Fats Domino Live at Tipitina's

Fats Domino - The Imperial Singles Vol. 4, 1959-1961 (2011) {Ace Records CDCHD 1306}
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© 1959-61, 2011 EMI / Ace Records | CDCHD 1306
Rock & Roll / Early Rhythm & Blues / New Orleans R&B / Swamp-Pop / Piano Blues

The first three volumes of the Fats Domino Imperial Singles series (CDCHD 597, 649 and 689) saw New Orleans’ finest ascend from neophyte blues and boogie-woogie stylist to bona fide rock’n’roll star. With gold-plated hits of the calibre of ‘Ain’t That A Shame’, ‘Blueberry Hill’, ‘Blue Monday’ and ‘I’m Walkin’’ receding into history, it was assumed that Fats had peaked artistically. Wrong: One spin of this release will dispel that notion handsomely.

The most popular exponent of the classic New Orleans R&B sound, Fats Domino sold more records than any other black rock & roll star of the 1950s. His relaxed, lolling boogie-woogie piano style and easygoing, warm vocals anchored a long series of national hits from the mid-'50s to the early '60s. Through it all, his basic approach rarely changed. He may not have been one of early rock's most charismatic, innovative, or threatening figures, but he was certainly one of its most consistent.

The most popular exponent of the classic New Orleans R&B sound, Fats Domino sold more records than any other black rock & roll star of the 1950s. His relaxed, lolling boogie-woogie piano style and easygoing, warm vocals anchored a long series of national hits from the mid-'50s to the early '60s.

Fats Domino - The Imperial Singles Vol. 5, 1962-1964 (2012) {Ace Records CDCHD 1323}
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© 1962-64, 2012 EMI / Ace Records | CDCHD 1323
Rock & Roll / Early Rhythm & Blues / New Orleans R&B / Swamp-Pop / Piano Blues

The fifth and final volume in Ace's extensive series documenting Fats Domino's singles for Imperial covers the years in which the singer was settling into a slow and steady commercial decline after his mammothly successful first decade as a recording artist. When you were as big a star as Domino was, of course, that's relative. His final two Top 40 hits ("Jambalaya [On the Bayou]" and "You Win Again") are here, and several other tracks dented the charts, if in their lower regions. Still, not many of these show up on Domino best-ofs, not only because they weren't big hits, but because the early '60s found the Fat Man starting to tread water artistically.

Fats Domino - The Early Imperial Singles 1950-1952 (1996) {Ace Records CDCHD 597}
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© 1950-52, 1996 EMI / Ace Records | CDCHD 597
Early Rhythm & Blues / Rock & Roll / New Orleans R&B / Piano Blues

As a record of the earliest years of Domino's career, this 30-track CD couldn't be more thorough, presenting the A- and B-sides of his first 14 singles in chronological order (a couple of 1957 LP cuts, "The Fat Man's Hop" and "Hey! Fat Man," are added at the end). Domino's debut single, "The Fat Man," and perhaps "Goin' Home" (which actually got to number 30 in the pop charts in 1952) are the only songs from this period that are reasonably well known to all but the devoted rock & roll/R&B collector. Actually, a few of the other cuts were sizable R&B hits, like "Every Night About This Time," "How Long," and "Poor Poor Me." But it's safe to say that even the average Fats Domino fan will be unfamiliar with the bulk of this collection.

Released in conjunction in 2002 with the four-disc box set Walking to New Orleans, as well as three other titles in EMI/Capitol's Crescent City Soul series, The Fats Domino Jukebox: 20 Greatest Hits the Way You Originally Heard Them becomes the definitive single-disc Fats collection on the market nearly by default – it's remastered, it's the one in print, and it has a flawless selection of songs. It's not markedly better than, say, the '90s' definitive Fats compilation, My Blue Heaven, since it has essentially the same track selection and even if the tapes were restored to their originally running speed, the difference is not enough for most ears to notice, but it's still a great collection of some of the greatest music of its time, and it summarizes Domino's peaks excellently. So, if you don't already have a Fats Domino collection, this surely is the one to get.