Does Chuck Berry's "Great 28" Cover ALL The Greats?

I think you really need at least a 2 cd set for Chuck Berry in my opinion. Gold AKA Anthology is a good domestic 2 cd set.

 

Here is my suggestion for a 2 cd Chuck Berry Set.



This is also a good 2 cd set from Universal and has more tracks than Anthology and also includes a few highlights from his Mercury years and can be had for around $5-6. Pretty good price for a 2 cd set.

Disc: 1
1. Guitar Boogie
2. Johnny B. Goode
3. Bye Bye Johnny
4. Go Go Go
5. Bio
6. Maybellene
7. You Can't Catch Me
8. Beautiful Delilah
9. School Days
10. I'm Talking About You
11. I Got To Find My Baby
12. Memphis Tennessee
13. No Money Down
14. Jaguar And Thunderbird
15. Down The Road Apiece
16. Run Rudolph Run
17. I Want To Be Your Driver
18. Promised Land
19. Back In The U.S.A.
20. Thirty Days
21. Havana Moon
22. Rock And Roll Music
23. Too Pooped To Pop
24. Come On
25. Viva Viva Rock 'N' Roll
26. I'm A Rocker
27. Back To Memphis
28. Check Me Out
29. Deep Feeling

Disc: 2
1. Liverpool Drive
2. Roll Over Beethoven
3. Let It Rock
4. Sweet Little Sixteen
5. Nadine
6. It Wasn't Me
7. Confessin' The Blues
8. Too Much Monkey Business
9. Around And Around
10. Almost Grown
11. Brown Eyed Handsome Man
12. You Never Can Tell
13. Wee Wee Hours
14. Little Marie
15. Little Queenie
16. Carol
17. Oh Baby Doll
18. Jo Jo Gunne
19. No Particular Place To Go
20. Dear Dad
21. Sweet Little Rock And Roller
22. Ramona Say Yes
23. Tulane
24. Festival
25. Flying Home
26. Reelin' And Rockin'
27. My Ding-A-Ling

 

I bought "The Great Twenty-Eight" in the early 80s when I was in high school and remember being surprised at the omission of "You Never Can Tell" since I was still hearing it get regular airplay on oldies stations in the L.A. area at the time.

 

I definitely agree, but I also think the "first tier" essentials are generally obvious to spot for a single disc.

 

The problem is that you can't fit all of the charting singles on one cd.

 

Not ALL, but it's a decent single disc compilation. I like the collection "On The Blues Side" that came out on Ace back in the 90s. Those were my go-to Chuck Berry discs.

 

It's definitely the strangest omission, and the one I'd take, If you could only choose one track to add onto the album. How many people immediately think of the legendary diner scene from Pulp Fiction when they hear it?

 

Yeah, true. What tracks would you personally add to fill the extra 10 minutes of space on the CD?

 

Promised Land
Run Rudolph Run
You Never Can Tell

If I could add another it would probably be Little Marie, Dear Dad, No Money Down or Down The Road Apiece

 

Yeah, same here. Would you consider "Wee Wee Hours" and "No Money Down" as "first tier" tracks? I'm trying to make the perfect single disc overview for my pops!

 

No Money Down is also a good one.

 

I love the Muddy Waters blues harmonica influence in the piano work. It's like Chuck's tribute to "Manish Boy" and "Hoochie Coochie Man".

 

For a 4th bonus track I would probably go with No Money Down or Little Marie.

 

Ignore the first 1:40 of weirdness
and Chuck doesn't have it quite right but this is stupendous:

Understand Each Other [ Rehearsal ] - Vìdeo Dailymotion »

 

Do you think "Oh Baby Doll" and "Bye Bye Johnny" deserve to be in the 28? They sound like "2nd tier" tracks to me.

 

Personally, I like Bye Bye Johnny. Oh Baby Doll is good but I like the tracks that I suggested adding better.

 

I'm with ya. And yeah, "Bye Bye Johnny" is a good track, but it cries out rehash.
I do like those songs where he makes references to past songs though!

 

His cover of "Merry Christmas Baby" is one of my favorites, it's essentially the Charles Brown arrangement but it's damn tasty.

I would definitely consider No Money Down to be be top tier. In fact, I would gladly trade a couple of the teeny-bopper tracks for the bluesier numbers.

 

I guess part of it depends on whether you would rather include charting hits or tracks that are well-known and often also covered by other artists.

 

I could care less about charting hits, I want what I consider definitively good Chuck Berry tracks. Some are hits...some aren't.

 

However, Mike is compiling the disc for his father. My guess is he would want to include tracks his father might have heard on the radio when he was younger rather than Mike's own personal favorites. In my opinion, his choices might be a little different if he is compiling it for himself rather than his father.

 

Gotcha. I missed that aspect.

 

Very true, but this compilation is actually becoming the perfect overview for myself too!

 

Ditto, and I'm shocked they're not on there. I was all set to argue in favor of "Nadine," too, but I see that is included.

 

I've never been crazy about the sound of The Great 28 LP.My early Chess greatest hits LPs sound much better to my ear.