Chuck Berry – After School Session (Mono, Chess Records 75 Series, Acoustic Sounds)

Chuck Berry's After School Session arrived in May 1957 as Berry's debut LP and only the second full-length album released by Chess Records, which gives it a special place in the label's history as well as in the first wave of rock 'n' roll. The title nods to the teenage audience Berry understood so well, but the record also shows how tightly he could connect jumpy, street-smart rockers with deeper blues feeling.

What makes this set so useful is hearing those sides together: songs including "School Day (Ring Ring Goes the Bell)," "Too Much Monkey Business," and "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" capture the fast-talking wit and guitar drive that made Berry a defining figure of the 1950s, while cuts such as "Havana Moon" and "Drifting Heart" point back to his blues roots. Rather than a neat concept album, it plays like an early self-portrait, built from the records that established his sound between 1955 and 1957.

This edition also explains why the album has remained a collector's staple. Issued in the Chess/Acoustic Sounds series, it presents the original mono album, mastered from the original master analog tape by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab and pressed at Quality Record Pressings. For a record that helped sketch the basic language of rock 'n' roll, that kind of care feels earned.

Features

• LP, 33RPM, 180g, Chess Records 75 Series, Acoustic Sounds, Black Vinyl
  
• Mono mix
• Mastered from the original master analog tape by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab
• Pressed at Quality Record Pressings
• Tip-on gatefold sleeve printed on high-grade board