Fats Domino

New Orleans-born Antoine "Fats" Domino is the subject of this 32-track salute issued in 2007 by CSP records. This collection draws upon three LPs: ABC's Here Comes Fats (1963) and Fantastic Fats (1964), as well as Paramount's Getaway with Fats Domino (1965). A pioneer of rock & roll during the 1950s, Domino spent the mid-'60s dishing out his own brand of popular music, garnished at times with contemporary production tropes including backup vocals that convey a sugary nostalgic charm. None of these tunes make it to the three-minute mark. Everything that needed to be done fit nicely into the parameters of the jukebox single format, a measured convention that still prevailed on long-playing records during the first half of the decade. Fats Domino sounded wonderful when crooning old chestnuts such as Richard M. Jones' "Trouble in Mind," the gently incendiary "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire," and nautically inclined favorites like "On a Slow Boat to China," "Red Sails in the Sunset" and "When My Dreamboat Comes Home." He rocks "Kansas City" and "Land of 1,000 Dances," slips into the funk with a tribute to "Wigs," and lays down a groovy hypnotic electric boogie line in the form of "Fats' Shuffle." This ain't the authentic early, early Fats Domino, but who cares! What you get here is primo easygoing music for walking, driving, cooking, cleaning, goofing off, kicking back, and feeling good. ~ arwulf arwulf, All Music Guide