e Cgr^a;eCAairu A DYNA['4II AND INNOVATIVE SOPHOMORE OUTING, OR MERELY A ILUIIH OF PEDE$RIAN FILLERS WITH A FEW HIIS TACKED ON? JEREIIIY ISAAC DEBATES THE lvlERITS OF CHUCK BERRY'S CONTROVERSIAL AND t\,lULII-INFLUENCED SECOND ALBUt\4 ythe end of1957 So where to next? Running off a string repeat the process. Ebby Hardy (a Sir Chuck Berry had of catchy singles thick and fast between John Trio original) and former Aces tub- become a rock and impossible tour dates was one thing, thumper Fred Below shared drumming roll star. Having come but the traditionally difficult second duties, future blues legend Willie Dixon, from obscuritv in album could present a bigger challenge. a Chess recording artist since 1948, was a 1955 as a member of However. the forward-thinkin g Berry stonking upright bass player. and Johnnie Johnnie Johnson's and his producers, brorhers Phil and Johnson, founder ofthe Sir John Trio, Sir John Trio, of which he soon became Leonard Chess, didn't even blink, as work would provide inimitable jazz and blues leader. by September of '57 Berry on a flollow-up. eventually to be called piano. Newcomers included Chess regular had scored no less than a dozen hit One Dozen Berrys, had begun as early as Lafayette Leake, who spelled Johnson on singles, appeared in two movies (Rock, January 1957. piano, and Howlin'Wolf axeman Hubert Rock, Rock! and Mister RockAndRoll, Comprising l2 Berry originals Sumlin on electric guitar. starring DJ Alan Freed) and released spanninga broad range ofrock and roll, Session information is too n po*"rfrll debut album,A/t er School blues. ballads, instrumerttals and even contradictory or incomplete to know Session. Only the second album ever to calypso, A/ter School Session had struck which musicians played on which tracks. be released on the Chess Records label, a perfect balance, boasting a second For instance, in places Johnson gets a After School Session boasted three ofthe winning formula with its line-up of shared general credit with Leake, but aforementioned hit singles and a cool musicians, specifically the keyboard and elsewhere is listed only on two or three sleeve photo, and it helped transform rhythm section, who brought what had tunes. The same goes for Hardy, whose the voung guirar player into a mrjor become known as the Chess Records general credit is contradicted by data figurehead in the newly-established rock backbeat sound to Chuck's impressive suggesting he may only have played on and roll mainstream. debur. There seemed no reason not to tunes that didn't make the final cut, + BO TINT,{CI NOII SPIIIAI (HUCK BERRY except irs bonus tracks on later reissues. Hou ever. Johr-rson ar-rd Hard1, are knou,rt ,-i: ,r\n3-term Berry band members and .-'. ::''r-.:rt,le tl-ret thev macie a major : :::i,iLr:ion to tl-re recordings. D:ri.: tor the .ttr.'iio sessions lre also harr'l to pin dou'n. as sources cliffer. ri:!i.!.r Tlrere is certainq' about Blue Feeling/ Low Feeling and La Juanda (Espanola), which were recorded on Januarl, 2l 1957. Sinri1arl1,, It Dotl't Take Bttt A Fe.u.t Minutes is listed as beir-rg laid dou.n or.r February 28, i958. The remaining tracks are not so certirin: Oh Baby Doll and Rocli Dates for the sessions are hard And RolI Mttsic were cut on either 6 or 15 May i95Z while dates rar.rging from 29 to pin downas sources differ and 30 December 1957 to Februarl, 1958 are offered for the numbers Sweet Littlc Sixteen, Rockin' At The Philharmonic, up to seven months before the irlbum's moocl, pacing ar-rcl ultimate impact. One Gtitar B oogie, Reelin' And Rockin', In- Go release, ancl other tunes beir-rg recorded Dozen Berries opens rvith Cl-mck's r-t-rost arrd How You've Clnnged. up to 14 months earlier, it seems un1ikel1, recent hit, Sweet Little Slxfeen, u,hich was What seen-rs clear frorn this cliverse that such a concept u,as in place much releasecl in Januirrl, 1958, just tu.o uronths range of session dates is that there couicl before the album's release in March I958. before the album u.as unveiled, reaching not have been an original'concept' for Hou,ever, it is also clear from the finished #2 on the Billhoard Hot loo. The song One Dozen Berrys, rvherebl, certain tracks product that Chuck and tl-re Chess starts on a catchy guitar intro that leads were specifically recorded for the album brothers felt somcthir.rg slightly more into a steadl,, mid-paced rh-vthm featuring - or if there \vas one, it rvas simplr. the sophisticatecl rvas requiled, son-rething some casually delivered drum changes sirme baianced formula for-rnd on A,fter that retained the roots-v lock ser-rsibilities bchind soi itl boogie-st1'lc pirrto. School Sesslons, of multi-ir.rfl uencecl of Sessions, but u4.rich also took the music Berrlr got the idea for the song from Berry ollgi1r1s hung on three sn.rash-hit to a mellorv, more esotet'ic level through a an autograph-huntir.rg female fan he had singles, u.hose success suggested a repeat further diversitv of sr,vlings. seen backstage at a sholv at tl-re Ottau,a performance ',vould be a g'ood idea. After Tl-re order and jllxtirirosititttr of the Coliseurn ir-r Canadir. The sor-rg's l.vrics, all, rvith three tracks appearing as singles 12 tracks rvould bc crucirl to tl.re albuu's about a popular but ordinari, teenage B2 YINTAGXRO[[SPICIAI tHUtK BERRY heald on the B-side of the hit single Rock The And Roll Muslc, released in September first offour 1957 After a feu, slippery opening guitar instrumentals, passages, the piano cuts in with some Rockin'At The frantic, swirling runs reminiscent of blues Philharmonic gr eat Memphis S1im, before hancling back features a to Chuck's fussy and at times grating relentless shuffling guitar licks. As a blues workout B/ue brush rh),thm "s f'eelingmay be somewhat routine, and it's and Willie Dixon's F^fr rr- definitely the piano that is the star here; slapback upright bass to nevertheless, it demonstrates perfectly underpin some jazzy guitar Berry's understar-rding and mastery of licks from Berry. Having spent traditionrl blues. the opening passages lending L. originalll, released on the flip of underlying rhphmic support, the single Oh Baby Do11 ir.r June 1957, La piano sudclenly takes off ha1fu,ay through, P Juanda (Espanola) is tl-re album's first incorporating wi1d, discordant higl-r notes departure from more traditional black into the increasingly frenetic keyboard music into some of the diverse genres that runs while Chuck inserts some craltry comprised Berry's influences, in this case licks in between times. Things then the rumba sound of Latin music. Sung in quieten down briefly before the guitar both Englislr and Spanish to an acoustic returns and the tivo duelling instruments guitar accompaniment, and featuring an fight it out to a ragged close. appealing chorus rvith su,eet harmonies OhBaby Dollwas Berry's ninth single, and a clever lyrical twist at the end, it's and the earliest of the three included a gentle if whimsical love story about a here, havingbeen released in June smooth-talking guy and his attempts to 1957 and reached #57 onthe charts. steal a kiss from a 1,61ng 5enorita who Opening with a short guitar introduction speaks no English. renriniscent ofhis earlier hitSchool + girl with "about a half a million framed autographs". have what is now corrsidered typical Berry teen appeal: "She's got the grown up blues/ Tight dresses and lipstick/ Shc's sportin' high heel shoes/ Oh. but tomorrow morrring/ She'll have t. One to change her trend/ And be slr,eet i most .ixreen/ And brck irr clrss again". At rhe hich was scme tinrc, a selies of widely scattered r months geographical name clrecks ( Boston. :aching Pittsburgh. Texas, San Fruncisco. Sr Louis. sonEl \ew Orleans, Philadelphia) coupled with Lt leads references to Dick Clark's nationally leaturing broadcrst TV show American Bandstand anges on wlrich Berry had appeered the previous November) hailed rock ard roll's rg from univelsrl suprelnrcy r he l-rad Blue Feeling is a slow blues of the )tta\ /a kind that Berry thought would impress :: 1.vrics, the Chess brothers when he brought his e nage first dernos to them, ancl had already been ..."*[email protected] IHUIK BERRY YIIllT,{ffi NOCI iPXEAI, 83 Days from the prer-ious .\larch, t1-re song n,orn glritar passages from Sureer lrttle picks trp the lelentless bcat ol XlLty,belline, Sr-rteen and Jolinn.y -B Goode {licking in his debut chart sr.nash from 1955, ancl out of :r rhr.thm trirck that could t'eatr-rrirg uncler-statecl piano ke1's in the have been lifted flom Too Muclt Monliey backgrounci and gir.ing ura\. to t\\() o\.er- Business. As the belting rhl.thm section amplifiecl gr-rit:rr brcaks, the first picked ti-rr-rnders au.:1). to the accompanimcnt ancl stuttering, the second morc gratirrg of somc r.r.e11-placed piano, the grincling br-rt, disappointinglv-, shorter, :rnc1 facling guitar chorcls sir.e u.av to :r scries of short, olrt at thc cnd of the recorcl. Again, tl-ris innovatir.e ancl or.er-irnrpecl br-rt clelicatcl-v sh ou,c irsecl Bcrrr,'s abilit1, to pla1. er,rt.t" cleliverecl {i11s.