Best known for producing many of Fats Domino's biggest hits, Dave Bartholomew worked on countless other New Orleans sides, as well. This compilation presents the cream of the crop. If only one Domino selection, "I Hear You Knocking," is included, that's because The Fats Domino Jukebox picks up the rest of the slack. Domino fans may also be interested to compare his versions of "Sick and Tired," "Blue Monday," "Four Winds," and "I'm Gonna Be a Wheel Someday" with the rougher renditions here by Chris Kenner, Smiley Lewis, Bartholomew, and Bobby Mitchell, respectively.
Although Domino had bigger hits with most of these songs, "I Hear You Knocking" actually charted higher for Lewis (and probably helped assuage any regrets he had regarding "Blue Monday"). The liner notes, penned by John Broven (Rhythm & Blues in New Orleans), note that Dave Edmunds would take the song even higher up the charts in the 1970s. In the 1980s, Bartholomew's "That's How You Got Killed Before" was ably covered by yet another British artist, Elvis Costello, on the Dirty Dozen Brass Band's New Orleans Album (and as a bonus track on King of America). Unfortunately, this set is missing one of Bartholomew's most famous productions, Lloyd Price's "Lawdy Miss Clawdy," but that's probably because it was recorded for Specialty Records, whereas all the selections in EMI/Capitol's Crescent City Soul series, including those on The Fats Domino Jukebox, were exclusive to Imperial and Minit.