Qobuz Store wallpaper
Categories:
Cart 0

Your cart is empty

Chuck Berry|Chuck Berry's Golden Hits (1967 Version)

Chuck Berry's Golden Hits (1967 Version)

Chuck Berry

Available in
16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo

Unlimited Streaming

Listen to this album in high quality now on our apps

Start my trial period and start listening to this album

Enjoy this album on Qobuz apps with your subscription

Subscribe

Enjoy this album on Qobuz apps with your subscription

Digital Download

Purchase and download this album in a wide variety of formats depending on your needs.

Anyone spotting this album beware. It is not a compilation of hits, but consists of all-"new" (mid-'60s) recordings by Chuck Berry of his classic Chess hits for his then-new label, Mercury, with one new song added. The re-recordings wouldn't be a problem, except that Berry and whoever produced this record decided to update his sound, not only mixing it in stereo but also replacing the upright bass on the original hits with much flashier electric bass (played by Forrest Frierson) that screws up the solid rhythm section that's essential for any of this material to work. The addition of a saxophone, courtesy of Carey Enlow, is only a distraction on "Rock & Roll Music," and Berry's efforts at embellishing the lead guitar parts on "Memphis," "Maybellene" (where Johnnie Johnson makes the regrettable decision to play an organ), "Around and Around," and "Roll Over Beethoven" add nothing to the originals and are often downright annoying. "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" almost works in its more laid-back incarnation here, until the band seems to let the beat go completely for a moment. "School Days" also sort of works as a studio recording of the way he was doing it on-stage, and "Reelin' and Rockin'" is the one track that's 100-percent what it should be, dirtier than the Chess original and the one place where, stylistically, Berry transcends his original work. In one instance, "Back in the U.S.A.," he would have had another passable track but for his gratuitous addition of lots of unenthusiastic "yeah yeah yeah yeah"s between the verses. And based on nearly half the tracks here, one might also add that Berry even seems on this record to have lost any knack for knowing how to end a song. Finally, the one new composition, "Club Nitty Gritty," doesn't measure up to the least of the classics alongside which it appears, and whatever worth the album might've had is compromised by the stereo mastering, the excessively clean sound, and the echo that drenches Berry's voice. Except for the implicitly salacious "Reelin' and Rockin'" (which would sound dirty even if sung by a choir of nuns), nothing here approaches the in-your-face raunchiness of Berry's classic Chess sides. Golden Hits was a lousy inaugural effort for his new label.

© Bruce Eder /TiVo

More info

Chuck Berry's Golden Hits (1967 Version)

Chuck Berry

launch qobuz app I already downloaded Qobuz for Windows / MacOS Open

download qobuz app I have not downloaded Qobuz for Windows / MacOS yet Download the Qobuz app

You are currently listening to samples.

Listen to over 100 million songs with an unlimited streaming plan.

Listen to this playlist and more than 100 million songs with our unlimited streaming plans.

From £10.83/month

1
Sweet Little Sixteen (1967 Version)
00:02:13

Chuck Berry, Producer, Recording Engineer, Mix Engineer, MainArtist, StudioPersonnel, ComposerLyricist

℗ 1967 UMG Recordings, Inc.

2
Memphis (1967 Version)
00:02:07

Chuck Berry, Producer, Recording Engineer, Mix Engineer, MainArtist, StudioPersonnel, ComposerLyricist

℗ 1967 UMG Recordings, Inc.

3
School Days (1967 Version)
00:02:34

Chuck Berry, Producer, Recording Engineer, Mix Engineer, MainArtist, StudioPersonnel, ComposerLyricist

℗ 1967 UMG Recordings, Inc.

4
Maybellene (1967 Version)
00:02:35

Alan Freed, ComposerLyricist - Chuck Berry, Producer, Recording Engineer, Mix Engineer, MainArtist, StudioPersonnel, ComposerLyricist - Russel D. Fratto, ComposerLyricist

℗ 1967 UMG Recordings, Inc.

5
Back In The U.S.A. (1967 Version)
00:02:28

Chuck Berry, Producer, Recording Engineer, Mix Engineer, MainArtist, StudioPersonnel, ComposerLyricist

℗ 1967 UMG Recordings, Inc.

6
Around And Around (1967 Version)
00:02:18

Chuck Berry, Producer, Recording Engineer, Mix Engineer, MainArtist, StudioPersonnel, ComposerLyricist

℗ 1967 UMG Recordings, Inc.

7
Brown Eyed Handsome Man (1967 Version)
00:02:20

Chuck Berry, Producer, Recording Engineer, Mix Engineer, MainArtist, StudioPersonnel, ComposerLyricist

℗ 1967 UMG Recordings, Inc.

8
Johnny B. Goode (1967 Version)
00:02:43

Chuck Berry, Producer, Recording Engineer, Mix Engineer, MainArtist, StudioPersonnel, ComposerLyricist

℗ 1967 UMG Recordings, Inc.

9
Rock And Roll Music (1967 Version)
00:02:31

Chuck Berry, Producer, Recording Engineer, Mix Engineer, MainArtist, StudioPersonnel, ComposerLyricist

℗ 1967 UMG Recordings, Inc.

10
Roll Over Beethoven (1967 Version)
00:02:00

Chuck Berry, Producer, Recording Engineer, Mix Engineer, MainArtist, StudioPersonnel, ComposerLyricist

℗ 1967 UMG Recordings, Inc.

11
Thirty Days (1967 Version)
00:02:11

Chuck Berry, Producer, Recording Engineer, Mix Engineer, MainArtist, StudioPersonnel, ComposerLyricist

℗ 1967 UMG Recordings, Inc.

12
Carol (1967 Version)
00:02:22

Chuck Berry, Producer, Recording Engineer, Mix Engineer, MainArtist, StudioPersonnel, ComposerLyricist

℗ 1967 UMG Recordings, Inc.

13
Let It Rock (1967 Version)
00:01:53

Chuck Berry, Producer, Recording Engineer, Mix Engineer, MainArtist, StudioPersonnel, ComposerLyricist

℗ 1967 UMG Recordings, Inc.

14
Reelin' And Rockin' (1967 Version)
00:04:15

Chuck Berry, Producer, Recording Engineer, Mix Engineer, MainArtist, StudioPersonnel, ComposerLyricist

℗ 1967 UMG Recordings, Inc.

15
Club Nitty Gritty (1967 Version)
00:02:16

Chuck Berry, Producer, Recording Engineer, Mix Engineer, MainArtist, StudioPersonnel, ComposerLyricist

℗ 1967 UMG Recordings, Inc.

Album review

Anyone spotting this album beware. It is not a compilation of hits, but consists of all-"new" (mid-'60s) recordings by Chuck Berry of his classic Chess hits for his then-new label, Mercury, with one new song added. The re-recordings wouldn't be a problem, except that Berry and whoever produced this record decided to update his sound, not only mixing it in stereo but also replacing the upright bass on the original hits with much flashier electric bass (played by Forrest Frierson) that screws up the solid rhythm section that's essential for any of this material to work. The addition of a saxophone, courtesy of Carey Enlow, is only a distraction on "Rock & Roll Music," and Berry's efforts at embellishing the lead guitar parts on "Memphis," "Maybellene" (where Johnnie Johnson makes the regrettable decision to play an organ), "Around and Around," and "Roll Over Beethoven" add nothing to the originals and are often downright annoying. "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" almost works in its more laid-back incarnation here, until the band seems to let the beat go completely for a moment. "School Days" also sort of works as a studio recording of the way he was doing it on-stage, and "Reelin' and Rockin'" is the one track that's 100-percent what it should be, dirtier than the Chess original and the one place where, stylistically, Berry transcends his original work. In one instance, "Back in the U.S.A.," he would have had another passable track but for his gratuitous addition of lots of unenthusiastic "yeah yeah yeah yeah"s between the verses. And based on nearly half the tracks here, one might also add that Berry even seems on this record to have lost any knack for knowing how to end a song. Finally, the one new composition, "Club Nitty Gritty," doesn't measure up to the least of the classics alongside which it appears, and whatever worth the album might've had is compromised by the stereo mastering, the excessively clean sound, and the echo that drenches Berry's voice. Except for the implicitly salacious "Reelin' and Rockin'" (which would sound dirty even if sung by a choir of nuns), nothing here approaches the in-your-face raunchiness of Berry's classic Chess sides. Golden Hits was a lousy inaugural effort for his new label.

© Bruce Eder /TiVo

About the album

Improve album information

Qobuz logo Why buy on Qobuz...

On sale now...

Keep Your Courage

Natalie Merchant

Keep Your Courage Natalie Merchant

The Köln Concert (Live at the Opera, Köln, 1975)

Keith Jarrett

You're the One

Rhiannon Giddens

You're the One Rhiannon Giddens

Owl Song

Ambrose Akinmusire

Owl Song Ambrose Akinmusire
More on Qobuz
By Chuck Berry

CHUCK BERRY INTEGRAL 1955 - 1962

Chuck Berry

The Definitive Collection

Chuck Berry

The Chess Box

Chuck Berry

The Chess Box Chuck Berry

BD Music Presents Chuck Berry

Chuck Berry

Chuck Berry's Greatest Hits

Chuck Berry

Playlists

You may also like...

Band On The Run

Paul McCartney

Band On The Run Paul McCartney

i/o

Peter Gabriel

i/o Peter Gabriel

Money For Nothing

Dire Straits

Money For Nothing Dire Straits

Rumours

Fleetwood Mac

Rumours Fleetwood Mac

Now And Then

The Beatles

Now And Then The Beatles