Rock & Roll Music! The Songs of Chuck Berry

Liner Note Author: Tony Rounce.
It's no secret that Chuck Berry's songs are rock & roll standards, covered by more musicians than can be counted. That poses something of a problem for Ace's Rock & Roll Music! The Songs of Chuck Berry, a 2017 entry in their ongoing Songbook series. Where other collections in this line provide some kind of revelation about the composer, these songs are so well-known through their constant covers that having 24 songs collected on one disc doesn't stand as a testament to the composer; anybody paying attention to rock & roll music knows that Chuck Berry was a formidable writer. The sly revelation of Rock & Roll Music! The Songs of Chuck Berry is that his songs are malleable -- they don't need to be performed as hypercharged boogie; they can be slowed down and stretched out, twisted into different styles. To be sure, there is a fair amount of hard-driving rock here -- the Count Bishops tear through "Beautiful Delilah," MC5 rev up "Back in the USA" -- but the songs that catch the ear take a different tactic. Don Covay performs "Memphis" as ska, Ian Gomm turns "Come On" into soft rock reggae, Marty Robbins reveals the hillbilly roots of "Maybellene" just like how Ken Coyler's Skiffle Group treats "Down Bound Train" as folk, Jay & the Americans recast "Johnny B. Goode" as ornate Hollywood pop, and John Hammond treats "No Money Down" as a talking blues. All these entries keep the collection hopping as it bounces through more faithful renditions of standards (the Swinging Blue Jeans' "Around and Around," Dave Edmunds' "The Promised Land") and sly reinterpretations (Elvis Presley taking a cue from Jerry Reed on "Too Much Monkey Business," Dwight Yoakam twanging up "Run Run Rudolph"), and make this a dynamite listen (even including the presence of the Beach Boys' "Rock and Roll Music"). ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine