Chuck Berry Is On Top

From his ringing guitar licks and casual vocal demeanor to his brisk, observant lyrics brought home by the driving beat, Chuck Berry defined 1950’s rock n’ roll and beyond. The Beatles, Rolling Stones, T. Rex, Sex Pistols, Replacements and onward — the man’s influence is incalculable. This 1959 album, a collection of singles and unused studio cuts (albums were little more than just that throughout the ‘50s) presents a solid, cursory look at the Berry approach. His signature guitar riffs are accounted for (“Maybellene,” “Johnny B. Goode”), and his lyrical acumen is dead on (“Almost Grown”). The Rolling Stones covered a handful of the tracks here, while other British Invasion groups of the time also borrowed heavily from this collection. “Roll Over Beethoven” and “Johnny B. Goode” stand as definitive rock n’ roll anthems. Berry experiments on the Hawaiian steel guitar instrumental “Blues for Hawaiians” and the south of the border novelty “Hey Pedro.” The rest is textbook rock n’ roll played by the master who started it all.