Customer Reviews

Otis Blue: Sings Soul

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Outside of an anthology or greatest hits package, this is the Otis Redding disc to own. Eight of the eleven selections are cover tunes, but Otis and crew attack the material with such passion and precision that it escapes the usual haphazard feel of a full length record slapped together around a few strong singles. There's three Sam Cooke numbers, ("Wonderful World," "Shake," and the incredible "A Change Is Gonna Come"), a fabulous rendition of Solomon Burke's "Down in the Valley," B.B. King's "Rock Me Baby," William Bell's "You Don't Miss Your Water," and the Motown hit, "My Girl," done Stax-Volt style. When Otis released his blistering take on "Satisfaction" in early 1966, many thought that the Rolling Stones had gotten the song from him instead of the other way around. The three originals show Otis in top songwriting form with "Respect" (later turned out by Aretha Franklin), "Ole Man Trouble," and the exceptional ballad "I've Been Loving You Too Long." The Big O is of course backed up by the always impressive Stax house band Booker T. & The MG's, augmented by horn players from the Mar-Keys and Isaac Hayes on keyboards (who often played with the group whenever Booker T. was away at school). Without question, this is an essential Otis Redding CD, a classic Stax release, and a milestone of the soul genre in the 1960's. Follow this one with the aptly named "Otis Redding Dictionary Of Soul: Complete & Unbelievable."

Otis Redding's Otis Blue is among the greatest albums ever made. Every moment of this record is breathtaking. This is one of the earliest albums that was true soul, and it is most likely the best. All 11 songs are incredible. Otis Blue shows just how great of a singer Redding was.

Three things make this album so incredible. One of them is Otis Redding's voice. It is incredible. Few people could sing like Otis Redding. Whether it is a slower song, such as I've Been Loving You Too Long, an up beat song, such as Respect or even a blues song, such as Rock Me Baby, Redding's voice shines. There isn't one moment on this album where one woul question the greatness of his voice.

A Second and equally important aspect of this incredible album is the band. Backed by Booker T. and The MGs, the instruments on this album are wide and the playing is great. Also, Steve Cropper on lead guitar is essential to the greatness of the sound of these songs. Especially on Ole Man Trouble and Rock Me Baby, Cropper's guitar almost overshadow's Redding's incredible voice.

Perhaps the most important aspect of this album is just how great the songs are. Ole Man Trouble is a Redding original. It contains some great guitar work and Redding's voice, as always, is great. Respect, another original, is only about two minute long, but the energy that Redding and the band put into that two minutes in intense. It is very different then the later Aretha Franklin version. I like this one just as much, but it is up for arguement. A Change is Gonna Come is the first of three Sam Cooke songs on this album. Cooke was one of Redding's favorite singers and he did these songs in tribute to the recently deceased Cooke. In paying tribute, Redding's versions at least equal the originals and sometimes almost surpass. A Change is Gonna Come is a bit slower then the first two, but it is one of the highest points of the album. It really shows how great Redding's voice is. Down In The Valley is a great cover of the Solomon Burke original. I think that this version is even better. I've Been Loving You, another Redding original, was the biggest hit on the album. Again, it is a slower song that is very beautiful. Shake, a second cover of Sam Cooke, lightens up the mood and is just a fun dance song. My Girl, a cover of the immensley popular Temptations song, is just a sgood as the original. Redding's version, however, definitely has more feeling and emotion in the singing. Wonderful World is the third cover of Sam Cooke. This version again at least equals Cooke's version. Rock Me Baby, a BB King song, shows that Reeding can also sing blues. Steve Cropper's bluesy guitar almost overshadows Redding's voice. Satisfaction, a cover of the Rolling Stones song, isn't quite as good as the original (only because the original is so great), but this version is still great and is interseting to hear. The album closes with You Don't Miss Your Water, one of the best songs on the album. It closes the album with a bang.

Otis Blue is one of the greatest albums of all time, probably in the top ten. It is possibly the most essential album in R&B history.

If I could,I would give Otis Blue 6 stars.
This was the first album I ever bought, and it's turned out to be the greatest ever made,in my opinion.
Incredibly, all 11 tracks were recorded in a 24 hour period.
Considering the technology of the time,the sound quality is hard to belive.
But Otis could have made these songs into jewels under almost any conditions.We're blessed that those conditions were instead almost optimal,thanks to musicians like Booker T. Jones and Steve Cropper.

If you only buy one Otis Redding album,this should be the one.

Many people know Otis Redding for his biggest hit Dock of the Bay, or perhaps they know that he wrote the Aretha Franklin classic Respect. These people need to dig deeper into Otis Redding's body of work.
Forget the best of collections, or anything like that. Unless you are desperate to have Dock of the Bay, Otis Blue is the way to go. Every song here is a classic. You get Aretha's song Respect, his beautiful covers of My Girl, Wonderful World, and his desperate cover of the Stones' Satisfaction. There are the sad song, A Change Is Going to come, and the slow love song I've Been Loving You Too Long. All of these are top notch '60s soul.
This is a must have album for any Redding fan, sould fan, or fans of just good music.

Otis Redding had the rare ability to take a well known song and make it sound all his own. The best example of this appears on this essential album. He takes the Stones "Satisfaction" and transforms it from a guitar-driven rocker to a southern fried R&B number. He replaces the familiar guitar hook with horns and turns the Stones' complaint into a plea. As with many soul singers, Mr. Redding has gospel roots and he covers three songs from the original gospel turned soul singer, Sam Cooke. "A Change Is Gonna Come", "Wonderful World" and "Shake" show his versatilty as a singer. The first is a gospel driven tune, the second is pop music and the third is frenzied shouter. "Shake" would become a staple of his live shows. Mr. Redding wan't just an interpreter of other people's songs, but a solid songwriter is his own right. The album contains the original version of "Respect" and while it doesn't contain the defiance of Aretha's version, it still moves. "I've Been Loving You Too Long" contains one of the most heartwrenching vocals ever. Otis Redding's life was tradgically cut short, but he left us with this record as a reminder of his immense talent.

I will never get bored of listening to this record. A fantastic selection of songs, beautifully arranged, sung by one of the greatest soul voices, and played by one of the greatest bands. If you don't already own it, you should.

If ever there was an artist that knew how to put everything humanely possible into their musical performance, it was Otis Redding. Just take one listen to OTIS BLUE and you will know exactly what "it" is supposed to be all about. Every track here resonates with vitality and purpose, displaying the prodigious talents that Otis left with us. Of course there are classics here penned by the man himself ("Respect," "Ole Man Trouble," and "I've Been Loving You Too Long"), but of equally impressive measure was Redding's ability to interpret others' compositions ("Satisfaction," "Rock Me Baby," etc.) with such flare and dynamism, squarely marking them as his own. Armed with his sensual, yet markedly raw and raspy vocal attack, Redding sounds equally at home performing heart-stirring ballads as he does at stamping out fiercely emphatic upbeat tunes. While today's "soul" music seems to be more about seduction, Otis Redding's music was always about personal conviction and unbridled sincerity. If you aren't moved by this music, you might want to check your pulse. This essential collection easily transcends all musical confines and leaves behind little doubt that Otis Redding was one of the most important and gifted artists we've ever witnessed.

The first five tracks on this album are as good as it gets: musical expression of the very highest order. Redding's take on 'Change Gonna Come' is possibly better than Sam Cooke's original, which is already very great. Of course the backing band is too wonderful: Booker T, Isaac Hayes, Steve Cropper, Al Jackson, Duck Dunn, the Memphis Horns. Though most of the songs are not originals, the takes included here are the best ever in most cases (B.B. King's 'Rock Me' or Solomon Burke's 'Down in the Valley'). Can't recommmend this highly enough and I'm amazed no one's written it up!

You would think that this album is one of the many compilations of the greatest Otis Redding songs. But it isn't! It's an actual album, maybe still released as a collection of singles but definitely great.

You won't hear a lot of the great Redding/Cropper compositions because there are only three.

It starts with one of the best Redding openings. The choppy, on first hearing not to good, intro of 'Ole Man Trouble'. But you will never forget it.

Song 2 has been made more famous by Aretha Franklin, but Otis' rendition of his own 'Respect' has a different meant and a great horn part in the pumping intro followed by Donald Dunn's great bassline.

There are three Sam Cooke songs on this album, the first being the anthem 'A Change is Gonna Come'. As a great Sam Cooke fan I have to admit that Otis gives such a gutwrenching all out performance that is rivals Cooke's version.

'Down in the Valley' has a great bass/piano beat, it may not be the best song on the album, but it's still very good.

Track 5 is an Otis standard, the great 'I've been loving you too long', one of his best vocal/ballad performances.

Another Cooke song is 'Shake' recorded a lot wilder than Cooke did. This may actually be closer to what Cooke intended but he was of course bound by record label rules. If he had put this on his 'live at the harlem square club' album it would probably have sounded like this.

'My Girl' is a song that everybody will know and the same goes for Cooke's 'Wonderful World' which is one of the best covers of this song.

'Rock Me Baby' is one the bluesiest songs Otis ever recorded and it rivals the BB King Original, helped by the rumbling bass beat.

Otis gives a great and original version of the Stones' 'Satisfaction'. It's the horns that make the song.

The slower 'You Don't Miss Your Water' ends the album. An 11 song sample of Otis' many talents is over.

Great album

In the 1960s, R&B music was pretty much ruled (on the charts, at least) by Detroit and Motown records. As polished and sophisticated as it was, it still introduced many great Black singers to White America. Not far behind Motown's great work was that of Atlantic Records and its subsidiaries like Stax and Volt. Their vision of soul was something much grittier and rawer, and it wasn't afraid to make sadness exactly sound like that, gut-wrenchingly emotional. My vote for the most emotional soul singer of all time (and there are many) would be the late, great Otis Redding. In less than half a decade, Otis recorded some of the most spectacular and heartfelt soul music ever set to wax. Granted, a lot of Otis' albums were of the thrown-together variety a la Motown, but I kept hearing that OTIS BLUE (1965) was the best of the lot. It's the first one I've heard, but I can probably take the hype's word for it, because it certainly sold me on this legend of pop music in general. To say which song on here is the best-known would be a bit tough, but I'll take a guess and say that it's definitely "Respect". Otis' version was a top 40 hit and is a great listen in its own right. But we all know that Aretha Franklin practically owns that song now, and we can best say that Otis' version is a pale reminder of things to come. Next in line may be the fiery (and that's an understatement) "I've Been Loving You Too Long". Written with fellow soul legend Jerry Butler, Otis helps create 3 minutes of probably the barest emotions ever released on record, and is the epitome of chills down your spine. Another great Otis original is "Ole Man Trouble" (B-side to "Respect"). Most of OTIS BLUE contains Otis' versions of proven classics, some of which Otis manages to reinvent just like Aretha did for his "Respect". The Rolling Stones' legendary "Satisfaction" was a surefire plus for any soul singer, and Otis trumps their ace by replacing the famous guitar lick with a horn section. Otis doesn't exactly steal "Satisfaction" from Mick & Keith, but it manages to stand right alongside it, and that says a lot. B.B. King's "Rock Me Baby" was bedroom music at its raunchiest, and Otis once again takes a great song and makes it even better. It's the same story on Solomon Burke's (recently inducted into the Hall of Fame) "Down In The Valley". William Bell's "You Don't Miss Your Water" features a rare restained performance from Mr. Otis, and its slightly more country sound would prove it an appropriate cover for (of all groups) The Byrds. The only time Otis doesn't put up a good fight is on the Temptations' "My Girl". Maybe it's because I'm so used to hearing the Tempts' wonderful take on it, but Otis isn't too successful at de-Motownizing this classic. Still a good listen, though. One of Otis' fellow soul pioneers was Sam Cooke, and even he acknowledged Cooke's important contribution of bringing gospel to R&B music. He pays tribute to his mentor and dear friend with three Cooke classics: the stirring social anthem "A Change Is Gonna Come" (which I'm sure provided the soundtrack to numerous civil rights marches), the booty-moving "Shake" (Otis would later bring the audience to its feet with this song at the Monterey Pop festival), and probably Cooke's most infectious tune "Wonderful World" (don't know much about history...). R&B music has certainly come a long way since the soul-baring recordings of Aretha, Otis, Sam Cooke and Wilson Pickett. But music as cathartic as this is certainly hard to come by in this day and age of synthesized and overly-commercial R&B. However, OTIS BLUE is a great example of soul music when it was drawing more inspiration from the church than the charts.