The Great Twenty-Eight

by

Chuck Berry

Edit

For someone on a budget who is interested in the music of this legendary artist, look no further than this single disc album. The sound and track selection here are excellent. Anyone interested in early Rock 'N Roll needs to have at least one Chuck Berry album in their collection and you can't go wrong here. For those of you have a few extra dollars around, I strongly suggest 2 disc set, "Anthology 2"; or upgrade even further to the 3 disc "The Chess Box" set. "The Box Set" can easily be considered one of the foundations of rock n roll & the Mt Olympus of Chuck Berry collections.

****July 2006 Update. The release of the "Definitive Collection" now puts "Great Twenty-Eight" in the #2 slot. "Definitive Collection" has every track included here (in basically the same order), but includes two more tracks: "Promised Land" & "My Ding-A-Ling". So if you're budget dictates a single disc album purchase, "Definitive Collection" should be your choice.

Dont get me wrong, I love Chuck Berry! But this CD just doesnt cut it. There are twenty-eight songs packed onto a single CD which usually means that the songs are really poor quality.

Most of the songs are in mono, and the pamplet in the CD says and I quote:

"This compact disk contains program transferred from analog tape and therefore may contain some tape hiss and other anomalies that exist with analog recordings"

And yes there is a hiss, quite audible. For godsakes, my FM car radio plays the songs better.

The only reason to buy this CD would be if you absolutely absolutely want all his greatest hits on a single CD. Otherwise I suggest that you buy to the other Chuck Berry collections available on this site even if they are slightly more expensive.