Fats Domino is Back!

Fats Domino wasn't actually a rock'n'roll performer. Most of the time, he was doing his stuff big band style, and his whole output reeks of jazz and jazz-pop more than anything else. However, I understand that when we're talking early stages of rock'n'roll, when it was just evolving from R'n'B which was itself evolving from a mixture of gospel and jazz, any definite and concise definitions are simply impossible. I don't think that even highly professional musical experts might prove that Fats was 'jazz' or, on the contrary, was 'rock'. But who cares anyway and who needs labels? Above all, Fats was an entertainer, and a good one at that. We all know that he influenced just about anybody: the Beatles performed his songs, him being an especial favourite of McCartney, not to mention that both Paul and John ended up recording 'Ain't That A Shame' on their solo albums, while Mick Jagger, as everybody knows, took the famous 'rap' advice - 'screw the words, concentrate on the music' (this is not a quotation) and made it one of his main mottos.
I, however, am not discussing mottos here, and I didn't set up this page to determine who was an influence on whom; I don't care for artists if their main function was 'to influence'. Thankfully, Fats' music goes far beyond 'influential', and this here CD is a superb one, absolutely listenable and enjoyable today and, I hope, fit to listen two thousand years from now in case the material doesn't give way. I'm not exactly sure about the quality of this stuff: the CD seems of a bootleg-character, and the sound is often terrible. See, this is not just 'greatest hits', this is 'greatest hits live', and I'm pretty sure it's a rather late recording - Sixties, maybe, or even Seventies. The material, however, is all classic, in fact, I can hardly see anything really important from the Fats catalogue that is omitted. And whatever be the sound quality, you always get used to it in the end, doncha? Anyway, my main complaint is that it is very hard to hear Fats singing, but after all, that was probably the main idea, right? And on the other hand, all the crowd noises only add to the excitement and the adrenaline-pumping generated by the songs.
So Fats might be 'jazz', but the main thing is that he was a great songwriter and entertainer - I would really love to see him perform live. Imagine a piano-playing Louis Armstrong with just as much playing talent and twice as much charm and audience attracting ability, and you have a vague portrait of Fats. Whether he's playing a retroish slow jazz-pop number ('Blueberry Hill', an ancient Armstrong trademark, in fact), a bit of soul ('Red Sails In The Sunset') or a lightning-speed, guts-spinning 'jazz-boogie' song ('I'm Ready', 'Jambalaya'), he's always listenable, catchy and oh so clever. The backing band is terrific - you can't get away from that brass section wherever you go. And, of course, there's the speed factor. Rock'n'roll? Chuck Berry? Nah. Nobody played as fast as good ol' Fats and his band in the old days; 'I'm Ready' and 'I'm Gonna Be A Wheel Someday' set a speed record for early rock'n'rollers, in fact, they set a speed record probably unsurpassed to this day, certainly not surpassed by the Ramones or these clowns the Sex Pistols. You can almost feel the wind in your face.
On top of that, Fats is a wonderful piano player. He doesn't really bash down the chords as some crazy guy of the Jerry Lee Lewis race, but gives out complicated, diverse and delicate passages instead, unfortunately, often marred by the sound quality on here. And his voice, while the words are indeed hardly understandable, is a nice, soothing one, all dribbling with sympathy and charm: just listen to his amusing 'wah-wah' choruses on 'Fat Man' or the gentle, sweet, almost sexy tone on 'I'm In The Mood For Love'. But the most amazing thing is that none of these twenty tracks sounds banal or corny, whether it's syrupy or not. Maybe it's because of the high quality of the backing band. Maybe because each of the songs has an amazing hook, sometimes more than one. Maybe it's because the songs are diverse: the only pattern that might get on your nerves is the 'slow stately ballad' type, with songs like 'So Long', 'Blue Monday' and the above-mentioned 'I'm In The Mood For Love' all setting the same lethargic atmosphere, but after a while you do start to notice that they all have distinct melodies of their own. Whatever; I just like this record very very much, together with its shitty quality, and wouldn't wanna trade it for a 'true' greatest hits package. Who knows, maybe the excitement will disappear together with the live sound? Have you ever considered that possibility?