Released October 1972 (1972-10) Length 44:08 The London Chuck Berry Sessions(1972) Bio(1973) Release date October 1972 | Recorded 1972 | |
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Songs I Will Not Let You Go, My Ding-A-Ling Similar San Francisco Dues, Chuck Berry in London, From St Louie to Frisco, New Juke Box Hits, Concerto in B Goode | ||
Chuck berry carol bbc theater london may 1972
The London Chuck Berry Sessions is an album of studio recordings and live recordings by Chuck Berry, released by Chess Records in October 1972. 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. 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, can take the stage; the crowd begins chanting "We want Chuck!"
Contents
- Chuck berry carol bbc theater london may 1972
- Background
- Critical reception
- Commercial performance
- Track listing
- Personnel
- References
"My Ding-a-Ling", from the live side of the album, was edited to approximately 4 minutes for release as a single. 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 traveled to Olympic Sound Studios in London, England, to record songs for The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions. The album was released in August 1971 and peaked at number 28 on Billboard magazine's R&B Albums chart and number 79 on the Billboard 200. Because of Wolf's success, Muddy Waters recorded his own London Sessions album in December 1971, and Berry did the same in 1972.
Critical reception
William Ruhlmann of Allmusic called the album Chuck Berry's "commercial, if not artistic, peak". Robert Christgau 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 with sales of 1,000,000 units. It is Berry's only album to be certified by the RIAA.
Track listing
All songs written by Chuck Berry except as noted
Side one (studio recordings)
- "Let's Boogie" (3:10)
- "Mean Old World" (Little Walter) (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'" (7:07)
- "My Ding-a-Ling" (Dave Bartholomew) (11:33)
- "Johnny B. Goode" (4:23)
The release on cassette exchanged "I Love You" and "Johnny B. Goode" 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
According to sleeve notes