How's this for weird? Chuck Berry's only Number One pop single was not "Maybellene" or "Johnny B. Goode." It was the naughty 1972 cheeseball "My Ding-A-Ling." That freak smash, recorded live at a show in England, unfairly defined Berry's last years at Chess, during which he made solid cruising-rhythm records with electric-country overtones such as 1971's San Francisco Dues and 1973's Bio. This four-CD collection opens with Berry's last great original song, the 1970 gallop "Tulane." His observations on the hippie youth explosion ("San Francisco Dues") lack the wit and malt-shop argot of his Fifties hits. But amid the covers and live remakes of his classics, Berry plays a lot of masterful guitar. The studio instrumental "London Berry Blues" is six prime minutes of choked riffs and fluid blues lines with that unmistakable tart treble — recorded two days after "My Ding-A-Ling."

“Ambling Alp”

The "Ambling Alp" was the nickname of the six-and-a-half-foot-tall Primo Carnera. Though the song is named after the Italian-born 1930s heavyweight champion, Yeasayer are actually paying tribute to boxing legend Joe Louis with this first-person psychedelic dance-rock tune. “I was always interested in writing a song that had boxing mythology in it,” Yeasayer’s Chris Keating said. “It’s pretty fascinating: There were so many amazing characters, and it was so closely entwined with 20th century history.” Yeaseyer also invokes German champ Max Schmeling and hints at the historical significance placed on the historic bouts between the Nazi-era boxer and the African-American Louis.