SHAZAM

As the guy who pretty much invented rock & roll, it was inevitable that Chuck Berry would have a volume of Bear Family’s ongoing Rocks series devoted to him -- and so he does, a 32-track collection that pulls from his prime, his first decade of recordings for Chess beginning with 1955’s “Maybellene” and ending with 1965’s “Dear Dad." In between are all the standards and just enough semi-obscure rockers (“Go-Go-Go,” “Oh Baby Doll,” “Betty Jean”) to keep this fresh. But this Rocks isn’t a place to turn for obscurities, or Berry’s sweeter moments like “Havana Moon” and “Wee Wee Hours" -- it’s all about Chuck reeling and rocking, and it’s a gas gas gas. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi