Imperial R&B All-Stars

Side One:
1. The Fat Man - Fats Domino
2. Rootin' And Tootin' - Smiley Lewis
3. All That Wine Is Gone - Big Jay McNeely
4. Fats' Frenzy - Fats Domino
5. An Old Cow Hand From A Blues Band - Dave Bartholomew
6. Don't Cry Baby - Big Jay McNeely

Side Two:
1. Ain't Gonna Do It - The Pelicans
2. '44' - Fats Domino
3. Shame, Shame, Shame - Smiley Lewis
4. Good News - Dave Bartholomew
5. I Don't Need You - James "Sugar Boy" Crawford
6. Don't Leave Me This Way - Fats Domino

Here’s the second compilation in the “R&B All-Stars” series. This time round it’s the turn of Imperial Records out of Hollywood, California, although you’d think it was a New Orleans label when you look at the track list and listen to the rollicking rhythm and blues contained within the bits and bytes available for your downloading pleasure.

This is definitely a case of “all killer, no filler.” The Fats Domino tracks date from before “Ain’t It a Shame” and “Blueberry Hill” and are raw roughhouse R&B, with his first ever recording, “The Fat Man” kicking off the whole shebang in a welter of stomping piano. There’s a couple of belters from Smiley Lewis while Dave Bartholomew not only contributes recordings under his own name, but also arranges and plays on just about every other track in the collection. The two Big Jay McNeely tracks are the only reminder here that Imperial was in fact a West Coast label. Don’t worry – they fit right in with the good time rockin’ and rollin’ from New Orleans.

So play it LOUD, with a little bit of cross fading, and be prepared to dance, jump, howl and play air piano as the rhythm takes a hold of you.

Ripped from vinyl at 320 kbps.

Download from here:

http://www22.zippyshare.com/v/QblBgxzw/file.html

With thanks to "Spyder John" for pointing me towards the great Dave Bartholomew instrumental "Good News." Thanks also to Joan K for the 45 rpm record sleeve scan, and to "Brian with a B" for the "R&B All-Stars" idea.