Chuck Berry on Stage
 | This article needs more citations. (May 2024) |
| Chuck Berry on Stage | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Live album by | ||||
| Released | August 1963 | |||
| Genre | Rock and roll | |||
| Label | Chess | |||
| Producers | Leonard Chess, Philip Chess | |||
| Chuck Berry chronology | ||||
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| Review scores | |
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| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   link |
Chuck Berry on Stage is the first "live" album by Chuck Berry, released in 1963 by Chess Records. Although marketed as a live album, it actually compiled older studio recordings overdubbed with audience sounds.
Overview
Despite being promoted as a live album, it is a collection of previously released (with the exceptions of "All Aboard", "Trick or Treat", "I Just Want To Make Love To You", and "Still Got the Blues") studio recordings with overdubbed audience sounds to simulate a live recording. The track listed on the album as "Surfin' USA" is actually a retitled "Sweet Little Sixteen", originally released in 1958, the melody of which was used in The Beach Boys' 1963 hit "Surfin' USA". The track listed as "Rockin' on the Railroad" is also a retitled version of a previously released song, the 1960 single "Let It Rock". Berry's cover of Willie Dixon's "I Just Want to Make Love to You" was later re-recorded and released on the very rare Chess LP CH60032 Chuck Berry in 1975.
Track listing
All tracks are written by Chuck Berry, except where noted.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Maybellene" | 2:25 | |
| 2. | "Memphis" | 2:17 | |
| 3. | "Surfin' Steel" | 2:32 | |
| 4. | "Rockin' on the Railroad" (retitled "Let It Rock") | 1:51 | |
| 5. | "Go, Go, Go" | 3:31 | |
| 6. | "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" (alternate take) | 1:46 | |
| 7. | "Still Got the Blues" | 2:08 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Surfin' USA" (retitled "Sweet Little Sixteen") | 3:13 | |
| 2. | "Jaguar and Thunderbird" | 1:49 | |
| 3. | "I Just Want to Make Love to You" | Willie Dixon | 2:13 |
| 4. | "All Aboard" | 2:15 | |
| 5. | "Trick or Treat" | 1:37 | |
| 6. | "The Man and the Donkey" | 2:07 | |
| Total length: | 29:44 | ||
Personnel
- Chuck Berry – guitar, vocals
- Fred Below – drums
- Martha Berry – backing vocals
- Reggie Boyd – bass
- Leroy C. Davis - tenor saxophone
- Willie Dixon – bass
- Jerome Green – maracas
- Ebbie Hardy - drums
- Johnnie Johnson – piano
- Lafayette Leake – piano
- The Moonglows – backing vocals
- George Smith – bass
- Otis Spann – piano
- Phil Thomas – drums
Chart Performance
The album peaked at No. 29 on the Billboard Top LPs, during a seventeen-week run on the chart.
| Chart (1963) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard Top LPs | 29 |
Notes
- ↑ According to a journal article in Popular Music & Society, *Chuck Berry Live on Stage* is what is known as a "fake live" album staged "with a well-behaved, artificial audience".
- ↑ Maybellene was originally also credited to Alan Freed and Russ Fratto, as payola.
References
- ↑ Duffett, Mark (February 2009). ""We Are Interrupted by Your Noise": Heckling and the Symbolic Economy of Popular Music Stardom". Popular Music & Society. 3 (1). doi:10.1080/03007760802207734.
- ↑ Crouse, Richard (2012). "Maybellene: Chuck Berry". Who Wrote the Book of Love?. Random House. ISBN 9780385674423.
- 1 2 Whitburn, Joel (1973). Top LPs, 1955–1972. Record Research. p. 18. Retrieved July 10, 2025.
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