RIP Chuck Berry, 1926-2017

Something very strange: I don't recall seeing this reported in the news, so I had no clue. Second, I thought the man had already passed a couple of years ago. If I hadn't scrolled down the "New Posts", I never would have seen this thread!

 

It had to have gotten at least a passing mention on your local/national news, but considering his age and lack of relevancy in today's music I imagine it didn't get a long segment so I'm not too surprised someone would miss it.

 

I caught it trending on Twitter (the top trend) and on the news in the breakroom at my job.

 

Missed this but right after Chuck died, Van Morrison did some Chuck Berry numbers as a tribute.

 

No, James Brown and the Famous Flames blew everyone out of the ball park at that show. Brian probably ran home to Murry after seeing them do their thing...

 

Been listening to Ace's compilation of Chuck Berry's blues recordings: Chuck Berry - On The Blues Side

A better collection (and a better sounding disc) than the Blues compilation put out later by Universal Music. The old Rolling Stone reviews and the album guide from the Dave Marsh era used to dump on his non-rock hits. To be fair, they're greatly overshadowed when heard next to his famous classics, but in this context, they sound great. It's a beautiful album that really highlights a lesser-known and underappreciated side of Chuck Berry.

I got it because of Greil Marcus, who wrote this in his column after Berry's death:
How Chuck Berry Could Leave You Wanting More | Pitchfork



10. Chuck Berry, “The Things I Used to Do” (YouTube) It was 1965. He was two years out of federal prison, where he’d been sent in 1962 for a racially-targeted Mann Act conviction, now appearing in a Belgian television studio surrounded by a large circle of young teenagers, the girls in dresses, the boys in coats and ties, who look as if they’ve been dragged there on a field trip. There’s a pick-up band of local musicians: a white-haired pianist, a goateed bass fiddle player, a drummer, and a rhythm guitarist, all of whom seem a nervous and full of pride over the chance to play with this man. The pianist hits the first of a series of trilling high notes he will follow throughout the performance and Chuck Berry, lithe, taking small, cat-like movements, impossibly handsome, with a large, loose pompadour, bends slightly into a crouch for Guitar Slim’s already classic 1953 tragic New Orleans blues.

He tracked the song, looking not at the bored students, not exactly at the moving camera in the center of the circle, but to the woman in the song, who he knows is “out with your other man.” “I used to search all night for you, baby/But my search/Would always end in vain”: he looks her straight in the eye, not with anger, scorn, or pain, but with something just short of a wink, saying that he knows she knows he’s done the same.

Not the curl of a note or a word is rushed. A flurry in the rhythm rises up and disappears. Guitar Slim had a harsh, angular tone on his guitar, creating a sense of drama he couldn’t quite sustain. With a quieter, more specific feeling in every musical or verbal phrase, Berry seemed to slow the song down from the inside. He let the listener all the way into the song, and then, when it ended, left the musicians, the woman in the song, you watching now, days after his death, maybe even himself, wanting more.

 

Brilliant. Thanks for posting this!

 

@C6H12O6 I made a cdr that combined the track listings of On the Blues Side and Blues and added a couple of additional blues tracks. It is a cool cdr. There is quite a bit of overlap between the track listings on On The Blues Side and Blues.

 

After watching "Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll", I figured Chuck was too ornery to ever die. At the very least, I expect he would give St. Peter a migraine over the details of his place in the Pantheon and the Grim Reaper may well have resigned his position.

 

His take on St. Louis Blues is pretty cool, and it's not often anthologized.

On the Blues Side is a bit slower and quieter overall, and this is probably the kind of stuff Chuck would play for himself, especially when he's not in front of an audience.

 

Good points. People pick up on those things in someone's personality, and let's be honest, Chuck didn't like, or trust White people or White culture, especially after going to jail, and he really made no effort to sugarcoat it either. But his attitude of 'but ill take your money Whitey' was troublesome also, anyone could see his contempt for his audience, but he'd still take their money. These things do not a pop icon make. He even gave Keith Richards s#it, with an attitude of ' you don't deserve to be on the same stage as me'. No musician respect whatsoever, just contempt for a guy who worshipped the ground you walk on.......
Racism is an ugly thing indeed.
Beave