Search - Otis Redding :: Otis Blue: Sings Soul

4'5 Almost Perfect - But In Need of More Otis Songs

Josephll | CET | 06/07/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Otis Redding represents Southern "Deep Soul" more then anyone, with it's brassy arrangements and it's energic resolute vocals always delivered with alot of emotion and passion. The kind of Soul that Otis sang derive as much from Gospel then it does from Blues. In a time where alot of artists represented the manufacted Motown, Otis worked for Stax and he was also able to write his own music once in a while, even if that wasn't the standard for any albums at the time. The talented Georgian got a Pain in My Heart and The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads both albums gained modest success but would enentually have a huge influence on White British Rock bands such as the Rolling Stones that wrote the song "Can't Get No (Satisfaction)" under the infleunce of his music. Otis always toured constantly and eventually the interest for the young singer grew bigger. In 1966 he recorded his moist famous albhum thus far, "Otis Blue", generally regarded as one of the greatest classic Soul albums of all time. The album is a classic cause Otis is finally chosing which direction he wants to follow and the album itself manage to become a crossover hit. Together with Booker T. & the MG's Guitarist and occasional songwriting partner Steve Cropper and keyboardist/arrangers/procucer Isaac Hayes they create one of the finest Soul album of it's time. The deliverence in lyrics is just as immense as the impressive arrangements and together they're unstoppable. But there is one problem stopping it from pefection, only 3 out of 11 songs are Otis Redding originals where the rest are covers. Well, Most albums looked like this at the time, and Otis makes a great job on whatever he performes but it's hard to make a fair judgement when the covers are some of the most famous songs of all time.



The opener is called "Ole Man Trouble" and was written by himself, one of his best songs for sure. The second song needs no further presentation cause it's "Respect" tha song that he first wrote and Aretha made her own. A cover of his recently deceased idol Sam Cooke (died in December 1964), the political civil rights song "A Change Is Gonna Come" that also Aretha covered by the way is amazing. Otis version is delivered with more Soul while Cooke producers did what they could to make him a pop star. Still, I prefer Cooke's version. A Salomon Burke cover of "Down In The Valey" is also good and seem taylormade for his own style. The Otis penned "I've Been Loving You Too Long" proves he's also capable of performing ballads but unfortunately this was the last song he wrote for this album. Sam Cooke's "Shake" is performed in classic Otis manner with alot of energy and passion and is good aswell. Temptations "My Girl" is rather simular to the original while Cooke's third song "Wonderful World" is better under Sam's guidance. "Rocky Me Baby" is very bluesy and was actually written and perfomred by blues legend B.B King. Reddings version of "Satisfaction" is undescribably good, even if it's a hard to compete with a classic's classic like this he's very close this time. Closer, "You Don't Miss Your Water" a cover of a William Bell song is a ballad, a pretty good one.



Overall, Otis Redding is an excellent performer and icon for classic Soul, and while this is one is coherant packed with good songs of classic Soul, it suffers from Otis originals, "Respect" is excellent for instace but he should have included more personal songs cause he was a good writer. However, I still recommend it to anyone interested in classic Soul and in a perfomer that gives 101% of his energy in every cut, but if you want to explore his genuine songwriting gifts, look elsewhere. What's even more tragic is when he was finally getting more mainstream success and finding his own path with more personal material he died from a plane crash in 1967. His posthumous single "(Sittin On) the Dock Of The Bay" reached #1 on the charts in 1968 and became a immortal Soul classic, but at that time he wasn't around to celebrate it. Who know's what he would've amount to later in his career. However, This album is a good start in getting to know the man and his legacy."