Chuck Berry / George Thorogood
Westwood One In Concert 81-1
Airs 4/17 - 19 (1981)
Chuck Berry
Wolf & Rissmiller's Country Club
Reseda, CA
January 17, 1981
George Thorogood
Recorded at:
Wolf & Rissmiller's Country Club
Reseda, CA
February 19, 1981
01 Announcer - In Concert 81-1 Intro
02 Chuck Berry - Maybellene
03 Chuck Berry - Sweet Little Sixteen
04 Chuck Berry - Oh, Carol
05 Commercial - Budweiser
06 Announcer - In Concert 81-1 Break
07 George Thorogood - House of Blue Lights
08 George Thorogood - Move It On Over
09 George Thorogood - It Wasn't Me
10 Commercial - Budweiser
11 Announcer - In Concert 81-1 Break
12 George Thorogood - I'm Wanted
13 George Thorogood - Madison Blues
14 George Thorogood - Who Do You Love
15 Commercial - Budweiser
16 Announcer - In Concert 81-1 Break
17 George Thorogood - One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer
18 Announcer - In Concert 81-1 Outro
Discogs says the runout grooves are:
(Side A): "B" Budweiser In Concert S-1 (logo) 11459
(Side B): "B" Budweiser In Concert S-2 (logo) 11459
(Side C): "B" Budweiser In Concert S-3 (logo) 11459
(Side D): "B" Budweiser In Concert S-4 (logo) 11459
From the Sam Eliot's Mustache Collection
Brought to you by the Collective of Live Music
For once, someone else already did the investigation into the source of this show.
This was the very first "In Concert" show, and the very first syndicated ROCK concert done by Westwood One. The very first syndicated concert was their Live From Gilley's show, which premiered three months earlier in January 1981.
Prior to this, Westwood One had done interview shows such as Mary Turner's "Off The Record," and specialty programs like Dr. Demento's round-up of odd-ball comedy records. That this was early in their history shows: There was only one national commercial from Budweiser, and Mary Turner is credited as the producer.
Having Chuck Berry kick the series off was a nice touch, although by the 80s he was known for lackluster shows, sometimes with unrehearsed local bands backing him up. Chuck would show up and expect them to know his material.
However, on this show, Johnny Rivers is on second guitar, as is Berry's long-time bass guitarist Jim Marsala. That's a lot of fretboard firepower and it shows in the performance.
The Country Club had opened in April 1980 "built and operated by Chuck Landis, co-owner of the Roxy." I've included an article about the club's opening, and it sounds like they were booking country artists when they first opened. This would be in direct competition with the Palamino, about twelve miles away.
By 1981, booking had been taken over by Wolf & Rissmiller...which was really just Jim Rissmiller. His partner, Steve Wolf, had been murdered by burglars in his home in 1977. Rismiller switched the booking to rock, new wave, and metal acts.