Bo Diddley - The Chess Box (1990)

Bo Diddley - The Chess Box (1990)

# Audio CD (July 19, 1990)
# Original Release Date: August 21, 1990
# Number of Discs: 2
# Format: Box set
# Label: Chess
# ASIN: B000002P8J

Biography by Richie Unterberger

He only had a few hits in the 1950s and early '60s, but as Bo Diddley sang, "You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover." You can't judge an artist by his chart success, either, and Diddley produced greater and more influential music than all but a handful of the best early rockers. The Bo Diddley beat -- bomp, ba-bomp-bomp, bomp-bomp -- is one of rock & roll's bedrock rhythms, showing up in the work of Buddy Holly, the Rolling Stones, and even pop-garage knock-offs like the Strangeloves' 1965 hit "I Want Candy." Diddley's hypnotic rhythmic attack and declamatory, boasting vocals stretched back as far as Africa for their roots, and looked as far into the future as rap. His trademark otherworldly vibrating, fuzzy guitar style did much to expand the instrument's power and range. But even more important, Bo's bounce was fun and irresistibly rocking, with a wisecracking, jiving tone that epitomized rock & roll at its most humorously outlandish and freewheeling.

Before taking up blues and R&B, Diddley had actually studied classical violin, but shifted gears after hearing John Lee Hooker. In the early '50s, he began playing with his longtime partner, maraca player Jerome Green, to get what Bo's called "that freight train sound." Billy Boy Arnold, a fine blues harmonica player and singer in his own right, was also playing with Diddley when the guitarist got a deal with Chess in the mid-'50s (after being turned down by rival Chicago label Vee-Jay). His very first single, "Bo Diddley"/"I'm a Man" (1955), was a double-sided monster. The A-side was soaked with futuristic waves of tremolo guitar, set to an ageless nursery rhyme; the flip was a bump-and-grind, harmonica-driven shuffle, based around a devastating blues riff. But the result was not exactly blues, or even straight R&B, but a new kind of guitar-based rock & roll, soaked in the blues and R&B, but owing allegiance to neither.

Diddley was never a top seller on the order of his Chess rival Chuck Berry, but over the next half-dozen or so years, he'd produce a catalog of classics that rival Berry's in quality. "You Don't Love Me," "Diddley Daddy," "Pretty Thing," "Diddy Wah Diddy," "Who Do You Love?," "Mona," "Road Runner," "You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover" -- all are stone-cold standards of early, riff-driven rock & roll at its funkiest. Oddly enough, his only Top 20 pop hit was an atypical, absurd back-and-forth rap between him and Jerome Green, "Say Man," that came about almost by accident as the pair were fooling around in the studio.

As a live performer, Diddley was galvanizing, using his trademark square guitars and distorted amplification to produce new sounds that anticipated the innovations of '60s guitarists like Jimi Hendrix. In Great Britain, he was revered as a giant on the order of Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters. The Rolling Stones in particular borrowed a lot from Bo's rhythms and attitude in their early days, although they only officially covered a couple of his tunes, "Mona" and "I'm Alright." Other British R&B groups like the Yardbirds, Animals, and Pretty Things also covered Diddley standards in their early days. Buddy Holly covered "Bo Diddley" and used a modified Bo Diddley beat on "Not Fade Away"; when the Stones gave the song the full-on Bo treatment (complete with shaking maracas), the result was their first big British hit.

The British Invasion helped increase the public's awareness of Diddley's importance, and ever since then he's been a popular live act. Sadly, though, his career as a recording artist -- in commercial and artistic terms -- was over by the time the Beatles and Stones hit America. He'd record with ongoing and declining frequency, but after 1963, he'd never write or record any original material on par with his early classics. Whether he'd spent his muse, or just felt he could coast on his laurels, is hard to say. But he remains a vital part of the collective rock & roll consciousness, occasionally reaching wider visibility via a 1979 tour with the Clash, a cameo role in the film Trading Places, a late-'80s tour with Ronnie Wood, and a 1989 television commercial for sports shoes with star athlete Bo Jackson.

Amazon.com
He's celebrated for the syncopated beat bearing his name that has spanned rock & roll's entire history. Unfortunately, his namesake also gets him mislabeled as a one-trick pony. This two-disc set does much to remedy the situation, tracking 1955 through 1968 and featuring all the hits. However, The Chess Box also displays Diddley's rock and blues versatility, from the reggae-ish (before there was reggae) "Crackin' Up" and the Who's onstage hard-rock anthem "Roadrunner" to the wonderful formerly U.K.-only "Greatest Lover in the World" and rock's first song about a junkie ("Pills," later revived by the New York Dolls). Most surprising is Diddley's beautiful yet previously unreleased doo-wop classic, "You Know I Love You." The excellent liner notes by MCA's primo compiler, Andy McKaie (with Diddley himself), and the late Robert Palmer add extra value to the package. --Bill Holdship

From Grove Press Guide to Blues on CD
The extraordinary rhythmic sense of Ellas "Bo Diddley" McDaniel is evidenced on forty-five songs (classics and obscure gems alike) recorded between 1955 and 1969, one of the all-time peaks of creativeness in rock 'n' roll. The sides filling two discs in this handsome boxed set also show that the Mississippi native who was raised on Chicago's South Side has a guitar and voice acute in blues intonation and a penchant for lyrics that are barbed-wire sharp with irreverent humor. The accompanying twenty-two-page booklet includes a Robert Palmer essay, sessions details, and remembrances by Diddley. -- © Frank John Hadley 1993

Review by Bill Dahl

Not every single track you'll ever want or need by the legendary shave-and-a-haircut rhythm R&B/rock pioneer, but a great place to begin. Two discs (45 songs) in a great big box with a nice accompanying booklet contain the groundbreaking introduction "Bo Diddley" (never again would he be referred to as Ellas McDaniel), its swaggering flipside "I'm a Man," the killer follow-ups "Diddley Daddy," "I'm Looking for a Woman," "Who Do You Love?," and "Hey Bo Diddley;" signifying street-corner humor ("Say Man"), piledriving rockers ("Road Runner," "She's Alright," "You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover"), and numerous stunning examples of his daringly innovative guitar style.

DISC 1

1. Bo Diddley
2. I'm a Man
3. You Don't Love Me
4. Diddley Daddy
5. Pretty Thing
6. Bring It to Jerome - (alternate take)
7. Bring It to Jerome - (master)
8. Diddy Wah Diddy
9. I'm Looking For a Woman
10. Who Do You Love?
11. Down Home Special
12. Hey Bo Diddkey
13. Mona (I Need You Baby)
14. Say Boss Man
15. Before You Accuse Me
16. Say Man
17. Hush Your Mouth - (alternate take)
18. Clock Strikes Twelve, The
19. Dearest Darling - (alternate take)
20. Crackin' Up
21. Don't Let It Go (Hold on to What You Got)
22. I'm Sorry
23. Mumblin' Guitar
24. The Story of Bo Diddley

DISC 2

1. She's Alright
2. Say Man, Back Again - (alternate take)
3. Road Runner
4. Spend My Life With You
5. Cadillac
6. Signifying Blues - (extended version)
7. Deed and Deed I Do
8. You Know I Love You
9. Look at My Baby
10. Ride on Josephine
11. Aztec
12. Back Home
13. Pills
14. Untitled Instrumental
15. I Can Tell
16. You Can't Judge a Book by It's Cover
17. Who May Your Lover Be
18. The Greatest Lover in the World
19. 500% More Man
20. Ooh Baby
21. Bo Diddley 1969