Personnel: Chuck Berry (guitar); Hubert Sumlin, Jimmy Rogers , Owen McIntyre (guitar); James Robinson , L.C. Davis (saxophone); Dave Kafinetti, Johnnie Johnson, Lafayette Leake, Otis Spann, Paul Williams (piano); Nic Potter (electric bass); Reggie Boyd, G. Smith, Willie Dixon (bass guitar); Fred Below, Odie Payne, Jr., Robbie McIntosh , Jasper Thomas, Ebby Hardy (drums); Jerome Green (maracas); Band Chorus, Etta James & The Marquees, Martha Berry (background vocals). Audio Remasterer: Erick Labson. There have been many, many Chuck Berry compilations released by Chess over the years, but as of the spring of 2006, there was no comprehensive single-disc set in print; there was the double-disc 2005 set Gold, which itself was a retitled reissue of 2000's Anthology, but the classic comp The Great Twenty-Eight was long out of print, and nothing had replaced it until the 2006 release of The Definitive Collection. This generous 30-track selection offers nearly everything that was on The Great Twenty-Eight and in nearly the same sequence -- "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" and "Roll Over Beethoven" are swapped, for instance, but it's not really a noticeable change. "Bye Bye Johnny" is the only song missing from The Great Twenty-Eight, which is not a huge omission, especially since it's been replaced with two great singles, "You Never Can Tell" and "Promised Land." "My Ding-A-Ling" is also here and, while it is a worse song than "Bye Bye Johnny," it was Chuck's only number one single, so its inclusion makes sense -- and it hardly sinks a collection that is by far the best, most comprehensive single-disc Chuck Berry set yet assembled. Sure, there are some great Berry songs that are absent, but all the major songs are here; plus, if you need more than 30 songs, turn to either Gold or The Chess Box. If you want a single-disc best-of collection of all of Chuck's finest, this is the one to get. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
T**R
Love it
Love it
E**L
My aunt loves Chuck Berry
Perfect
S**Y
He’s the greatest
I’m from Chuck Berry’s era. Wonderful music, rhythm, and guitar playing. And so glad the cd has two photos of him doing that famous duck walk.
D**Z
Good compilations!
A quality recordings.
B**B
This is all you'll ever need.
For a quick history of rock and roll this is all you'll ever need for Chuck Berry. It has all the hits in chronological order. Twenty-six of the songs are absolute classics!! A few b sides are included but the one song that everyone remembers is the one you need the least and that's his 1970's live raunchy sing-a-long My Ding-a-ling. But forget that--- the real classics are here.
T**M
Chuck Berry - The Definitive Collection
I agree with the other reviews in that this CD replaces The Great 28, because it has basically the same song selection with some added tracks. The Promised Land is a great addition. The only one left out from the 28 album is Bye Bye Johnny, which was always my least liked song from that album so honestly I don't miss it on the Definitive Collection. My only gripe with this CD is the lack of sound quality on some tracks, and I think that's due to degradation on the master tapes from "remastering" Chuck's Chess recordings so many times. By far the most obvious master tape damage can be heard after the guitar solo in Maybellene. It sounds like the tape was badly stretched for several seconds. This is not evident on The Great 28 album (not on my LP copy, CH 8201. I haven't listened to my cassette copy for a long time but my guess is it's not there either). I prefer to blast Chuck's music loud on vinyl but this CD is great for the car. Hopefully the Chess master tapes can last many more years to come, but at this rate it isn't looking good.
G**N
Timeless rock music by Chuck Berry
I bought this CD with Chuck Berry when I discovered that one which I had brought with me from Denmark suddenly started to behave with not constant having the correct rotating speed, even though I could not find any failure on the disc. And when I then went into Chiang Mai, for buying a new one, I found that here in Thailand, it looks like they don't have the slightest idea about who Chuck Berry is, so I had to go to Amazon for the searching.I especially like the rock music, as I most of all like to dance the Jitterbug (as number 2, the Tango). But besides I prefer the rock music numbers where we also are having a good singing, and where we can hear what actual are being told in the song. And these numbers by Chuck Berry are fulfilling all what I want, as they are excellent bout when it comes to Chuck Berry using his guitar, his singing, and the stories in the songs. Of course the rest in the group also are good.
T**N
Great Chuck Berry Anthology
As long as Chuck Berry as been around, you know that there will always be multiple greatest hits collections released, and people will always argue over which one is best. I haven't heard of these collections, so I can't or won't even try to venture as to which one is best or most complete, but I can say that this collection is 99% percent complete of the songs that the great Mr. Berry had as hit singles, with the exception of "Run, Run Rudolph," which should be included in any Berry anthology.But "Johnny B. Goode" is here. And so is "Maybelline," "Roll Over Beethoven," "Rock and Roll Music," "No Particular Place To Go," "School Day," "Memphis, Tennessee," "Thirty Days," and yes, "My Ding-A-Ling," which should be included for completeness, even if it's far from being the favorite of most Berry fans.This is a wonderful collection, and comparisons are fine to make, so please check out the others and make your case for which one is best. For this reviewer, this one is just fine.
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2 months ago
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