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“…Give Me A
Little Respect …” - Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul by OTIS REDDING (2008 2CD
Collector’s Edition Remasters)
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 recongnised as a bona-fide
60ts soul classic and this "Collector's Edition" is here to celebrate
that.
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)
“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 Rhino “Collector’s Edition” released on Monday 28
April 2008 in a welcome addition for soul fans everywhere.
It 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.
The master tapes
have been REMASTERED by Rhino’s long-standing collaborating engineers DAN
HERSCH and BILL INGLOT at Digiprep studios (no date supplied) and the 40-tracks
of the 2CDs are laid out as follows:
Disc 1 (72:30
minutes):
Tracks 1 to 11 is
the original MONO MIX of the album, Volt 412
Tracks 12, 14 and
15 are 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 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
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 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 (Volt 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 from the “Live In Europe” album from October 1967 on Volt 416 and feature
the Stax House band
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.
