Album: This Is Fats
Artist: Fats Domino
Release Date: March, 1958
Genre: R&B/Rock & Roll
Length: 0:27:11
Label: Imperial Records
Producer: Dave Bartholomew
1,001 Album Book: Yes
Fats Domino started a domino effect for music evolution...
One of the greatest influencers of Rock & Roll, Fats Domino had eleven Top 10 hits, over 65 million record sales and had 35 total records reach the US Billboard Top 40.
An extremely distinctive voice and style, Domino's opening song "Blueberry Hill" is an overall simple song featuring himself singing and playing piano, and a band featuring horns. The song established Domino as a pioneer in Rock & Roll with the use of melodic driving bass patterns and an ongoing ride cymbal throughout the entire song.
"Honey Chile" showcases Domino's arrangement talents throughout. The use of the instrumental pauses with Fats Domino singing by his lonesome self bring a dramatic effect to the song. The track features an enjoyable horn break and allows the listener the ease at which Domino sings at the forefront.
The song "Blue Monday" is a perfect example of the innovative quality of Fats Domino. Debuting in the late 1940s and reaching popularity in the 50s, this song showcases a style of music that wasn't truly popular at the time. The heaviness of the drums in the beginning, all with the laid back driving force of the piano, drums and bass influenced countless musicians. Without Domino's contributions to the music industry, the world could still be listening to classical music and opera, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but we would be far from the amount of genres around nowadays.
The track "You Done Me Wrong" continues to be the typical simplistic jam that the rest of the songs are but features a divine use of a call-and-response with the vocals and instruments. The song rarely has lyrics rather than just sounds but paired with the instrument response, you can hear the two characters Domino is singing about in the song without the use of actual lyrics.
"Reelin' And Rockin'" has a shocking drum solo intro for the song which was rare for the times. The track features a tambourine groove, a saxophone solo and a surfing guitar part, worthy of the beaches of Southern California.
The tenth track on the album is a purely instrumental song called "The Fat Man's Hop". The moment you press play on this song, you catch the feel that it is an instrumental song. The way the instruments are presented in this track are so vastly different from the rest of the album's otherwise beautiful production throughout. The piano playing by Domino is remarkable and allows the listener to hear his talent on the instrument more openly.
For the era that this album was recorded in, the production quality is fantastic. The clearness from all the instruments and how pure his voice sounds is impressive, almost better than some records that came out recently. The recording techniques weren't as advanced yet but the fact you can hear everything clearly is great for the times.
My biggest gripe with this album has nothing to do with Fats Domino, but rather the amount of places I had to search to find the entire album online. The first five songs were on Spotify in a playlist created for the album, the song "La-La" was featured on a "Legendary Imperial Recordings" for Fats Domino, the next tracks "Troubles Of My Own", "You Done Me Wrong", "Reelin' And Rockin'", and "The Fat Man's Hop" were all found on YouTube, while the final two tracks were found once again on Spotify. While this isn't a huge deal and doesn't make the album any less enjoyable, it's hard to enjoy the full composition when you have to jump over multiple hurdles to listen to its entirety.
Other than those issues, this album is a splendid listen to understand how and where music originated. The innovative parts of Fats Domino and how he helped influence an entire generation of musicians is something that is underappreciated in music now but should surely be studied. Today's music would be vastly different if it weren't for his influences and for that reason alone, I recommend listening to this entire album, just be prepared to go on a wild goose chase to listen to the full record...
Favorite Songs: "Blueberry Hill", "Blue Monday", "La-La", "The Fat Man's Hop"
Least Favorite Songs: "Troubles Of My Own"
Production Quality:
Mix = 8/10 (If the album released now, I would give it a 3-4, but given the times it is very impressive)
Innovation = 10/10 (One of the reasons music is the way it is now)
Songwriting Quality:
Arrangement = 5.5/10 (A lot of tracks sound the same but have some exciting parts scattered about)
Lyricism = 4/10
Instrumentation Quality:
Vocal Timbre = 8/10
Instrumental Timbre = 8/10
Group Chemistry = 8.5/10
Overall Likability:
My Personal Rating = 7.5/10
Overall Rating: 7.5/10
Any confusion on how the rating is weighted/calculated, please look at my "About" page.
Remember this is all my opinion! Let me know if you agree, disagree or have any comments!