Search - Fats Domino :: Best of Fats Domino

Rock'n'roll music from New Orleans

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 03/09/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Like Memphis, New Orleans is a cultural melting pot, where you can find many different styles of music. Fats was already a successful recording artist long before the birth of rock'n'roll - he sold a million copies of The fat man in 1949 - but rock'n'roll gave his career a boost.



This compilation includes The fat man and two other pre-rock'n'roll successes (Going home, Going to the river) but mostly focuses on Fats' music between 1956 and 1962. Many of these songs are originals but the song for Fats is most famous, Blueberry hill, is actually a cover. Glen Miller had the original American hit with Blueberry hill, taking in to number one in 1940, but Fats was apparently inspired by Louis Armstrong's cover of the song. Blueberry hill was the only UK top ten hit for Fats although he had nine other UK top twenty hits. He did better in America, where he had many more major hits.



Among the other tracks here, one of the most significant is Be my guest, which, more than any other track here, shows why Fats was an influence on Jamaican reggae music. I hear you knocking, originally a Smiley Lewis song, will be familiar to many Brits because of the version by Dave Edmunds that topped the UK charts in 1971.



Many other classic Fats Domino hits are here including Ain't that a shame, I'm walking, Jambalaya, I'm in love again, Blue Monday, I want to walk you home and Walking to New Orleans.



If you just want a single CD of Fats Domino's rock'n'roll music, this is as good as you are likely to find."