At his best,
Bill Doggett
's organ- and sax-driven instrumentals were languid, suggestive bits of brilliance that approached
rock & roll
, while at the other end of things,
Doggett
's output often fell into a uninspired sort of poppy
cocktail
jazz
, which is why the brief
Greatest Hits
collection of his most successful sides for
King Records
is actually a pretty good bet. Too short to have any filler,
includes
's 1956 hit
"Honky Tonk,"
which pretty much set the template for the other strong tracks here, including
"Hold It,"
"Slow Walk,"
and
"Smokie."
Each of these sides builds a sort of tightrope tension out of strong,
blues
-based riffs that are as deliberate as they are infectious, and
never really came closer to the sun than this.
is barely 20 minutes long, but it casts
in the best possible light, and is arguably all you really need. ~ Steve Leggett