Berry's debut, with a quite generous running order of 16 tracks, was a showcase for his versatility that worked to both his advantage and disadvantage. It's not so much that he can't decide whether he wants to be an R&B/blues/soul singer or a pop balladeer. It's more like he wants to do everything, but can't do everything well. The classic hit "The Crying Game" certainly succeeded as a tear-wrenching sentimental ballad, but his covers of rock and soul classics like "Not Fade Away,"
the Drifters' "I Don't Want to Go on Without You," and a folk-bluesy "See See Rider" were ordinary, exposing his vocal limitations. Too, the pace varies so often that it's unnerving, going into folky country & western with "Ella Speed," corny '50s-styled orchestrated pop on "The Girl From the Fair Isle," and droopy country-pop on "My Last Date." But before you can write him off, he comes up with a fine, tough-clanking prison blues with vicious fuzz guitar on "Go on Home." It's also undeniable that some of his over-the-top ballads, like his reading of "God Bless the Child" with strings, have some charm no matter how hard you might want to resist. Along those lines, the best ballad is the compellingly moody "On the Other Side of Town," where cantina guitars duke it out with folky
Four Seasons harmonies. Also worthy is "Don't Make Fun of Me," whose melodrama is interrupted by a ferocious, twanging fuzz guitar solo. Like all of
Berry's 1960s LPs, as of the early 21st century this was rare and long out of print and worthy of CD reissue by someone despite its flaws.