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the Fat Man rocks on. The man at his best, many of these numbers I heard back in the UK for the first time in the 50's and they still sound as good,NO EVEN BETTER NOW.
There is some filler, but this is still the best collection of Fats Domino's hits I've seen. If you were a teen in the late '50s/early /60s, the songs on this CD will be very familiar to you.
I do not recomend that any connoisseur of the 1950's Fats whose music is still audible in his/her ears buy it, this is a disappointing experience. The recording is of poor quality and does not sound like Fats Domino that I remember. Fats does not even sound like his concert at Petinas.
USER REVIEWS can help save the rest of us from falling prey to buying copies of music with inferior recording. Let's all put pressure on record producers to create recordings that do full justice to the amazing vocal and instrumental talents of the artists. Let's end the junk copies. This results in varying qualities among the song selections. Adding to the problem of different levels of master copies being used, is the fact that different levels of skills and/or equipment can be employed to create different songs in the SAME CD. It's just too bad that EVERY song wasn't able to be recorded in multi-track stereo. Then, only buy CD's with high marks in those areas. An example of this is on the "The Beach Boys -Sounds of Summer" CD.
As the Fat Man sang, "Ain't that a shame." -------------------------------------------------------------------------- *My ignorance about the limits of modern re-mastering technology led me to expect a fabulous stereo sound on all 30 tunes.silly boy. In the 1960s, instruments and vocals were recorded on multi-track tapes. That is accurate. All 30 songs were recorded during the stereo recording era, yet a couple of the songs like "Surfin' Safari" barely sound stereophonic. The success of that product actually sounding better to us depends on: 1. Further, a secondary master tape would likely be created from this original master recording consisting of equalization and other adjustments and improvements to the audio to make it sound better on vinyl, 8-track tape, etc.
Since buying this CD, I researched and discovered that the first stereophonic phonograph records didn't become available to the general public until 1958. To further your savviness of "remastering," I'm adding the following information: Digital Remastering is a term that is often believed to mean "made better." Not necessarily true. The skill and experience of the mastering engineer staff; 2. Remastering simply refers to some process of modifying one of the recorded versions.
That's some consolation to a stereophile like me. I'm a little disappointed in this CD even though it contains almost all of Fat's great tunes ("I Hear You Knocking" and "Kansas City" are missing). This is unnecessary, and any reduction in dynamic range totally turns me off. Our personal taste -ie: does addition of "reverberation" improve the song for you or annoy you. I need to be able to savor the lowest and the highest notes that the musicians played.
Now I understand the reality of remastering and hope this is helpful to you too. The cause of my disappointment, I must own up, was my ignorance about the term "remaster." I bought this CD because other reviewers had given it an average score of a perfect five, and because one reviewer reported that all 30 hits had been digitally remastered. Many of the individual instruments and/or voices can nearly disappear among an irritating garble of racket. Because of this CD's good remastering, even some of the pre-1958 tunes seem to have at least "a suggestion" of stereo separation. I love Fats Domino tunes, they have a beat that make you itch to jump up to the floor to move those feet. Moreover, the 1965 "California Girls" has much better stereophonic voice/instrument isolation than the 1988 "Kokomo" which is 13 years younger. The modern era gives publishers almost unlimited ways to touch up, doctor, and "improve" their media. My problem was that I didn't realize that the first 24 songs were remasters of the original SINGLE channel recordings -and that does NOT translate to STEREO sound.
If I get a superbly done copy then I'm glad I spent the extra money. Then these tapes were mixed to create a stereo or mono master. This makes the new remastered version sound very different than the original song. We all can do this by writing reviews that always discuss such qualities as the degree of stereo isolation of voices and instruments, their clarity and robustness, and the fullness of dynamic range, etc.
As each release promises improved sound, producers hope these upgrades will entice people into making another purchase. Note that several different levels of masters often exist for any one audio release, so many different CD qualities can result. I'm happy to say that this CD does contain five post-1958 (stereo) songs: "I Want To Walk You Home," "Be My Guest," "Walking To New Orleans," "My Girl Josephine," and "Let The Four Winds Blow." These five have a rich a sound with the instruments and voices sounding clear -and out of separate speakers. The quality of the original source recordings; 4. Otherwise, I feel that both I and the artists themselves are being ripped off.
This Fats Domino CD arranges the songs in the order that they were recorded, starting with "The Fat Man" (1951) and ending with "Let The Four Winds Blow" (1961). Another problem is that many of the remastered CDs from the late 1990s onwards have had the average volume of the recording raised -at the expense of dynamic range. It usually annoys me. They're works of a musical master and a true gentleman with a sweet spirit. The equipment used for the process; 3.
He was one of the first artists to cross the barrier and bring real rock and roll to white audiences starting with 1955's Ain't That A Shame, which was covered by who else.Pat Boone. His records just flat out made you feel better and they had the big beat. This one is even better because it features 30 and they are all great.
So if there is only room for one Fats Domino CD, THIS IS THE ONE. The sound on these classic gems is excellent. Fats Domino was a major contributor to the birth of rock and roll and at the age of 80, still resides in New Orleans and is undoubtedly one of our national treasures.
I reviewed several years ago, the Fats Domino CD with 20 songs on it. This CD includes those left off previous compilations like Please Don't Leave Me (1953) Honey Chile (1956) I'm Ready (1959) and others. Essential to every collection.
From 1950 to 1963, his records were always on the R&B and pop charts with his driving New Orleans band and his carefree relaxed vocals and roadhouse piano style. Well, in time, teens knew the real thing when they heard it and he racked up Rock and Roll masterpieces like Blueberry Hill, I'm Walking, Whole Lotta Lovin', I Want To Walk You Home, Blue Monday, I'm Ready and more.
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