Customer Reviews

Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul [Vinyl]

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As Otis Redding's individual albums go, this disc is one of the best, second only to the excellent "Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul." Over half of the tracks are Redding originals, including the funky "I'm Sick Y'All" and "Sweet Lorene," the wonderful "Ton of Joy," and "Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)," which Otis said was inspired by the theme from the TV game show, "The $64,000 Question." The usual handful of cover tunes are exceptional as well, such as the memorable renditions of "Try A Little Tenderness" and "Tennessee Waltz." The Beatles' "Day Tripper" gets completely reworked in an energetic Memphis treatment, complete with the punchy horns of the Mar-Keys. Guitarist Steve Cropper and the rest of Booker T. & the Mg's add their signature sound behind Otis' voice, crafting a classic soul record. The original liner notes, featuring a humorous glossary of his unique singing phrases, are fortunately reproduced in the CD booklet. For those curious about where to begin among the numerous releases in his catalog, this album is an aptly named example of Otis Redding and crew in fine form. Recommended.

Otis Redding was one of the greatest soul singers of all time. He could rock like Little Richard, and then turn around and sing a ballad like Sam Cooke. This was his fifth album, from 1966. It contains a mixture of some classic hits like "Fa Fa Fa Fa Fa" and "Try a Little Tenderness", and fine lesser known songs like "Hawg For You". But what really showcases Otis's unique talent is the cover songs here. He could take a country song like "Tennessee Waltz", a standard like "Try a Little Tenderness", a Beatles song like "Day Tripper" and and old R&B song like "You're Still My Baby" and when he got through with them they sounded like Otis Redding songs. Fans of classic sould should dig this album.

This album is truly "complete and unbelievable". Otis Redding was our greatest soul singer, and this is his finest album. The boxed sets and collections are fine, but you don't get the feeling that comes out of a complete Otis Redding album. Buy them all, but start here.

While the Dictionary of Soul was written by Brown, Charles and Cooke in 1960 or so, Otis has the honor of being an editor. His cover of the ancient "Try a Little Tenderness", the only version of the song most people know, is probably his best song ever, thanks to the building emotion in the vocal that eventually explodes. He goes for the more direct emotional approach on some of his own songs, such as the soul shouter "I'm Sick Y'all", and the quiet, reserved, slow soul "Sweet Lorrane". He also writes "My Lover's Prayer", a song with a wonderful melody; the fun Willie Dixon-like blues "Hawg for You", with a fine guitar solo, and the raw "Ton of Joy" on his own; the M.G.'s co-wrote, and were heavily involved in winners like "Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)" and "I'm Sick Y'all": the oft-covered soul of "Tennessee Waltz" (which he probably picked up from Sam Cooke) also gets a strong performance. A couple weak points include a bad cover of "Day Tripper", which fails where "Satisfaction" succeeded, and "You're Still My Baby", a dumbed-down "Tenderness". Even with those faults, this is still a worthy successor to Otis Blue.

Otis Redding is smokin' hot with his wonderful retinue of songs! If you are looking for burning soul with horns,flourishes and classy crooning then this is the one for you!
My favorite, Try A Little Tenderness squeezes out every possible high note there is, Sad Song is a great gut bustin' fa fa fa fa fa fabulous venue for the master of soul. Buy it and you won't regret one single instant.

The guitar line in "You're Still My Baby" is as iconic as in "I've been lovin' you too long to stop now." "Hawg for You" just gets down and rolls deep. I could go on...

[[ASIN:B000002JO2 The Otis Redding Dictionary if you listen carefully, you will not only hear completely amazing music, played to perfection, but might actually get a glimpse into the soul of this soulman.
f Soul : Complete & Unbelievable]]

This was my 2nd Otis CD, after "Otis Blue", and it is a great companion to that great record. I love the Memphis horn sound; much of the greatness of these recordings is the backing of Booker T and MGs. I really find these CDs to be fun, just fun to listen to, tap your feet to, sing along with. Otis has loads of personality and a distinctive voice. Good stuff.

i don't want to spoil anyone's listening experience but if you've never heard the first song on this album before then turn your stereo up really loud before you do 'cause the first words out of his mouth are so funny you will laugh.

The problem with all of Otis Redding's recordings is they are all in MONO, only one was recorded in STEREO. Otis Blue is in stereo if you get the double CD version because one CD is stereo, the other the original MONO.

Personally, I hate listening to anything is MONO even Otis, and I love the man's voice.