover of "Mean Old World" (off "The London Chuck Berry Sessions") - you can really feel and hear that as well - thrilling stuff.
More than a few of the 23 previously unreleased tracks are shockingly good - "Untitled Instrumental" features the fab piano playing of Ellis "Lafayette" Leake with great harmonica fills from Robert Baldori, while the 9-minute instrumental "Turn On The Houselights" sees Chuck play a blinding lead guitar. It's not all good of course - from the "Chuck Berry" LP sessions in 1975 (all of Disc 4) both outtakes "Jambalaya" and "The Song Of My Love" are truly awful, while the abomination that is "My Ding A Ling" on Disc 3 is on here in its full album length version of eleven minutes and the 7" single edit too and even has an added previously unreleased studio version. But it is to this day quite possibly the worst song ever made - and cringing to listen to (I dare say his bank balance rather enjoyed it though). But overall - the outtakes are excellent - and along with the largely unheard remastered album tracks - it all makes for a rather spiffing listen.
Niggles and speculation - like the other two sets, the packaging is ok rather than great and had Bear Family of Germany gotten their hands on this project, we would have had a 9 disc box (instead of 12) with a 180-page 12" x 12" hardback book for about the same cost - and it would have been complete with visuals that would have taken 2 years to compile rather than two days to dash off. A fantasy reissue I know, but worth making the comparison...
Having said that - as it stands "Have Mercy" is far better than I thought it would be - his Rock'n' Roll mojo and lyrical brilliance still intact in the Seventies (the 6-minute poem "My Pad" is deep and prophetic as are the lyrics from "Bio" which titles this review). And if you were to make up a single disc representing the best of what's on this mini box set - then I guarantee you'd shock certain people as to how good it is.
So there you have it - fabulous in places, a let down in others - 2010's "Have Mercy" does at least see Chuck Berry's Seventies' legacy be given some proper respect at last.
Recommended.
PS: His initial output for the famous label was released in 2008 as "Johnny B. Goode - The Complete 50's Recordings" - then followed in 2009 by the 2nd set - "You Never Can Tell - The Complete Chess Recordings 1960 to 1966" (see separate review for "Tell"). See also the tag "Erick Labson Remasters" for a list of goodies remastered by him.
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Description of Have Mercy: His Complete Chess Recordings, 1969-1974
Fulfilling Phil Chess's prophecy, Chuck Berry returned to Chess Records in 1969 after a three year stay with Mercury Records. And it was like he never left, as his very first session produced a great two-sided single, "Tulane" b/w "Have Mercy Judge." The record didn't chart, but it was obvious that Chuck was truly "back home" (as his first album back on Chess was called) and already producing high quality "Chess" recordings once again. This third and last 4 CD set of Chuck Berry's Chess recordings collects every available master and alternate from "Tulane" till the label shuttered its doors to recording new music. The 71 tracks here include his only #1 ("My Ding-A-Ling (live)"), plus 22 previously unreleased recordings, ranging from cool in-studio jams/instrumentals ("Turn On The House Lights," "Rockin'") to 4 additional live recordings from the smoking concert that produced the live side of The London Chuck Berry Sessions; from an intimate, small group session in October of 1972 which produced two throwback "Chuck blues" tracks, "Blues #1" and "Annie Lou," to Chuck's renditions of "Jambalaya" and "Dust My Broom." There's also a live version of "South Of The Border" only previously released as a "B" side in the U.K. and the hot concert London Sessions per formance of "Roll `Em Pete," also originally only released in edited form as a "B" side with a different rhythm section dubbed in - this set has both the complete original and single versions. As with the two earlier volumes, Have Mercy includes liner notes by Berry biographer (and the set's co-compiler) Fred Rothwell, great period photos and graphics, as well as complete sessionby- session credits.Pop CDs
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