Handy Man: Otis Blackwell Story / Various [Import]

• Track Listing

If Otis Blackwell only wrote All Shook Up; Fever, and Don’t Be Cruel, he would have earned his place in the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame on the strength of those songs alone! Fortunately for Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Cliff Richard, Gene Pitney and more of the greatest singers of the ’50s and ’60s, he didn’t stop there. These 24 tracks by the original vocalists, many of which have never been released on CD, cover 20 years of Otis’ career and chart his path from R&B tunesmith to author of so many pop and early rock classics like the aforementioned trio (performed by David Hill, Little Willie John and the Killer, respectively); The Shape I’m In by Johnny Restivo; I Told Myself a Lie by Clyde McPhatter; Del Shannon’s rendition of the title track, and more! Ace Records.