Gold: Chuck Berry

This 50-track greatest-hits set from one of the founders of rock ’n’ roll deserves to be in every serious music fan’s collection. It's the same exact track listing as the earlier collection The Anthology and features all 28 songs that appear on the exemplary The Great Twenty-Eight collection. So for fans who want to go beyond Berry's essential hits but prefer not to venture as deep as The Chess Box or the various “complete" anthologies of different eras, this is a great spot to rest one’s head. Berry wrote the book on early rock, including every guitar player’s arsenal of riffs (Keith Richards invented his own style only after mastering Chuck’s). His literate standards like “Roll Over Beethoven,” “Rock ’n’ Roll Music,” and “Johnny B. Goode” fattened up every bar band’s repertoire for decades (and counting). The addition of non-hits such as “Too Pooped to Pop,” “Jaguar and Thunderbird,” “Dear Dad,” and “Tulane” give this set depth beyond the obvious.