Fats Domino I’ve Been Around - The Complete Imperial and ABC Recordings (12-CD & DVD Deluxe Box Set)

When we first saw Rien Boellaard’s list of 17 tracks that had been left off the Fats Domino box, we were astonished.  At least a thousand hours of research, listening, and writing went into the project. Had we really overlooked 17 tracks? That would be both shocking and exciting. It meant we might learn something new about Fats and his recorded legacy. And so we went through his list in detail. And guess what?

Not one of those 17 tracks is on the new Fats Domino box. And, more important, not one of them represents a track we overlooked. There is not a single accidental omission on the list. In every case we were well aware of the recording and chose to exclude it from the compilation for good reason.  In most cases, had Rien Boellaard taken the time to read the book that is part of the box set, he would have understood exactly why the track was not included. These were not oversights or errors. They were thoughtful decisions made by the Producers.

 Out of respect to Mr. Boellaard, we will go through all 17 of the tracks he has identified.   To simplify things, though, we’ll point out that most of his items fall into one of three Categories.

Category 1.  A few months after Fats left the label in 1962, Imperial brought some female backup singers into the studio and overdubbed about a dozen of his original masters.  These were desperate-for-product attempts to re-release his earlier recordings by updating them to keep making money off Fats. Fats certainly had nothing to do with these overdubs; he had already gone to ABC Paramount.  We nevertheless included what we consider to be the five best examples of them on CD  8. In that way we showed our listeners what had been happening to Fats’s music.

Category 2.  As we explained in the book, in or around 1957, when Fats’s touring schedule was becoming increasingly busy, he did not have sufficient time in the studio to generate product for the marketplace. Several experiments were made with letting him record on the road, but clearly everyone preferred making records in New Orleans.   Another solution attempted by Imperial was to pre-record instrumental backing tracks and leave them in the can until Fats came home and had some time for overdubbing sessions.  These tended to be brief and somewhat lifeless affairs.  It was also hit and miss as to whether Fats would want to record the song or use the backing track that had been produced in his absence.

As a consequence, there were some unused backing tracks. Imperial actually overdubbed some of those tracks with female singers and an unknown piano player (definitely not Fats!) and included them as filler on some latter-day “Fats Domino” LPs. Those tracks have nothing whatsoever to do with Fats Domino. He neither sings on them, nor does he play piano on them.  It was an easy decision not to include any of these recordings on the box. We think what Imperial did by including those tracks on a “Fats Domino album” was tantamount to fraud and we did not want to perpetuate it. 

Category 3.  Some of Fats Domino's recordings were edited after he left the studio. Some of them were shortened. Others were re-assembled from session fragments. Some were both re-assembled and shortened. On “I've Lived My Life”, a band intro that appeared on the original 78 was snipped off when the track was used on a later LP to produce the impression that Fats had started singing “cold”.  Obviously, every track that Fats recorded might be cut in half, extended by repeating a piano solo, faded prematurely, etc. There is no limit to what future engineers might choose to do with original recordings.

We did not feel honor-bound to include every such edit on this box. What we did feel compelled to do was to include Fats’s entire original performance. So, for example, you will discover “I've Lived My Life” exactly as it appeared on the original 78, rather than three seconds shorter because the opening chord was chopped off for a later LP “Boll Weevil” is another track that endured plenty of editing. We made sure the box had the original recording as well as the hit version, which was an edit.

Track 1.  See book page 202. For explanation read Category 1. 

Track 2. Entire topic is covered on page 143 in the book. There was no need to include this edited version.  Everything you'd want to know about Blueberry Hill is included on the CDs and in the book.

Track 3. this is discussed on page 143 of the book. See further discussion in Category 3.

Track 4. See Category 1 and in footnote on page 199 of the book. 

Track 5.  see Category 1 for explanation. See page 221 of book for further explanation.

Track 6. See Category 1 and Page 202 of book.

Track 7. see Category 2 for explanation, as well as footnote on page 201 of book.

Track 8.  see Category 3 for explanation amd footnote on page 194.

Track 9. See Category 2 for explanation, as well as footnote on page 200.

Track 10.  see Category 1 for explanation as well as footnote on page 199

Track 11. See detailed explanation on page 193

Track 12. see Category 1 and footnote on page 195 for explanation.

Track 13. see Category 2 and footnote on page 202 for explanation.

Track 14. see Category 1 and footnote on page 203 for explanation. Further explanation for this, and other Category 1 Tracks, also appears on page 221.

Track 15.  see Category 2 for General explanation, as well as footnote on page 201.

Track 16. No attempt was made to provide all stereo mixes, some of which appear to be inferior “fake stereo,” especially when excellent original mono mixes were available.

Track 17. See Category 1 for general explanation, as well as detailed account in footnote on page 202.

Sincerely,

Hank Davis & Scott Parker

Producers, Fats Domino: I’ve Been Around