"…Give
Me A Little Respect…"
*** 2008 and 2015 'Collector's Edition' of
"Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul" ***
With
the groundwork of his first two albums behind him - “Pain In My Heart” in 1964
and “The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads” in early 1965 - Otis Redding
stepped into the Stax recording studio on McLemore Avenue in Memphis on the 9th
of July 1965 to quickly slap down his 3rd album. And quick was the optional
word. In one long adrenalin fuelled session (broken up by night gigs the band
had to attend – only to reconvene in the early hours of the morning) - its 11
songs took less than 24 hours to produce. In fact Otis flew out of Memphis the
very next day to do another gig. It is of course now recognised as a bona-fide
60ts Soul classic and this April 2008 2CD "Collector's Edition" is
here to celebrate that.
"Otis
Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul" was released in the USA on the 15th of
September 1965 on Volt 412. It charted on the Pop Albums chart at a lowly
number 75, but hit the big number 1 spot on the R’n’B LP chart of that month.
It was released in the UK in February 1966 on Atlantic ATL 5041, originally in
Stereo only – but later re-issued in 1967, again on Atlantic, but this time in
both Mono and Stereo (587 036 for Mono and 588 036 for Stereo). Any sixties
variant of the vinyl album has always been hard to find in playable condition
here in the UK – and pricey too. So this 2CD "Collector's Edition” is a
welcome addition for Soul fans everywhere. Here are the Blue Details…
UK
released Monday 28 April 2008 - "Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul:
Collector's Edition" on Rhino/Atco 8122 79938 9 (Barcode 081227993894) is
a 2CD Remaster that plays out as follows (see PS below re September 2015
Reissue version):
Disc
1 (72:30 minutes):
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 (I Can’t Get No)
11.
You Don’t Miss Your Water
Tracks
1 to 11 is the original MONO MIX of the US album released September 1965 on
Volt 412
BONUS
TRACKS:
Tracks
12, 14 and 15 are “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long”, “Respect” and “Ole Man
Trouble - mono mixes of the stereo album versions and are previously unreleased
Track
13 is the non-album B-side to “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now)”
issued April 1965 on the US 7” single Volt 126
Track
16 is the non-album B-side to “Satisfaction” issued in February 1966 on the US
7” single Volt 132
Track
17 is ”Shake” - a stereo mix of the mono single version – it was first issued
on the 1993 “Otis! The Definitive Otis Redding” 4CD Rhino Box Set
Tracks
18 and 20 are “Ole Man Trouble (live)” and “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long
(Live)” were recorded live at The Whisky A Go Go sessions in April 1966 and
were first released on the 1982 Atlantic LP “Recorded Live: Previously
Unreleased Performances”
Tracks
19, 21, 22 and 23 are “Respect (Live)”, “Satisfaction (I Can’t Get No) (Live)”,
“I’m Depending On You” and “Any Ole way (Live)” from the October 1968 Atco LP
“Otis Redding In Person At The Whisky A Go Go”
Disc
2 (51:03 minutes):
Tracks
1 to 11 are the original STEREO MIX of the album on Volt S-412
Track
12 is the 1967 version of “Respect” which first appeared on the “Remember Me”
album compilation from 1992 on Stax
Tracks
13 to 17 are “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long (Live)”, “My Girl (live)”, “Shake
(Live)”, “Satisfaction (I Can’t Get No) (Live)” and “Respect (Live)” from the
“Live In Europe” album from October 1967 on Volt 416 and feature the Stax House
band
Musicians:
TOM
DOWD was the Engineer, ISAAC HAYES, JIM STEWART and DAVID PORTER were the
Producers and the Stax House Band were the session players:
WAYNE
JACKSON and GENE “BOWLEGS” MILLER on Trumpets
ANDREW
LOVE on Tenor Sax
FLOYD
NEWMAN on Baritone Sax
ISAAC
HAYES and BOOKER T. JONES on Keyboards
STEVE
CROPPER on Guitar
DONALD
“DUCK” DUNN on Bass
AL
JACKSON, JR. on Drums
EARL
SIMS on Backing Vocals
(Jones,
Cropper, Dunn and Jackson, Jr make up the nucleus of Booker T. & The MG’s)
The
“Collector’s Edition” has the same specialist gatefold digipak packaging that
Universal’s 2CD “Deluxe Edition” series and EMI’s 2CD “Collector’s Edition”
sets have – all wrapped up in an outer titled slipcase. There’s a 16-page
booklet with detailed liner notes by ROB BOWMAN who has conducted interviews
with the album’s engineer, the late TOM DOWD, Bass Player DONALD “DUCK” DUNN
and Trumpeter WAYNE JACKSON among others. It pictures US Volt 7” singles and UK
Atlantic 7” singles from private collectors, has a few black and white shots of
Otis himself and detailed session notes. The release has been prepared by
PATRICK MILLIGAN and CHERYL PAWELSKI for Rhino with Otis’ wife, Zelma Redding,
adding her take on the re-issue in her own dedication – a very nice touch that.
DAN
HERSCH and BILL INGLOT - Rhino’s long-standing collaborating engineers on all
Atlantic CD reissues - have remastered the original master tapes at Digiprep
Studios (no date supplied) and the 2CDs are laid out as follows:
As
you will have noticed from the above breakdown, for the die-hard collector who
already has all of Redding’s issued material to date, this 2CD set only really
has 3 previously unreleased tracks, and they’re slightly alternate mono mixes
of stereo album versions – so it’s hardly the great haul of soul joy the lovely
outside packaging promises. The mono mix of the album is new to CD of course,
but again, some may feel, it’s simply more of the same.
The
mono mix of the album on Disc 1 is surprisingly clean – there is hiss on it
given the less-than-sophisticated recording equipment and rushed nature of the
recordings, but it is punchy and vibrant - and in many ways far more direct
than the crude two-channel separation of the Stereo version. It’s better than I
thought it would be and a nice addition.
Both
discs contain live material - and a few seconds into any of the tunes - it’s
easy to know why. Otis Redding ‘live’ must have been an awesome wonder to
behold – you can only imagine what it must have been like to be in that
audience – to see this force of nature literally slay an audience – and you get
a sense of it 30 seconds into “Shake”. It explodes out of the speakers in that
Sixties joyful way. The silver suit, the huge charisma, the guttural vocals,
the band complimenting him – brass section choppy and tight – guitar, bass and
drums funky as f**k – what a wow! In some respects, the live versions are far
better than the studio ones ‘because’ they’re so ‘alive’. The live tracks are
ballsy and far better recorded than you would imagine – they also give you a
more rounded picture of the man and his talents – and to some degree – what all
the fuss about Redding is all about.
The
Stereo mix on Disc 2, however, is disappointingly drenched in hiss – and on the
slower ballads like “Ole Man Trouble”, the Sam Cooke cover of “Change Gonna
Come”, the William Bell song “You Don’t Miss Your Water”, the Smokey Robinson
& The Miracles cover “My Girl” and particularly “I’ve Been Loving You Too
Long” – it detracts way too much from the magic of the songs. Personally I find
them very difficult to enjoy with a wall of hiss blasting out ‘over’ the
instruments. The hip shakers like Solomon Burke’s “Down In The Valley”, Sam
Cooke’s “Shake” and the Rolling Stones “Satisfaction” fare far better – they
sound great – really alive and kicking - with the wonderful low-down groove of
B.B. King’s “Rock Me Baby” being a particular highlight (has a wicked Steve
Cropper guitar solo). Basically the effect
on the stereo mix is that brass and piano are in the left speaker with the
vocals and guitar entirely in the right with some imaging in between. It works brilliantly on the mid-tempo Sam
Cooke cover “Wonderful World” too. And when I A/B the 1992 remaster by Rhino
with this 2008 version, the differences are there – much LOUDER and CLEARER.
It’s just such a shame about the hiss levels on some of the tracks.
A
classic album in a lovely package and one that fans will have to own. For those
not wanting to fork out the near £15 price tag the hard copy commands - iTunes
is offering the entire 40-track double set for £8.99 as a download (no booklet
unfortunately)...
PS
– 2015 Footnote: As many will know – the 'Deluxe Edition' April 2008 original
has now been reissued into a rather meager September 2015 2CD 'jewel case
version'. If you want the April 2008 Rhino/Atlantic 'Deluxe Edition' packaging of
'Otis Blue' - you will need to use the original Barcode for purchase (081227993894)
and even then be sure to ask your seller if it's the '2008' original or the
lesser packaged reissue which uses a different Barcode (081227951856)...
