Otis Blackwell wrote several of Elvis Presley's biggest hits: Don't Be Cruel, All Shook Up, and Return To Sender. He wrote two of Jerry Lee Lewis' signature songs, Great Balls Of Fire and Breathless. He co-wrote Fever (first recorded by Little Willie John), Handy Man, and Hey Little Girl.
Otis was a gifted performer in his own right. Daddy Rollin' Stone was his first single, released in 1953. The song became a hit in Jamaica for Derek Martin, and it was later recorded by The Who, The New York Dolls, The Blasters and others.
Otis Blackwell recruited The Smithereens as his backing band for two self-released 1983 albums, From The Beginning and Let's Talk About Us, and they toured together before The Smithereens scored their own first hit in 1986 with "Blood And Roses". Stinky's astonishing set of 32 Otis Blackwell recordings, demos, and live performances ends with Otis backed by Foghat on live versions of "All Shook Up" and "Don't Be Cruel".
The Best Of Otis Blackwell:
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Another Stinky Production
I'd kill to hear those two self-released albums backed by the pre-fame SMITHEREENS!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
ReplyDeleteJonder Happy NY 2022 Thx for everything and the hard work, great stuff. Otis comps could take 10 lifetimes he is so great but this is a great start/tribute, very cool. 2022 will hopefully be great....
ReplyDeleteI hope so too, we thought it couldn't get worse than 2020! You can thank Stinky for the Otis Blackwell. The man had an amazing talent for songwriting.
DeleteThanks for stopping by Jeremy. And for commenting--even obsessives need encouragement! :)
ReplyDeleteI've looked everywhere for those 2 Otis and Smithereens records and ....NOTHING!
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone have these to share?
Oh yeah...GREAT comp!!
Thanks
John
I gather that they were privately pressed by Otis, and were sold at his concerts. He was ahead of his time, selling tour-only merch.
DeleteIf anyone reading this has those LP's and is willing to share, it would be tremendously appreciated. Thanks for your comment, cowculator!
Very belated Happy New Year, Team Jonky! I never knew all of those songs were written by Otis Blackwell and certainly wasn't familiar with his own release. I'm always getting schooled here. Thanks!
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