HAIL! HAIL! ROCK ‘N’ ROLL
easy to characterize Chuck Berry, who passed away at age 90 in 2017, as one cantankerously acrimonious fellow, but after revisiting Taylor Hackford’s astute 1987 documentary , now available on Blu-ray for the first time via Shout Select, I’m reminded of, Hackford’s always on-thespot lens follows Rolling Stones guitarist and early Berry acolyte Keith Richards’ holy mission to celebrate his hero’s 60th birthday with an all-star backing band at St. Louis’ fabled Fabulous Fox Theatre. Tense moments ensue during a tight-quartered rehearsal of “Carol,” with Berry negating some of Richards’ suggestions outright—Keef’s eye-daggers after turning his back following one particularly intense exchange are priceless—but once the pair achieve the correct intuitive guitar-line interweaving, all is essentially well.
