AMG Review of Classics

Steve Leggett
All Music Guide

With the release of "The Twist" in 1960, Chubby Checker probably did more than anyone else to insure that dancers at the end of the 20th century and into the 21st would scarcely come into physical contact with each other on the dancefloor. The Pony, the Limbo, the Hucklebuck, the Fly -- Chubby celebrated them all in his songs, starting a virtual cottage industry of rock & roll dance crazes, and if the formula eventually wore a bit thin, there's no denying that any of them could get a party going. This collection has all the essentials, including "The Twist," "Pony Time," "Limbo Rock," and "The Fly." It also closes out with a track called "The Original Master of the Dancehall Beat," a curious 2004 release that has Checker rechristening himself Chubby C and going hip-hop backed by rap duo OD (Jermaine Brown and Hovannes Dilakian, a Jamaican/Russian collaboration that defies easy explanation) and the reggae rhythms of Inner Circle. Needless to say, encountering a dose of Jamaican dancehall at the end of this collection of classic 1960s hits is a bit unnerving.