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Chuck Berry - St. Louis To Liverpool (2003)

Track listing:
  1. Little Marie 2:33
  2. Our Little Rendezvous 1:58
  3. No Particular Place To Go 2:41
  4. You Two 2:07
  5. Promise Land 2:21
  6. You Never Can Tell 2:39
  7. Go Bobby Soxer 2:56
  8. Things I Used To Do 2:39
  9. Liverpool Drive 2:52
  10. Night Beat 2:42
  11. Merry Christmas Baby 3:11
  12. Brenda Lee 2:12
  13. Fraulein 2:50
  14. The Little Girl From Central 2:39

Notes

Chuck Berry's first post-prison album, and his first real album of 1960s material, not only picks up where his 1950s career left off, but is better than some of the LPs that he was generating when his career was interrupted. In addition to four then-recently charting singles — led by "Little Marie," (his sequel to "Memphis"), these included "Promised Land," "No Particular Place to Go," and "You Never Can Tell," all configured musically as classic Berry rockers with direct yet highly sophisticated lyrics. It was all like the old days, with a top studio band (including Johnnie Johnson on piano for some tracks) in place, and even bassist Willie Dixon (making a last stand on upright bass) present. The new songs were interspersed with some perfectly chosen vintage songs, among them "Our Rendezvous," "Night Beat," (the latter a slow, bluesy instrumental that had first seen the light of day in 1958), and the classic "Merry Christmas Baby." It was all an auspicious comeback, selling well enough to keep audiences taking Berry seriously and, coupled with then-recent hits (including the extraordinary "Nadine"), helped keep Berry a hot enough property going into the mid-'60s that Mercury Records ended up successfully bidding for his services. The 2004 reissue boasts state-of-the-art fidelity on all of those songs, plus three bonus tracks: a previously overlooked B-side instrumental "O'Rangutang" (a superb guitar and sax workout), the previously unissued "Fraulein," which featured Berry working successfully in a seductive ballad mode while not shorting the fans of his guitar playing; and the "Sweet Little Sixteen" follow-up/rewrite "The Little Girl From Central," all provided along with fresh annotation by Bud Scoppa.