Rock icon Chuck Berry turned 80 last October. One of rock's original bad boys, Berry, who spent three stretches in prison for various offenses, was a guitar genius who put an indelible stamp on the history of rock and roll in addition to being a consummate performer. His songs like "Roll Over, Beethoven," "Carol," and "Little Queenie" and many others were inspirations for the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan to name just a few.

Berry was a rock pioneer, one of the few worthy of such a production as "Hail, Hail! Rock and Roll," a film made in 1986 to celebrate Berry's 60th birthday, but finally released on a DVD collector's edition just this year. The film is based on a concert staged to honor Berry, with the concert being primarily the production of musical director Keith Richards, the Rolling Stones guitarist who long found inspiration in Berry and idolized his talent. Directed by Taylor Hackford, the movie was and is not only just the concert, but also a loving journey into the history of rock and roll. Now, 20 years after the film was made, we see not only the making of the concert and the concert itself, but also extensive extras on the four DVDs that comprise this magnificent collection.

The concert itself featured Berry, Richards, and guest artists such as Eric Clapton, Robert Cray, Linda Ronstadt, Etta James, Julian Lennon, original Berry keyboardist Johnny Johnson and saxophone player Bobby Keyes, who tours with the Stones. The second disc features almost an hour of rehearsals for the concert, featuring Berry, Richard, Clapton, James and the others. The last two discs include, among other things, fascinating interviews with early figures in rock including Jerry Lee Lewis, Bo Diddley, the Everly Brothers, and Willie Dixon, among others. Listening to Berry and Diddley relating tales of being black artists in the south makes discrimination very real, indeed.

The concert itself was reviewed by Billboard magazine in 1986 and described as a "once-in-a-lifetime" event. Given the guest artists involved, that certainly seems to be the case. The movie is the main event, but it's the extras that make this a journey into the history of rock 'n roll that is more than worth the price of admission.

Tim West is a columnist and opinion page editor for the Naperville (Illinois) Sun newspaper and a fan of both rock and folk music.