This two-disc set gives an enjoyable and comprehensive overview of the musical career of Otis Blackwell. Anyone who looked at the names in the brackets on jukebox 45s back in the day would have seen this name very often. Because a lot of artists benefited from this singer-songwriter’s work – Pat Boone, Clyde McPhatter, Dee Clark, Lavern Baker, Ben E King, Cliff Richard, Bobby Darin, Charlie Gracie, Johnny Ray and some bloke called Elvis Presley…and more.

Otis worked with several labels including RCA, Groove, Jay-Dee and Atlantic, And yes, you know these songs – Daddy Rolling Stone, the early Who B-side? Blackwell. Jimmy Jones’ Handy Man? Blackwell. The first disc concentrates on recordings in his own name, kicking off with Wake Up Fool, taking in Here I Am, My Josephine, Make Ready For Love.

Then we get three Presley tracks including All Shook Up and Don’t Be Cruel and Jerry Lee Lewis’ Great Balls Of Fire. The programme continues on the second disc, bringing us Dee Clark’s Just Keep It Up, Jimmy Barnes’ No Regrets, Jerry Lee’s Livin’ Lovin’ Wreck, Nine Times Out Of Ten and You’re Just The One To Do It by Cliff Richard, The Marcels’ Twistin’ Fever, Bobby Darin’s All The Way Home, Thurston Harris’ I’m Out To Getcha and many others all the way through to Presley’s Return To Sender. A total of 62 numbers in all. Pretty much the full story of a talented and driven artist.

Pete Sargeant