San Francisco Dues Songs Ranked
San Francisco Dues is the fifteenth studio album by Chuck Berry, released in 1971 by Chess Records. It was Chuck Berry’s second Chess release after returning to the label in 1969. The album contains seven new songs, a poem, and two songs (“Lonely School Days” and “Viva Rock and Roll”) from his previous Chess recordings. Chuck Berry’s second record for Chess following his return to the label in 1970 is a sincere effort at sounding contemporary that yields mixed results. Parts of it, such as “Oh Louisiana,” are moodier, more meandering pieces than one is used to from him, and “Bordeaux in My Pirough” is a not too skillful rewrite of “Jambalaya.” Others, such as “Your Lick” and “Festival,” are attempts at adapting his classic sound to the tastes and sensibilities of the late ‘ the 60s/early ’70s — the latter track, the title cut, “Viva Rock & Roll,” and “Lonely School Days” are all respectable efforts, if not nearly enough to hang an album around, and none would be out of place on an appropriate anthology covering Berry’s post-1965 career. Here are all of San Francisco Dues songs ranked.
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10. Bordeaux in My Pirough
“An album of original songs by Chuck Berry in 1971 after the dust had settled on the experimental sounds of the sixties, I imagined could be an interesting thing.”
9. Bound to Lose
“Far moodier is the beautiful, blues-based mid-tempo waxing “Bound to Lose”, that sounds world-weary in its exhaustion… the highlight of this disc.”
8. Festival
“Festival” is remarkable for its gracious name-checking of big artists; Creedence Clearwater, Canned Heat, The Who, Aretha Franklin, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, The Rolling Stones, Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters and more… they’re all there on stage at Chuck’s imaginative super festival.”
See more: Chuck Berry Albums Ranked
7. San Francisco Dues
“The B-side is just as appealing, with the introspective “San Francisco Dues” ranking as one of Berry’s finest blues originals”
6. Your Lick
“The funkiest of all, however, is the semi-instrumental “Your Lick”, a rollickin’, teasing, sensual teaser of a jam made for those laid-back summer evenings.”
5. Viva Rock and Roll
“So Chuck Berry plaintively opens this brilliant album with a voice as beautiful and bluesy as Slim Harpo. This is some very deep very beautiful Delta blues with wah wah guitar, great songs and incredible singing. “
See more: Chuck Berry Songs Ranked
4. Let’s Do Our Thing Together
“The swampy funk rocks on as Chuck romps through the boogie beast “Let’s Do Our Thing Together”, throwing in a fierce solo for good measure.”
3. My Dream (Poem)
“An underappreciated classic. Chuck does his Chuck thing, without “selling out” to the counterculture, but he also manages to make a record that fits in with the times. Timeless great rock.”
2. Lonely School Days
“Nice to hear tunes from Chuck that aren’t familiar to me that have a newer sound to them than his 1950’s music, which those are great tunes, but the songs on this cd are a nice alternative to his older music.”
1. Oh Louisiana
“The lazy, poppin’, funky opener “Oh Louisiana” is a delicious, strutting bit of soulful blues packed with Berry’s typical lyrical ingenuity.”