rock'n'rill

Hail hail rock’n’roll - happy birthday, Chuck

Hey guys,

Chuck Berry is 85 years old today. Lennon hit the nail on the head with his famous quote: “If you want to give rock’n’roll another name, you might as well call it Chuck Berry.” Actually, I’m not sure Lennon said “might as well”, it doesn’t have a very Liverpudlian ring to it, does it? But anyway, words to that effect.

Here’s Chuck:

I’ve had the great pleasure of seeing Chuck Berry live and in person a few years ago. In a double header with Jerry Lee Lewis. Well, I sure am happy I got to see & hear them but the fact is they ain’t quite what they used to be.
Anyway, I wrote a blog on seeing them in 2008 but that blog is buried over in the wasteland that is myspace so I’m posting it here again.

From the archives, as it were. Enjoy.

I Saw Rock’n’Roll’s Past

So I went and saw Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis on Saturday. It was the only concert they played together this year in Germany. I had gotten myself all psyched up last week. If any two guys alive deserve to be tagged as “Legends Of Rock’n’Roll”, it’s those two.

I am way into the Killer. Nick Tosches’ bio “Hellfire” is just about the best music book I know (on a par with Peter Guralnick’s “Last Train To Memphis” & “Careless Love”) and I really enjoyed Jerry Lee’s “Last Man Standing” album from last year which paired him with lots of other greats like Springsteen, John Fogerty, Keith, Mick, Willie Nelson and many more. I’d also seen the accompanying DVD although it showed clearly that his hip shakin’ days were over. At any rate, in my book it doesn’t get any more exciting than “goodness gracious, great balls of fire”.

And, really, what do I need to say about Chuck Berry? When I was about 16 or 18 years old, Keith was one of my gods and Chuck was his, so CB was something like my grandgod. Boy, oh boy, the songs he’s written. As I was listening to my “Chuck Berry - Greatst Hits” CD last week, I was once again overwhelmed by the playfulness, groove, artistry and craftsmanship in all of his songs. They’re absolutely undeniable. Sheesh, if you can sit still whilst listening to “as I was motorvatin’ over the hill”, there’s something seriously wrong with you.
These days, though, Jerry Lee is 73 years old and Chuck is 82.

The concert was opened by Boppin’ B, five guys from my hometown of Aschaffenburg. They did a real good job with their mixture of fun covers, fun originals, and funny antics.

Next up was Jerry Lee, although the announcer seemed to think it was Chuck’s turn, talking about Roll Over Beethoven and Sweet Little Sixteen till someone must’ve signaled to him that he was on the wrong track. Hard to say if Ken Lovelace, leader of Jerry Lee’s backing band The Memphis Beats, was kidding when he mentioned the “great introduction”. I’m sure he couldn’t have made out more than the song titles and “legends of rock’n’roll”.
Anyway, the Memphis Beats are a four-piece band of veteran players from Tennessee. They each did a classic song (Big Boss Man, Woolly Bully) till it was time for the Killer. He’s no spring chicken anymore. Every one was anxious to see whether he’d manage to walk those few steps across the stage to his piano chair. He did and it was his greatest physical exertion until he shuffled off again 35 minutes later. His performance might’ve been a little lackluster but say what you will, at least actual music was being made. The band was tight, Jerry Lee didn’t play a worn-out greatest hits set but just some songs that he enjoyed. Hank Williams’ “You Win Again” was a real winner, “Don’t Put No Headstone On My Grave” sounded good as well. Some country, some boogie. Who’s to complain if Jerry Lee’s left hand isn’t the great time keeper it once was when his right can still play some nice fills. It felt like a nice, laid-back bar gig - and I mean that in a good way. The crowd was on their feet when he did “Great Balls Of Fire” at about two-thirds the original tempo and with all the swagger he could muster - it was still very enjoyable. After about 35 minutes on stage, Jerry Lee went into “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On”, pushed his piano stool back, sang another verse standing up and then shuffled off-stage mid-song, inexplicably giving his guitarist the finger. Nonplussed he kept announcing “The Killer rocks on, the Killer rocks on” while said Killer exited the stage. The band then found a way to wrap things up neatly.

How good that band really was became painfully apparent when Chuck Berry and his sidemen entered the stage after a 30-minute intermission. Chuck had picked up a young piano player from Norway and a seasoned French drummer and brought his bass player and his guitarist son Charles with him from the States. While the two pickup players were competent, the latter two more often than not struggled trying to follow Mr Johnny B. Goode. Early on, Chuck’s guitar was turned up way loud in the mix which didn’t help the rocky rhythmic foundation either. After awhile, though, Chuck’s playing became a little less erratic - or maybe I just understood a little better how he was messing with time - which is what he was doing. He didn’t sing his lyrics much anymore but he found ingenious ways to finish his wordy lines in time even though he usually got started late. He also had a way of stomping his foot trying to bring the band to a fullstop so he could play one of his patented guitar fills. However, his son & bass player were regularly surprised by those unannounced stops and had trouble finding back into the song structure. I can’t believe that the bass player has been playing with Chuck for 38 years like the announcer said. Sounds more plausible to me that he had played with Chuck once, 38 years ago.
That said, Chuck is still pretty spry and quite the showman and engaged the audience a good deal more than the immobile Killer had. He brought some girls up from the audience to dance on stage, attempted the duckwalk and seemed in good spirits throughout. It even seemed to me that the old rivalry between him & Jerry Lee spurred him on to play for almost an hour.

In other words, Jerry Lee had more to offer musically while Chuck is the more engaging performer these days. I’m happy I got to see the show for free in what must’ve been one of the best seats in the house (row 6, center). I don’t know, though, how I would’ve felt about the show if I had paid the top dollar that was asked for these seats.
I’m real glad I got to see them. On the other hand, I’ll always be more blown away by the records they made in the 50ies & 60ies than by the memory of Saturday’s concert.

And I think that’s what I’m gonna do right now, slap some vinyl on that ol’ record player and sing along with the “Lewis Boogie” or with “go, go, go, Little Queenie”,
Markus

18 October 2011 ·