Personnel includes: Chuck Berry (vocals, guitar, piano); Jimmy Rogers, Bo Diddley, Matt Murphy, Jeff Blador, Owen McEntyre, Billy Peek, Wayne "Tex" Gabriel (guitar); Peter Hogan (harmonica); L.C. Davis (tenor saxophone); Stan Bronstein (saxophone); Johnnie Johnson, Otis Spann, Lafayette Leake, Paul Williams, Dave Kafinetti, Adam Ippolito (piano); Bob Baldo (electric piano); Willie Dixon, G. Smith, Chuck Bernard, Jack Groendal, Nick Potter, Greg Edick, Gary Van Scyoc (bass); Jasper Thomas, Eddie Hardy, Fred Below, Odie Payne, Bill Metros, Robbie McIntosh, Ron Reed, Rick Franks (drums); Jerome Green (maracas); Martha Berry, The Ecuadors (background vocals).

Recorded between 1954 & 1973.

Digitally remastered by Doug Schwartz (MCA Studios, Glendale, California).

Personnel: Chuck Berry (vocals, guitar, piano); Billy Peek, Jimmy Rogers , Matt "Guitar" Murphy, Owen McIntyre, Bo Diddley (guitar); Stan Bronstein (saxophone); L.C. Davis (tenor saxophone); Dave Kafinetti, Paul Williams , Johnnie Johnson, Lafayette Leake, Otis Spann, Adam Ippolito (piano); Chuck Bernard, Jack Groendal, Nic Potter, Gary VanScyoc (electric bass); Fred Below, Bill Metros, Eddie Hardy, Odie Payne, Robbie McIntosh , Rick Frank, Jasper Thomas (drums); Jerome Green (maracas); Martha Berry (background vocals).

Audio Remasterer: Doug Schwartz.

Liner Note Author: Billy Altman.

Recording information: Chicago, IL (05/21/1955-??/??/1973); Lanchester Arts Festival, Coventry England (05/21/1955-??/??/1973); Lansing, MI (05/21/1955-??/??/1973); New York, NY (05/21/1955-??/??/1973).

Over the course of three compact discs, The Chess Box contains most of the highlights from Chuck Berry's career, including all of the hit singles. In addition to the familiar items, which are all included here, there are numerous tracks that are lesser-known but equally as good. That's particularly true on the stellar first two discs, where album tracks, B-sides, and forgotten singles like "Downbound Train," "Drifting Heart," "Havana Moon," "Betty Jean," "Bye Bye Johnny," "Down the Road a Piece," and "The Thirteen Question Method" get equal space with "Maybellene," "Thirty Days," "No Money Down," "Roll Over Beethoven," "Too Much Monkey Business," "Brown Eyed Handsome Man," "School Day," "Rock & Roll Music," "Sweet Little Sixteen," "Johnny B. Goode," and "Carol." Some serious fans, however, also found disc one, and especially the earlier songs on that disc, to be very controversial; part of the intrinsic nature of Berry's music was the sheer noisiness of the songs -- tracks like "Maybellene," "Thirty Days," "You Can't Catch Me," and "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" insinuated themselves into listeners' consciousness over the radio and on the jukebox with their sheer raucous, in-your-face sound (frequently near overload). But at the time The Chess Box was done, the philosophy about CD mastering was to clean up the noise in original recordings whenever it was too pronounced, lest the "hot" digital sound make the track too harsh. (Note: this "problem" especially afflicted "Layla" by Derek & the Dominos, so much so that the producers of the Clapton box remixed the song). Thus, the first 15 or so tracks on the first disc of The Chess Box may sound too "clean," lacking some of the raw edge from their vinyl editions. On the plus side, the detail revealed -- every note, and even the action on the guitar on the opening of "Roll Over Beethoven" -- is always interesting, and occasionally fascinating, and it is difficult to complain too loudly about hearing Johnnie Johnson's or Lafayette Leake's piano, or Willie Dixon's upright bass in such sharp relief. Additionally, for many years this set had the only undistorted CD version of "Come On" -- a relatively minor Berry song, but one that provided the Rolling Stones with their debut release -- that you could find, but potential purchasers should also be aware of the compromise in the sound. That caveat aside, the programming manages to get in most of the best album cuts, including tracks like Berry's hot cover of "House of Blue Lights" and the "Memphis Tennessee" "sequel" "Little Marie," though not quite enough material from 1964-1965. And toward the end of the set, the quality of the material begins to sag a bit, but there are still forgotten gems like "Tulane" that prove Berry's songwriting hadn't completely dried up. The now out of print Great Twenty-Eight collection remains the definitive single CD hits collection, and the audio quality on MCA's two-CD Anthology, released a dozen years later, is superior, but The Chess Box offers a flawed but near essential overview of his work for any serious fan, either of Chuck Berry or rock & roll. ~ Bruce Eder

A seminal figure in the evolution of rock 'n' roll, Chuck Berry's influence as songwriter and guitarist is incalculable. His cogent songs captured adolescent life, yet the artist was 30 years old when he commenced recording. In 1955, during a chance visit to Chicago, Berry met bluesman Muddy Waters, who advised the young singer to approach the Chess label. Berry's demo of 'Ida May', was sufficient to win a recording contract and the composition, retitled 'Maybellene', duly became his debut single. Berry enjoyed further hits with 'Thirty Days' and 'No Money Down', but it was his third recording session that proved even more productive, producing a stream of classics, 'Roll Over Beethoven', 'Too Much Monkey Business' and 'Brown-Eyed Handsome Man'. The artist's subsequent releases read like a lexicon of pop history - 'School Days', 'Rock And Roll Music' (all 1957), 'Sweet Little Sixteen', 'Reelin' And Rockin', 'Johnny B. Goode' (1958), 'Back In The USA', 'Let It Rock' (1960) and 'Bye Bye Johnny' (1960) are but a handful of the peerless songs written and recorded during this prolific period.

Berry was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 1986. His stature as an essential figure in the evolution of popular music cannot be underestimated.