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Tuesday, May 24, 2005


Chuck Berry's final studio album "Rockit"- ATCO SD 38-118 was released in 1979. This is a record that Chuck Berry took charge on putting together a small band with longtime bassist Jim Marsala, piano player Johnny Johnson, also on bass Bob Wray (unsure of who is on what song), and Kenneth Buttrey on drums. Buttrey I believe is a big time session drummer who has played on countless recordings including Bob Dylan's "John Wesley Harding"... Unfortunately, although some of the songs are great the production is just terrible on this... i can stand Chuck's double tracked vocals fine but the synthesized drum sound was a terrible idea and really plays havoc with my ears!..its an album that if Chuck had been paying attention at all- had noticed at all- the punk revolution that had just happened - and if he had recorded it raw without polish, if he had gone back to the way he cut songs in the early days, would have proved a succesfull comeback lp..as things stand it stiffed.. nevertheless, some of the songs hold up..I suppose after this experience Chuck just got discouraged with recording as he hasn't any in 26 years! come on chuck! give it another shot!

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