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Chuck Berry - Rockin' At The Hops (1960)

Track listing:
  1. Bye Bye Johnny 2:06
  2. Worried Life Blues 2:12
  3. Down The Road Apiece 2:16
  4. Confessin' The Blues 2:10
  5. Too Poobed To Pop 2:36
  6. Mad Lad (Instrumental) 2:22
  7. I Got To Find My Baby 2:17
  8. Betty Jean 2:32
  9. Childhood Sweetheart 2:45
  10. Broken Arrow 2:29
  11. Driftin' Blues 2:20
  12. Let It Rock 1:48
  13. Almost Grown (Take 14) [Bonus] 2:35
  14. Almost Grown (Take 28) [Bonus] 2:55
  15. Blue On Blue (Alternate) [Bonus] 3:10
  16. Blue On Blue (Instrumental) [Bonus] 3:00
  17. Betty Jean (Take 14) [Bonus] 2:27
  18. Betty Jean (Take 17) [Bonus] 2:40
  19. County Life [Bonus] 2:18
  20. Childhood Sweetheart (Alternate) [Bonus] 3:13
  21. One O'clock Jump (Instrumental) [Bonus] 3:09
  22. I Just Want To Make Love To You (Take 3) [Bonus] 2:18
  23. Broken Arrow (Take 21) [Bonus] 2:23
  24. Let It Rock (Alternate) [Bonus] 1:58
  25. Too Pooped To Pop (Take 4A) [Bonus] 2:38
  26. Ecuadors - Say You'll Be Mine [Bonus] 2:19
  27. Equadors - Let Me Sleep Woman [Bonus] 2:25

Notes

Size: 131 MB
Bitrate: 256
mp3
Ripped by: ChrisGoesRock
Artwork Included
Source: Japan SHM-CD Remaster

The two classic cuts that bookend this album should be enough to attract the uninitiated — Berry at his best wrote danceable little "vest-pocket" screenplays dealing with teen life, of which "Bye Bye Johnny" and "Let It Rock" were two of his best; but because they've been so heavily anthologized, those two cuts don't have the pulling power here that they would have had 40-some years back. So get this record for everything else that's on it — Rockin' at the Hops not only has no filler, but it's chock full of records that show off a bluesy side of Berry's output that was never fully appreciated at the time. His version of Big Maceo's "Worried Life Blues" shows how good a bluesman Berry might've been had he been more the Muddy Waters-type player and singer that Chess had been looking for; "Down the Road a Piece," a song written by Don Raye (of "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" fame), is a lost Berry single that could've rated right up there with "Roll Over Beethoven," except that its roadhouse ambience and story line were more mature than a lot of kids might've embraced in 1959; and Walter Brown's "Confessin' the Blues" and "Driftin' Blues" fit into the same category, Berry the adult bluesman rather than the teen-oriented teaser. "Childhood Sweetheart" is a sequel to "Wee Wee Hours," Berry's very first blues side, lifting a fragment or two from Elmore James' "Dust My Broom" for its guitar break. "Too Pooped to Pop" and "Betty Jean," by contrast, are a pair of enjoyably upbeat rock & roll numbers, each featuring uncharacteristic elements, a sax solo on the former, and a male chorus on the latter; in between them is "Mad Lad," an instrumental that presents Berry drifting into what would later be defined as a surf guitar mode — a quicker tempo would have done it (and does anyone want to bet that a young Carl Wilson didn't wear out a copy or two listening to this track?).

01. Bye Bye Johnny, Berry 2:02
02. Worried Life Blue,s Merriweather 2:07
03. Down the Road a Piece, Raye 2:10
04. Confessin' the Blues, Brown, McShann 2:06
05. Too Pooped to Pop, Berry 2:31
06. Mad Lad, Davis 2:06
07. I Got to Find My Baby, Berry 2:12
08. Betty Jean, Berry 2:25
09. Childhood Sweetheart, Berry 2:40
10. Broken Arrow, Anderson 2:19
11. Driftin' Blues, Brown, Moore, Williams 2:16
12. Let It Rock, Berry 1:42
+ 15 Bonus