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My Blue Heaven: The Best Of Fats Domino

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If Buddy Holly proved you could be skinny, geeky and wear glasses and still become a rock star, then Fats proved you could be plump, black, and stay seated at the piano and be a rock star...if enough talent was there. His songs are brief and simple but perfectly effective...some of them jump, some are ballads, some have fine lyrics, most have super keyboarding and a few have a wailing sax that really grooves. I am old enough to remember when most of the hits on this disc first came out, but even if you are not, you'll still enjoy them: "When My Dreamboat Comes Home" and "Blueberry Hill" and "I'm Walkin'" and "Valley of Tears" and "Walking to New Orleans" are the most famous. My favorite is "I'm Gonna Be a Wheel Someday", which I recall singing to myself when I had a hopeless crush on a girl in 10th grade who was far above my station. Also great are "Ain't It a Shame" and "I Want to Walk You Home" and just about all the others. Fats got his start in R & B when it was still called "race music", a few years before "Rock 'N Roll" became the immortal phrase. He bridged both worlds easily. He was a giant, and not just in the waistline. No collection of "Fifties Rock" can leave him out.

For a great overview of the man's career, this, as far as I know, is about the best there is, and at a good price. He wasn't as rowdy as Little Richard, but his good times are just as fun and there is no denying that he is among the best of the artists of the 50's. You just want to smile while listening to the drawl and the great piano stylings of Fats. He packed more fun into his two minute singles(sometimes less) than just about anybody. It feels like he's winking when he plays and that's a compliment. There's also great sax playing on these songs, and there is just a great sense of that New Orleans good times whenever you play Fats. If you want to hear one of the greats of the 50's, listen to Fats. If you're ever feelin' down and need someone to make you smile, this is your ticket to good times.

The Crescent City has produced a wealth of talent over the decades: Professor Longhair, The Neville Brothers, Lloyd Price, Dr. John, but none has dominated the pop charts like pianist Fats Domino, who with writing partner and producer Dave Barthalomew, placed more than thirty singles on the pop charts between "Ain't That a Shame" in 1955 and "What a Party" in 1961, selling 65 million records along the way--only Elvis sold more records than "The Fat Man" during the same period.

Domino's boogie-woogie piano and R&B vocals propelled such hits as "I'm in Love Again," "Blueberry Hill" (one of the few singles he didn't write), "Blue Monday," "I'm Walkin'," "Whole Lotta Loving" and "Walking to New Orleans," his final Top 10 from 1960. This collection even includes a couple of his early R&B hits: 1949's "The Fat Man" and 1953's "Please Don't Leave Me."

Although he wasn't the showman that contemporaries like Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis were, his impact on the formative years of rock 'n' roll made him a shoe-in for induction into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame's first class of inductees in 1986.

These are all original Imperial recordings and this CD is an excellent overview of a prolific career. If you need more, try tracking down EMI's out-of-print 4-CD They Call Me the Fat Man from 1991. ESSENTIAL

This is another of those 'Greatest Hits' CD's by Fats Domino. The material ranges from his first Imperial recording in 1949, "The Fat Man", to his last hit in the early 60's on ABC-Paramount, "Walkin' to New Orleans." However, there is only spotty coverage of the early 50's like the 1953 "Please Don't Leave Me," and the 1955 "Ain't It A Shame." Most of the cuts are the big sellers from 1956-1959. Still, there is enough of that great boogie-woogie blues piano and driving rhythm to rate this an excellent CD.I'm still waiting for a "complete" collection of Fat's work broken down by years. I'm getting tired of these "Volume 1" "Best Of" offerings. Fats was a major rock and roll artist and deserves the full star treatment.

New Orleans was the Mecca of musical styles, be it blues, ragtime, jazz, which was born there, and creole. Mixing jazz, boogie-woogie, Cajun, and blues, all crafted by bandleader Dave Bartholomew's arrangements, Antoine Domino became one of the key figures in the birth of rock, as many of his songs were covered by white artists who didn't have that leisurely warm drawl of his. And that nickname Fats, given to him by musician Billy Diamond, stuck. However, despite his transcending racism and ageism prevalent in the white-dominated music business of the 1950's, Fats Domino scored better on the R&B charts than the pop charts. This compilation takes Fats Domino's Imperial singles from 1953 to 1961. Highlights: "My Blue Heaven" is a perfect example of engaging piano and accompanying brass that characterized his sound. And it was featured in the movie of the same name with Steve Martin and Rick Moranis. It was also the flipside of "I'm In Love Again", #1 R&B, #3 pop, which clearly showed some rock and roll sounds also familiarized by Buddy Holly. An amusing line is "baby don't let your dog bite me."

"The Fat Man" was a cleaned up version of Champion Jack Dupree's "Junker Blues," a drug song from 1940. Fats' version hit #2 on the R&B charts.

The mid-paced cajun-flavoured "Ain't That A Shame" proved to be Fats' breakthrough in rock and roll, but at a price. Pat Boone's version hit #1, while Fats version only hit #10. Urggh, now ain't that really a shame? A similar sound is heard in his best known song, his cover of Louis Armstrong's "Blueberry Hill," which highlights his Cajun drawl and its pre-rock sound didn't stop it from getting to #2 on the pop charts and #1 on the R&B charts.

Another #1 R&B hit was his cover of Smiley Lewis's "Blue Monday" which not only sports the same sound but was featured in the rock-and-roll movie The Girl Can't Help It, which had him performing that number in the latter part of the movie. My favourite bit is that drumming that accompanies his singing "Saturday morning, Saturday morning." Blue Monday, better than thinking a la Garfield "I hate Mondays."

The #1 R&B fingersnapping boogie-woogie "I'm Walkin'" was one of three songs featuring "walking" in the title, and he and Ricky Nelson duetted on this a few years before the latter's death. The other two "walking" songs were the leisurely "Walkin' To New Orleans" which sports some strings and the #1 R&B "I Want To Walk You Home," another leisurely number.

"Valley Of Tears" only hit #2 R&B, but it's more leisurely than Fats' usual oeuvre. I wonder how the original by Brenda Lee sounds. I can imagine Buddy Holly doing the rollicking rockabilly of "Whole Lotta Love", which is a sweet marriage song that hit #2 R&B.

One of his last hits was the upbeat rock and roll "Let The Four Winds Blow" with that sweet tagline, "from the east to the west, I love you the best." And the festive "What A Party" clearly has Fats and friends having lots of fun.

Fats proved that one didn't have to be a hunka man like Elvis or a hotblooded young guy in order to make it. The ageism that made Bill Haley's career shortlived didn't affect Domino at all. But furthermore, chart evidence shows that he beat the racism that affected other black artists, as thirty-six of his songs hit the Top 40 from 55 to 63, making him only second to Elvis. And his songs were simple, with no hidden or double meanings, all within two minutes and packed with that upbeat boogie-woogie/cajun sound. And this from a guy who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1986) and Hall of Fame and Lifetime Achievement Grammies in 1987. This collection will put your in your own Blue Heaven.

Elvis Presley once called Fats Domino "the real King of Rock and Roll". Listening to the evidence on this CD, one might be inclined to agree with him. These are songs that helped to define rock and roll (although a couple of them actually pre-date the rock and roll era). This is great stuff, and it's a good sampler of his best work (although he recorded many other great songs besides the 20 included here). The songs are presented in chronological order, except for the title song, which comes first. One might ask "why was this CD named after 'My Blue Heaven', which wasn't even one of his biggest hits?" Well, there was a movie with that title that came out around the same as this CD did. It starred Steve Martin and Rick Moranis, and it wasn't a very big hit either. Anyway, if you are looking for a single disk Fats Domino collection, this is a good one.

What a fabulous collection! All this hits and then some are here, along with some really great liner notes. Mr. Antoine "Fats" Domino has made major contributions to both rock & r&b, this collection proves it. If you are really into 1950s rock & roll, this cd is highly recommended.

"My Blue Heaven - The Best of Fats Domino," EMI Imperial, 1990, is a good, thorough compilation of all the 1950's hits, on Imperial, that made the piano-playing Domino famous. And a few more seminal bits and pieces, too: the Cd's got 20 cuts in all. It's also a solid illustration of what makes Domino one of New Orleans' (his home town's), most engaging, entertaining exports.

The cuts included here, like all Domino's work for Imperial, were produced by his close, long-term friend Dave Bartholomew, and what a stroke of luck that proved for the musician. Domino and Bartholomew also wrote many of the biggest hits together: I expect those royalties have added up to quite a mountain of Carnival gewgaws over the years. Seems like Domino got in on the ground floor, when Bartholomew and Lew Chudd, owner of Imperial, joined forces, and went looking for exciting new acts around the Big Easy. They found the barely twenty year old Domino playing a local club, utilizing a half-forgotten old-style of pianism, what they called locally jailhouse blues. Nobody else was doing it - Bartholomew and Chudd were blown away. The trio cut their first single, "The Fat Man," in 1950, and, for several years thereafter, Domino's work languished in rhythm and blues. But times were changing, and Domino crossed over into rock and roll with "Ain't It A Shame," in 1955. If you were around at the time, you'll know that the white singer Pat Boone quickly covered it, as "Ain't That a Shame," and had a pretty big hit with it, too. But Domino and Bartholomew were getting the royalties, even so, and were able to cry all the way to the bank.

Many more hits followed, several of them covered by white performers at the time. But the hits live to this day, alive on the radio and in our hearts, in Domino's smooth stylings. Every one of them is in this compilation: the title song, of course, and "I'm In Love Again,""When My Dreamboat Comes Home,""Blueberry Hill, "Blue Monday,""I'm Walking," "Whole Lotta Loving,""I Want to Walk You Home," and "Walking to New Orleans."You have to say that these guys had a big hand in creating rock and roll, ribald, good time category.

Some years ago, I was lucky enough to see Domino in person, in Las Vegas. He was good-humored, highly entertaining - and, perhaps he was inspired by the venue, but those diamond rings all over his piano-playing hands winked, flashed and sparkled in the limelight. He's definitely one of the more engaging exports to come out of New Orleans.

Hey forget about Elvis,forget about Little Richard or Chuck Berry or Jerry lee or Jackie Wilson. There's darn good evidence on this cd that Fats was the true "King Of Rock and Roll". Buy this cd and judge for yourself.

FATS DOMINO-MY BLUE HEAVEN/THE BEST OF: New Orleans' most famous musical exponent FATS DOMINO racked up a helluva lot more hit singles than CHUCK BERRY, LITTLE RICHARD, or BUDDY HOLLY, yet he's seldom mentioned in their company anymore as one of rock & roll's pioneering figures, starting with his raw 1949 RNB smash THE FAT MAN. His warm, conversational vocal turns and rollicking piano prowess informed dozens of classic laid-back ballads and midtempo rockers usually written by himself and prolific bandleader DAVE BARTHOLOMEW. With a fondness for lyrics like "BLUE" (BLUE MONDAY, MY BLUE HEAVEN, BLUEBERRY HILL) and "WALK" (I'M WALKIN', I WANT TO WALK YOU HOME, WALKIN' TO NEW ORLEANS), DOMINO's non-threatening presence bowled over blacks and whites, parents and teens alike. Like so many other early rock stars, FATS' chart dominance ended with the invasion of THE BEATLES, whose songs he nonetheless covered, including their obvious homage LADY MADONNA. MY BLUE HEAVEN racks up 20 cuts reeking of charisma, charm, and class from a man whose talent was every bit as big as his name.

RATING: FIVE TINKLIN' IVORIES