1965
Produced By: Jim Stewart, Isaac Hayes, David Porter
32:54
The King of Soul, Otis Redding, recorded his third record, Otis Blue, in one incredible less than 24 hour session. The album consists of three Redding originals, including his astonishing "Respect" (which would later be covered by Aretha Franklin in one of the greatest vocal performances of the century), "I've Been Loving You Too Long" (My personal favorite), and "Old Man Trouble", whose lyrical content and mature writing style foreshadows his crossover hit, "Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay". The remaining eight tracks are mostly popular R&B/Soul hits of the day. From the talk about it, Otis Blue doesn't sound much different than any other record he had previously released, or from any other soul artist of the day for that matter.
Otis Blue however, is much, much more than that. Each song Redding covered equals and in most cases surpasses the original recording. These songs are pulled from artists such as Sam Cooke (who had been shot dead in a motel the previous year, and was a big influence on Redding), Solomon Burke, B.B. King, and even a cover of the Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", which drew parallels to Redding's songwriting (A journalist even accused the Stones of stealing the song from Redding, and recording it before him).
Backing Redding on these tracks is a young Isaac Hayes (who would later record the blaxplotation record Shaft), Booker T & The Mgs (who were Stax Record's house band, earlier had instrumental hit "Green Onions"). The horn section really builds up excitement and accents the rhythm section perfectly, standing out in performance on "Respect".
Redding's voice on these recordings is unsurpassable. He holds so much emotion and feeling, culminating in his "I've Been Loving You Too Long". Otis Blue was Redding's crowning achievement of the time, until "Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay". If you are one that doesn't like box sets of anthologies, Otis Blue is the best Redding record out there. Otis Blue has been called the greatest soul record of all time, and is indisputably one of the greatest of the 1960s.
Key Tracks - "Respect", "A Change Is Gonna Come", "I've Been Loving You Too Long", "Wonderful World", "My Girl"
Backing Redding on these tracks is a young Isaac Hayes (who would later record the blaxplotation record Shaft), Booker T & The Mgs (who were Stax Record's house band, earlier had instrumental hit "Green Onions"). The horn section really builds up excitement and accents the rhythm section perfectly, standing out in performance on "Respect".
Redding's voice on these recordings is unsurpassable. He holds so much emotion and feeling, culminating in his "I've Been Loving You Too Long". Otis Blue was Redding's crowning achievement of the time, until "Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay". If you are one that doesn't like box sets of anthologies, Otis Blue is the best Redding record out there. Otis Blue has been called the greatest soul record of all time, and is indisputably one of the greatest of the 1960s.
Key Tracks - "Respect", "A Change Is Gonna Come", "I've Been Loving You Too Long", "Wonderful World", "My Girl"
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