Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul

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 (Memphis, Tennessee)
Genre	Soul, R&B
Length	32:22
Label	Volt/Atco Volt 412
Producer	Jim Stewart, Isaac Hayes, David Porter
Otis Redding chronology
The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads (1965) Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul (1965) The Soul Album (1966)

Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul, or simply Otis Blue, is the third studio album by soul singer Otis Redding, released September 15, 1965 on Stax Records. Written in a 24-hour period, except "I've Been Loving You Too Long", Otis Blue mainly features cover songs by popular R&B and soul artists. Most recording sessions took place in April and July 1965 at Stax Recording Studios in Memphis, Tennessee.

Otis Blue was critically acclaimed upon release and became Redding's most successful studio album to date, peaking at number 6 on the UK Albums Chart and his first to reach the top spot of the Billboard R&B chart. Furthermore, it produced three popular singles, all charting at least in the top 50 on both the Billboard R&B and the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It is considered by many critics to be Redding's first fully realized album.^[1]

On April 22, 2008, Rhino Records released a two-disc Collectors Edition of Otis Blue, consisting of numerous alternate mixes, rarities, several live performances, the B-sides "Any Ole Way" and "I'm Depending on You", as well as the original LP in mono and stereo sound.^[2][3]

Overview

Recording and releases

After the moderately successful album The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads, peaked only at number 147 on Billboard 200 chart, but eight weeks later charted at number 3 on the newly-created Billboard R&B LP chart, was released on March 1965, Redding's Otis Blue was considerably more successful.^[4]

Otis Blue is Redding's third studio album and second on Stax's sister label Volt. Redding was backed by Booker T. & the M.G.'s—guitarist Steve Cropper, bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn, drummer Al Jackson Jr.—pianist Isaac Hayes and a horn section consisting of members of the Mar-Keys and the Memphis Horns. The album opens with Redding's "mournfully harried" "Ole Man Trouble", which is, according to Claudrena N. Harold of PopMatters, "one of Redding's most introspective compositions".^[2][3] The lyrics deal with a man, who is "unable to escape the brutal realities of the blues",^[2] and which has been compared with Paul Robesons "Ole Man River".^[5] "Ole Man Trouble" was finished on the sessions earlier than other songs, and was later released as a B-side of "Respect", which is the next song.^[4] "Respect" was inspired by a quote of drummer Al Jackson, Jr., who allegedly said to Redding after a tour, "What are you griping about? You're on the road all the time. All you can look for is a little respect when you come home."^[6] Essentially a ballad, it was written by Redding for Speedo Sims, who intended to record it with his band "The Singing Demons". Redding rewrote the lyrics and speeded up the rhythm and Speedo then went with band to the Muscle Shoals studios, but was unnable to achieve a good version. Redding then decided to sing the song himself, what Speedo agreed with. He also promised to credit him on the liner notes, but this never happened; Speedo, however, never charged him for doing so.^[7] Aretha Franklin covered the song in 1967 and topped with it the Billboard R&B and Pop charts.^[8]

Sam Cooke's "Change Gonna Come", originally "A Change Is Gonna Come", and Solomon Burke's "gritty funk" cover "Down in the Valley",^[2] which "ratchets up both the gospel beatitude and the secular lust",^[3] come next. The fifth track, "I've Been Loving You Too Long", was the only one not recorded during the 24-hour session between 9–10 July.^[4] The song, co-written by Redding and The Impressions lead singer Jerry Butler in a hotel near the Atlanta airport,^[4] was, together with "Respect", recut in stereo during the Otis Blue-session, with the remarkable change that on the latter song the line "hey hey hey" was sung by Earl Sims and not by Redding, while the first song was completely rewritten.^[4] "I've Been Loving You Too Long" was released with B-side "I'm Depending on You" and became a number-two hit on Billboard's R&B chart.

On Side Two the first track is "Shake" by Sam Cooke, who died in the previous December.^[9] The song was described as "a hard-swinging, full-throated 2:40 of precision ferocity with a force that would flat-out explode during his live sets."^[3] The last five songs are all covers by popular artists: The Temptations' "My Girl", written by Smokey Robinson and Ronald White; Cooke's "Wonderful World"; B.B. King's "Rock Me Baby"; The Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction", on which Redding sings "fashion" instead of "faction";^[4] and William Bell's "You Don't Miss Your Water", which was characterized as "sorrowful country blues",^[2] and "has one of the most devastating pleading-man lead vocals in the entire Stax catalog."^[3] "Satisfaction" sounded so plausible that a journalist even accused the Stones' of stealing the song from Redding, and that they performed it after Redding.^[10]

Recording company Rhino Records released on April 22, 2008 a two-disc Collectors Edition of Otis Blue, consisting of numerous mixes, rarities, several live performances, the B-sides "Any Ole Way" and "I'm Depending on You", as well as the original LP in mono and stereo sound.^[2][3] The front cover shows a picture of an unknown woman taken by photographer Pete Sahula.^[3] The cover was then altered by Haig Adishian.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[9]
BBC Music	(favorable)[11]
Blender	[12]
Pitchfork Media	(10.0/10)[3]
PopMatters	(9/10)[2]
Q	[13]
Record Collector	[14]
Rolling Stone	[15][16]
Uncut	[5]
Virgin Encyclopedia	[17]

Otis Blue received positive critical reception. The album was overall praised for its high-quality sound, Redding's singing ability, the band's thorough playing and the unconventional sound. Bruce Eder of Allmusic gave the album 5 out of 5 stars, stating that "Redding's powerful, remarkable singing throughout makes Otis Blue gritty, rich, and achingly alive, and an essential listening experience." He also felt the album "presents his talent unfettered, his direction clear, and his confidence emboldened."^[9] Angus Taylor of BBC Music meant the album stands "at the crossroads of pop, rock, gospel, blues and soul", and asserted that the album contains "a set of short, punchy covers and originals, flawlessly ordered to ebb and flow between stirring balladry and foot stomping exuberance", and finally clarified the album as "[Redding's] definitive statement."^[11] Blender music critic Robert Christgau gave the album 4 out of total 5 stars and named his two highlights: "Shake", which is "a bumptious takeover of Sam Cooke" and "Satisfaction", which is "an anarchic reading of the Rolling Stones."^[12]

Nate Patrin of the music webzine Pitchfork Media awarded the album a 10.0/10 and named the album in his comprehensive review, "1960s' greatest studio-recorded soul LP", and furthermore stated, "[the album is] a hell of a record, the crowning achievement of a man who could sound pained and celebratory and tender and gritty and proud all at once, with a voice that everyone from John Fogerty to Swamp Dogg to Cee-lo owes a debt to."^[3] Claudrena N. Harold of PopMatters, who gave a score of 9/10, also praised the diverse sound, which, according to her, is a mixture of "Motown pop, the blues, British rock, and Southern Soul", but did not believe it was his best album, but Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul.^[2]

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".^[18] 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."^[19] The album appeared in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".^[20]

Track listing

Collector's Edition 2008

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.^[2]

Charts

Personnel

Notes

1.^ Bonus track

2.^ Previously unreleased bonus track

• Bowman, Rob (1997). Soulsville U.S.A.: The Story of Stax Records. New York, NY: Schirmer Trade. ISBN 978-0-8256-7284-2. OCLC 36824884. http://books.google.com/books?id=XLdsRwpZ9oYC&lpg=PA62&dq=Soulsville%20USA%20Rob%20Bowman%20steve%20cropper&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Guralnick, Peter (1999). Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom. Back Bay Books. ISBN 978-0-316-33273-6. OCLC 41950519. http://www.isbnlib.com/preview/0316332739/Sweet-Soul-Music-Rhythm-and-Blues-and-the-Southern-Dream-of-Freedom. 
• Otis Blue album liner notes by Bob Rolontz. Atlantic Recording Corp. 
• Black, Johnny (2008). Classic Tracks Back to Back: Singles and Albums. Thunder Bay Press. ISBN 978-1-59223-872-9. 
• Wyman, Bill; Coleman, Ray (November 20, 1990). Stone alone: the story of a rock 'n' roll band. Viking. ISBN 978-0-670-82894-4. 

References

External links

• Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul at Discogs