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7 overdubs of familiar songs. We've got previously unreleased back- ing tracks. We've also included examples of Fats working as a ses- sion pianist for other artists (including Joe Turner, Lloyd Price and Smiley Lewis) early in his career. And to show how inf luential Fats's style was, we've included some examples of other performers imi- tating Fats during his Golden Era. P erhaps the biggest news concerns the Speed-up . Every- body knows that some of Fats's I MPERIAL records were speeded up for release, making them both faster and pitched in higher keys. But how many of them? And which ones? And just how much were they speeded up? And, in case you won- dered, how was it done back in 1955 and by whom? We didn't have as good a handle on those questions when the original box set was compiled back in 1993, and we sure didn't know the answers. But we do now. And we admit, back 25 years ago we screwed up some of the speeds on our original box. And when other labels tried to fix things with their Fats Domino reissues in the years since, they made their own mistakes and just added to the mess. But all that is over. We've done everything possible to get the speeds exactly right this time. What is completely new here is that we also present, for the first time anywhere , examples of Fats's Greatest Hits as they were originally performed in the studio, at their original speeds and in their real keys. No speed-up. You can be a f ly on the wall and hear songs like Ain't It A Shame and I'm Walk- ing as they actually sounded in Cosimo's New Orleans studio. That addition alone makes this box a landmark event. And make no mis- take. Restoring Fats's music to its original key and speed is not sim- ply an academic exercise. These recordings have never sounded better. There is a clarity to the band work and a richness to Fats's voice that you've never heard before. I t's not only the music. A lot has also gone into updating this book. Fats biographer Rick Coleman, has revised his contri- bution to ref lect his further research into Fats's life and music. Rick's award-winning biography 'Blue Monday: Fats Domino And The Lost Dawn Of Rock 'n' Roll' was published in 2006 and much new information is incorporated into his contribution here. The book accompanying this box set also includes an updated Fats Domino I MPERIAL R ECORDS Discography, an ABC P ARAMOUNT Fats discography, and hundreds of new pictures and illustrations includ- ing vintage ads and f lyers that haven't been seen since they were originally published in trade journals. We've also included the PBS documentary video, 'The Big Beat: Fats Domino And The Birth Of Rock 'n' Roll,' co-produced by Rick Coleman and Joe Lauro. So sit back and enjoy this updated Fats Domino set with all its new features. As you'll soon discover, it's the one we've been waiting for. Hank Davis & Scott Parker April 2019