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Chuck Berry - The Definitive Collection (2005 remaster)

Track listing:
  1. Maybellene 2:21
  2. Thirty Days 2:25
  3. You Cant Catch Me 2:44
  4. Too Much Monkey Business 2:55
  5. Roll Over Beethoven 2:23
  6. Brown Eyed Handsome Man 2:18
  7. Havana Moon 3:08
  8. School Day 2:42
  9. Rock And Roll Music 2:32
  10. Oh Baby Dell 2:38
  11. Reelin' And Rockin' 3:16
  12. Sweet Little Sixteen 3:02
  13. Johnny B Goode 2:41
  14. Around And Around 2:40
  15. Beautiful Delilah 2:10
  16. Carol 2:49
  17. Memphis Tennessee 2:14
  18. Sweet Little Rock And Roller 2:22
  19. Little Queenie 2:42
  20. Almost Grown 2:21
  21. Back In The USA 2:28
  22. Let It Rock 1:48
  23. Im Talking About You 1:51
  24. Come On 1:50
  25. Nadine (Is It You) 2:35
  26. You Never Can Tell 2:43
  27. Promised Land 2:24
  28. No Particular Place To Go 2:44
  29. I Want To Be Your Driver 2:15
  30. My Ding - A - Ling (Live Single Edit) 4:16

Notes

May 21, 1955 - Feb 3, 1972

There have been many, many Chuck Berry compilations released by Chess over the years, but as of the spring of 2006, there was no comprehensive single-disc set in print; there was the double-disc 2005 set Gold, which itself was a retitled reissue of 2000's Anthology, but the classic comp The Great Twenty-Eight was long out of print, and nothing had replaced it until the 2006 release of The Definitive Collection. This generous 30-track selection offers nearly everything that was on The Great Twenty-Eight and in nearly the same sequence -- "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" and "Roll Over Beethoven" are swapped, for instance, but it's not really a noticeable change. "Bye Bye Johnny" is the only song missing from The Great Twenty-Eight, which is not a huge omission, especially since it's been replaced with two great singles, "You Never Can Tell" and "Promised Land." "My Ding-A-Ling" is also here and, while it is a worse song than "Bye Bye Johnny," it was Chuck's only number one single, so its inclusion makes sense -- and it hardly sinks a collection that is by far the best, most comprehensive single-disc Chuck Berry set yet assembled. Sure, there are some great Berry songs that are absent, but all the major songs are here; plus, if you need more than 30 songs, turn to either Gold or The Chess Box. If you want a single-disc best-of collection of all of Chuck's finest, this is the one to get.