Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul

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Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul
Studio album by Otis Redding
Released	September 15, 1965
Recorded	April 19 and July 9-10, 1965 Stax Recording Studios
Genre	Soul, deep soul Memphis soul
Length	32:22 (Original LP) 123:11 (Expanded edition)
Label	Volt/Atco Volt 412
Producer	Jim Stewart Isaac Hayes David Porter
Professional reviews
Original Album: All Music Guide link BBC (favorable) link Q link Rolling Stone (favorable) link RS Album Guide link Warr.org link Expanded Edition: All Music Guide link Blender link Pitchfork Media link PopMatters (favorable) link Rolling Stone link UNCUT link
Otis Redding chronology
The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads (1965) Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul (1965) The Soul Album (1966)
Reissue cover
2008 Collector's Edition cover

Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul is the third album by soul singer Otis Redding and is considered by many critics to be Redding's first great album. Recorded in April and July of 1965, it was released September 15th of that same year. An expanded reissue was released in April 22nd of 2008. Four of the tracks had already or would later be released as singles.

[edit] Overview

Otis Blue includes covers of three songs by Sam Cooke, Redding's idol, who died the previous December in 1964. Their styles couldn't have been more different; Cooke smooth and sure, Redding raw and pleading. But Redding's versions of "Shake" and "A Change Is Gonna Come" show how Cooke's sound and message helped shape Redding's Southern soul sound. Redding's singing reaches a new level of expressiveness with this as well as with covers of B.B. King's "Rock Me Baby" and the Motown hit "My Girl". Also featured is Redding's rendition of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", a song epitomizing the fully formed Stax/Volt sound and which Mick Jagger and Keith Richards originally wrote in tribute to and imitation of Redding's style. Redding had never heard the original before he recorded his version only two months after the Stones' single was released, and changed some of the words, including singing "satisfaction" as "satisfashion". Redding said, "I use a lot of words different than the Stones' version. That's because I made them up".

"Respect" was a Redding original which became much more famous with Aretha Franklin's cover version. The album opener and B-side to his "Respect" single, "Ole Man Trouble", is a sign of Redding's emerging mature and reflective side that was to culminate in the posthumous "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay". "I've Been Loving You Too Long", co-written with Jerry Butler, was Redding's biggest hit until "The Dock of the Bay". The emotional album closer, "You Don't Miss Your Water", was written by fellow Stax mate William Bell four years prior to this recording and is given a deep soul treatment with a passionate shout by Redding as is Solomon Burke's "Down in the Valley". The album, with the exception of "I've Been Loving You Too Long", was recorded in a 24-hour session in July by Redding and the Stax house band, which included Isaac Hayes and Booker T. & the MG's, among others.

Otis Blue is regarded by many as one of the greatest soul albums of all time and ranks near the top of many "best album" lists in disparate genres. NME ranked it 35 on their list of the "Greatest Albums of All Time". ^[1] The album was also ranked 74 on the Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, 92 on Time magazine's list of the All-Time 100 Greatest Albums, and included in Q magazine's Best Soul Albums of All Time list. Rolling Stone magzine later described the album as "Redding's true dictionary of soul, a stunning journey through the past and future vocabulary of R&B....documenting a masterful artist rising to...the immense challenge of his times."^[2]

[edit] Track listing

[edit] Side One

1. "Ole Man Trouble" (Redding) – 2:55
2. "Respect" (Redding) – 2:05
3. "A Change Is Gonna Come" (Cooke) – 4:17
4. "Down in the Valley" (Berns, Burke, Chivian, Martin) – 3:02
5. "I've Been Loving You Too Long" (Redding, Butler) – 3:10

[edit] Side Two

1. "Shake" (Cooke) – 2:35
2. "My Girl" (Robinson, White) – 2:52
3. "Wonderful World" (Cooke, Adler, Alpert) – 3:00
4. "Rock Me Baby" (King, Josea) – 3:20
5. "Satisfaction" (Jagger, Richards) – 2:45
6. "You Don't Miss Your Water" (Bell) – 2:53

[edit] Collector's Edition 2008

An expanded double disc set edition of Otis Blue was released on April 22^nd 2008. The Rhino reissue features the stereo and mono versions of the album with bonus tracks that include B-sides, live tracks, and previously unreleased alternate mixes.

[edit] Disc 1

Features mono version of Otis Blue and bonus tracks including selections from In Person at the Whisky a Go Go.

1. "Ole Man Trouble"
2. "Respect"
3. "Change Gonna Come"
4. "Down in the Valley"
5. "I've Been Loving You Too Long"
6. "Shake"
7. "My Girl"
8. "Wonderful World"
9. "Rock Me Baby"
10. "Satisfaction"
11. "You Don't Miss Your Water"
12. "I've Been Loving You Too Long" (Mono Mix of Stereo Album Version) [previously unreleased bonus track]
13. "I'm Depending on You" [bonus track]
14. "Respect" (Mono Mix of Stereo Album Version) [previously unreleased bonus track]
15. "Ole Man Trouble" (Mono Mix of Stereo Album Version) [previously unreleased bonus track]
16. "Any Ole Way" [bonus track]
17. "Shake" (Live 1967, Stereo Mix of Single Version) [bonus track]
18. "Ole Man Trouble" (Live at the Whisky a Go Go) [bonus track]
19. "Respect" (Live at the Whisky a Go Go) [bonus track]
20. "I've Been Loving You Too Long" (Live at the Whisky a Go Go) [bonus track]
21. "Satisfaction" (Live at the Whisky a Go Go) [bonus track]
22. "I'm Depending on You" (Live at the Whisky a Go Go) [bonus track]
23. "Any Ole Way" (Live at the Whisky a Go Go) [bonus track]

[edit] Disc 2

Features stereo version of Otis Blue and bonus tracks including selections from Live in Europe.

1. "Ole Man Trouble"
2. "Respect"
3. "Change Gonna Come"
4. "Down in the Valley"
5. "I've Been Loving You Too Long"
6. "Shake"
7. "My Girl"
8. "Wonderful World"
9. "Rock Me Baby"
10. "Satisfaction"
11. "You Don't Miss Your Water"
12. "Respect" (1967 Version) [bonus track]
13. "I've Been Loving You Too Long" (Live in Europe) [bonus track]
14. "My Girl" (Live in Europe) [bonus track]
15. "Shake" (Live in Europe) [bonus track]
16. "Satisfaction" (Live in Europe) [bonus track]
17. "Respect" (Live in Europe) [bonus track]

[edit] Chart and single history

[edit] Personnel

• Otis Redding – lead vocals
• Steve Cropper – guitar
• Donald Dunn - bass guitar
• Isaac Hayes - keyboards
• Al Jackson, Jr. - drums
• Wayne Jackson - trumpet
• Andrew Love - tenor saxophone
• Gene Miller - trumpet
• Fred Newman - baritone saxophone

[edit] Production

• Yves Beauvais - producer
• Tom Dowd - recording engineer
• Pete Sahula - cover photo
• Haig Adishian - cover design
• Jim Stewart - supervision
• Bill Inglot & Dan Hersch - remastering
• Bob Rolontz - liner notes

[edit] References

1. ^ http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/1096926/a/Otis+Blue+-+Otis+Redding+Sings+Soul.htm CD Universe review excerpts
2. ^ Rolling Stone (8/17/00, p.114)