Chuck Berry in Memphis
was the artist's first effort to record an album of new material under his contract with
Mercury Records
-- it followed a blatant cash-in attempt,
Golden Hits
, on which
Berry
had cut new versions of his classic
Chess Records
hits. Recorded over a three-day period in Memphis in March of 1967, the record features
mixing blues and pop with rock & roll. None of it is bad, though his version of the
Nat King Cole
hit
"Ramblin' Rose"
raised a few eyebrows. Much more encouraging were the bluesy
"It Hurts Me Too"
and
"Back to Memphis,"
and the recut
"Sweet Little Rock and Roller."
The main problem with the record, however, was that it was too slick-sounding, especially when compared to
's classic
sides -- backed by
the Memphis Horns
and a contingent of the city's top session musicians, the resulting sides also lacked the inherent "dirtiness" of those earlier sides, as well as a measure of excitement. Still, it's not a bad album, and shows that as late as 1967,
was still serious about making records. ~ Bruce Eder