Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul | ||||
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Studio album by Otis Redding | ||||
Released | September 15, 1965 | |||
Recorded | April 19 and July 9–10, 1965 Stax Recording Studios (Memphis, Tennessee) |
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Genre | Soul, R&B | |||
Length | 32:22 | |||
Label | Volt/Atco Volt 412 |
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Producer | Jim Stewart, Isaac Hayes, David Porter | |||
Otis Redding chronology | ||||
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Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul is the third studio album by soul singer Otis Redding, released September 15, 1965 on Stax Records. Most recording sessions took place in April and July 1965 at Stax Recording Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. The album is considered by many critics to be Redding's first fully realized album.[1] By the time of its release, four of the album's tracks had already or would later be released as singles. An expanded reissue of Otis Blue was released on April 22, 2008.
Contents |
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".[2]
"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.
Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [3] |
BBC Music | (favorable)[4] |
Blender | [5] |
Pitchfork Media | (10.0/10)[6] |
PopMatters | (9/10)[7] |
Q | [8] |
Record Collector | [9] |
Rolling Stone | [10][11] |
Uncut | [12] |
Virgin Encyclopedia | [13] |
Otis Blue 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".[14] 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 magazine 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."[15] The album appeared in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".[16]
Side one | |||||||||
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No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length | ||||||
1. | "Ole Man Trouble" | Otis Redding | 2:55 | ||||||
2. | "Respect" | Redding | 2:05 | ||||||
3. | "Change Gonna Come" | Sam Cooke | 4:17 | ||||||
4. | "Down in the Valley" | Bert Berns, Solomon Burke, Babe Chivian, Joe Martin | 3:02 | ||||||
5. | "I've Been Loving You Too Long" | Redding, Jerry Butler | 3:10 |
Side two | |||||||||
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No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length | ||||||
6. | "Shake" | Cooke | 2:35 | ||||||
7. | "My Girl" | Smokey Robinson, Ronald White | 2:52 | ||||||
8. | "Wonderful World" | Cooke, Lou Adler, Herb Alpert | 3:00 | ||||||
9. | "Rock Me Baby" | B. B. King | 3:20 | ||||||
10. | "Satisfaction" | Mick Jagger, Keith Richards | 2:45 | ||||||
11. | "You Don't Miss Your Water" | William Bell | 2:53 |
An expanded double disc set edition of Otis Blue was released on April 22, 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.
Features mono version of Otis Blue and bonus tracks including selections from In Person at the Whisky a Go Go.
Features stereo version of Otis Blue and bonus tracks including selections from Live in Europe.
Title | Information |
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Otis Blue |
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"Respect" |
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"I've Been Loving You Too Long" |
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"Shake" |
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"Satisfaction" |
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