"Axis: Bold As Love" by THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE (1 December 1967 UK 2nd LP on Track 613 003 and 15 January 1968 USA on Reprise RS 6281 in Stereo featuring Mitch Mitchell (Bass), Noel Redding (Drums) and Producer Chas Chandler (February 2012 UK Sony Music/Experience Hendrix/Legacy 1CD-only Reissue (original Remaster issued March 2010 as a CD+DVD in A Card Digipak) – Eddie Kramer and George Marino Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"…Little Wing…"

The first decent reissue of "Axis: Bold As Love" turned up 28 April 1997 on MCA Records/Experience Hendrix MCD11601 (Barcode 008811160128) as part of 'The Hendrix Family Authorised Editions Series'. It was a Remaster of Jimi's second studio album carried out by the LP's original engineer Eddie Kramer aided and assisted by Audio/Restoration boffin George Marino.

That was superseded by another Kramer/Marino Reissue/Remaster on the 8 March 2010 which put "Axis: Bold As Love" into a card digipak and added on a DVD. Sony Music/Experience Hendrix 88697621632 (Barcode 886976216320) however has been deleted now for some time and clocks in at around twenty quid on the open secondhand market. Use the barcodes provided above to locate either issue.

What we're finally left with is what we have here – a 1CD-only 2012 reissue of that 2010 Remaster put into a standard plastic jewel case for under six quid. To the Spanish Castle Music and Little Wing details...

UK released 6 February 2012 - "Axis: Bold As Love" by THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE on Sony Music/Experience Hendrix/Legacy 88691938922 (Barcode 886919389227) is a 1CD-only Reissue of the 8 March 2010 Remaster and plays out as follows (39:29 minutes):

1. EXP [Side 1]

2. Up From The Skies

3. Spanish Castle Music

4. Wait Until Tomorrow

5. Ain't No Telling

6. Little Wing

7. If 6 Was 9

8. You've Got Me Floating [Side 2]

9. Castles Made Of Sand

10. She's So Fine

11. One Rainy Wish

12. Little Miss Lover

13. Bold As Love

Tracks 1 to 13 are his second studio album "Axis: Bold As Love" - released 1 December 1967 in the UK on Track 612 003 (Mono) and Track 613 003 (Stereo) and 15 January 1968 in the USA on Reprise RS 6281 (Stereo only) featuring Mitch Mitchell (Bass), Noel Redding (Drums) and Producer Chas Chandler. The STEREO MIX is used for this CD. All tracks written by Jimi Hendrix except "She's So Fine" written by Noel Redding. The album peaked at No. 5 in the UK and No. 3 in the USA. 

The 24-page colour booklet is festooned with photos from the archives of Linda McCartney, Eddie Kramer, Bruce Fleming and Baron Wolman (amongst many) - the great axeman in studio and live mode with his crew of bushy-haired two. The British LP originally on Track Records was a gatefold with a 4-page lyric insert and while that fab black and white photo that dominated the inner gatefold of the three disappointingly isn't here, the lyrics are. That minor omission is replaced with long and fantastically detailed liner notes (Pages 11 to 20) from JYM FAHEY that go into the staggering pace of recording (the "Are You Experienced?" debut barley finished and the double "Electric Ladyland" on the summer horizon) - Hendrix's career skyrocketing less than nine months after Chas Chandler has brought Jimi to England in September 1966. It's a fab read and even goes into the near disaster with master tapes for Side 1 and "If 6 Was 9" which were thankfully resolved. The remaster by EDDIE KRAMER and GEORGE MARINO, supervised by Janie Hendrix and John McDermott on behalf of the Experience Hendrix Estate, gives oomph and power to every song. Which brings us to the music...

The 'dodgy subject' of UFOs gets speeded up and slowed down in the entertaining but ultimately silly "EXP" where Jimi's guitar gets screeched into the Universe never mind your living room speakers (panned and all). That's quickly followed by the first real Audio hit and song - the stunning bass and drums of "Up From The Skies" - that vocal and flicked guitar sounding so alive it’s frightening. I love that so cool guitar solo he does as he talks (I can dig it baby). The true Hendrix punk riffage sound comes roaring into your ears with "Spanish Castle Music" - just a little bit of magic - and again a fantastic transfer that captures that lethal double-whammy of power and subtlety.

We trip the light-funky-tastic with his skip-and-bop "Wait Until Tomorrow" - drums whacking as Dolly Mae hangs from her window pane - Jimi almost rapping the lyrics as he flicks those tasty strums. Rapido rhythm burning my eyes in "Ain't No Telling" - his guitar once again Funk-Rocking as he solos into one of the albums beauties. There are reasons why so many have covered the gorgeous "Little Wing" - but to hear it with such power and clarity here is almost too much to bear. I also think of Stevie Ray Vaughan when it plays - beautiful and ethereal playing like all the greats. Fantastic stuff even if it’s always felt to me like it ends too quickly.

There is a very evident hiss element in "If 6 Was 9" but that 'air' surrounding the performance actually lends it even more power IMO. White collar conservative...pointing their plastic finger at me... you just have to love the myriad of musical ideas going on here - like no-one (let alone Producer Chandler) could capture what was going on in Jimi's head, in turn transmitting down through to his fingers and out onto the fretboard.

Side 2's "You've Got Me Floating" (corrected to "You Got Me Floatin'") is another wild Funk-Rock child that segues into that other LP gem "Castles Made Of Sand". The Bass and Drums once again so staggeringly clear and present and how cool are those Indian Brave verses before he goes into that edgy guitar solo. And that 'eventually' ending with that echoed guitar fade out. Always feeling like an odd-man-out, Noel Redding's "She's So Fine" has all the trademark Experience sound but his voice is not the 'cool' of Jimi - which is a shame because they're cool guitar noises going on all around.

Racing towards the finish is the fantastic swoon of "One Rainy Wish" - a sort of "Little Wing" Part 2 - a song sleeping peacefully under the tree of song. Both the neck-jerkingly sock-it-to-me Funky "Little Miss Lover" and the Rock waltz life-giving-waters of "Bold As Love" finish the album with genuinely amazing style (that huge fuzzy solo towards the end still drops a jaw or two).

Hendrix would drop the 2LP atomic bomb of "Electric Ladyland" in November 1968 with "Voodoo Child" and "Crosstown Traffic" - the same month The Beatles would chuck out their double-album urge-to-splurge "The Beatles" - commonly known of course as 'The White Album'. 

Sixties Rock, Blues Rock, Psych... My god what a year 1968 was and what a good idea for you to start your slight return to it...right here baby... 

"When I Was Young: The MGM Recordings 1967-1968" by ERIC BURDON and THE ANIMALS – Including The US Albums "Winds Of Change" (September 1967), "The Twain Shall Meet" (March 1968), "Every One Of Us" (August 1968), "Love Is" (December 1968 2LP set, April 1969 UK as a Single LP) and more (21 February 2020 UK Esoteric Recordings 5CD Box Set Containing Four Albums with Mini LP Card Repro Sleeves (the Mono and Stereo Sleeves of "Winds Of Change" are separate), a Fold-Out Poster and 66-Page Booklet Plus Ten Bonus Tracks – Ben Wiseman Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review Along With Over 310 Others Is Available In My

SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites
CADENCE /CASCADE 

PROG ROCK, PSYCH, AVANT GARDE...
And Others Genres Thereabouts
Exceptional CD Remasters

Covering 1967 to 1977 - It Also Focuses On

Fusion Rock, Acid Folk, Art Rock and Underground 

Just Click Below To Purchase

Thousands of E-Pages - All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs

(No Cut and Paste Crap)

"...The Twain Shall Meet..."

I've enjoyed a few tasty Box Sets in 2020 (despite lockdowns and other enslavements) - but this has to be one of my faves and an absolute shoe-in for how reissue should be approached. What a humdinger this gorgeous looking thing is. And it sounds the Ben Sherman too.

There's a lot of coloured rain, meetings of twains, winds of change, uppers and downers and a girl named Sandoz to wade through - so without any further sky pilots, let's get all San Franciscan man...

UK released 21 February 2020 - "When I Was Young: The MGM Recordings 1967-1968" by ERIC BURDON and THE ANIMALS on Esoteric Recordings ECLEC 52700 (Barcode 5013929480001) is a 56-Track 5CD Oversized Clamshell Box Set of Remasters covering Four Studio Albums Plus Ten Bonus Tracks that plays out as follows:

Disc 1 "Winds Of Change" STEREO (60:34 minutes):

1. Winds Of Change [Side 1]

2. Poem By The Sea

3. Paint It Black

4. The Black Plague

5. Yes I Am Experienced

6. San Franciscan Nights [Side 2]

7. Man - Woman

8. Hotel Hell

9. Good Times

10. Anything

11. It's All Meat

Tracks 1 to 11 are the album "Winds Of Change" - released September 1967 in the USA on MGM Records SE-4484 in Stereo (Mono variant is Disc 5) and November 1967 in the UK on MGM Records C 8052 (Mono) and CS-8052 (Stereo) – the STEREO MIX is used here. Produced by TONY WILSON - it peaked at No. 42 in the USA (didn't chart UK).

BONUS TRACKS:

12. When I Was Young

13. A Girl Named Sandoz

Tracks 12 and 13 are the A&B-sides of a stand-alone 45 7" single released March 1967 in the USA on MGM Records K 13721 and May 1967 in the UK on MGM Records MGM 1340 - peaked at No. 15 in the USA and No. 45 in the UK

14. Ain't That So

Track 14 is the non-album B-side of "Good Times" - a UK 45 7" single released August 1967 on MGM Records MGM 1344 and December 1967 in the USA as the B-side of "Monterey" on MGM Records K 13868 - it peaked at No. 20 in the UK and with the different A-side at No. 15 in the USA

15. Gratefully Dead

Track 15 is the non-album B-side to "San Franciscan Nights" - a UK 45 7" single released October 1967 on MGM Records MGM 1359. The September 1967 US 45 7" single for "San Franciscan Nights" had "Good Times" on its B-side (MGM Records K 13794) - the UK B-side was exclusive

16. Anything (Single Version)

Track 16 is the non-album B-side to "Monterey" in the UK on MGM Records MGM 1412 - "Anything" was issued as a US 45 7" single in May 1968 on MGM Records K 13917 but as the A-side with "It's All Meat" on the flipside. The UK A-side is Track 11 on Disc 2

Disc 2 "The Twain Shall Meet" STEREO and MONO (56:22 minutes):

1. Monterey [Side 1]

2. Just The Thought

3. Closer To The Truth

4. No Self Pity

5. Orange And Red Beams

6. Sky Pilot [Side 2]

7. We Love You Lil

8. All Is One

Tracks 1 to 8 are the album "The Twain Shall Meet" - released March 1968 in the USA on MGM Records SE-4537 in Stereo (only Promo copies were in Mono) and May 1968 in the UK on MGM Records C 8074 (Mono) and CS 8074 (Stereo) - the STEREO MIX is used here - Produced by TONY WILSON - it peaked at No. 79 in the USA (didn't chart UK)

BONUS TRACKS:

9. Sky Pilot (Part One)

10. Sky Pilot (Part Two)

Tracks 9 and 10 are the A&B-sides of a Stereo 45 7" single released January 1968 in the UK on MGM Records MGM 1373 and May 1968 in the USA on MGM Records K 13939 - it peaked at No. 14 USA and No. 40 in the UK

11. Monterey (Mono Single Version)

Track 11 is the A-side of a May 1968 UK 45 7" single on MGM Records MGM 1412 (the B-side is Track 16 on Disc 1)

Disc 3 "Every One Of Us" STEREO (49:04 minutes):

1. White Houses [Side 1]

2. Uppers And Downers

3. Serenade To A Sweet Lady

4. The Immigrant Lad

5. Year Of The Guru

6. St. James Infirmary [Side 2]

7. New York 1963 - America 1968

Tracks 1 to 7 are the album "Every One Of Us" - released August 1968 in the USA on MGM Records SE-4553 in Stereo (only Promo Copies were in Mono on MGM Records E-4553) - the STEREO MIX is used. Produced by ERIC BURDON and THE ANIMALS - it peaked at No. 152 in the USA (this LP had no UK release).

BONUS TRACK:

8. White Houses (Single Version, Stereo Mix)

Track 8 is the A-side of a November 1968 US 45 7" single on MGM Records K 14013 (the B-side is "River Deep, Mountain High" – Track 10 on Disc 4)

Disc 4 "Love Is" STEREO (73:54 minutes):

1. River Deep, Mountain High [Side 1]

2. I'm An Animal

3. I'm Dying, Or Am I?

4. Ring Of Fire [Side 2]

5. Colored Rain

6. To Love Somebody [Side 3]

7. As The Years Go Passing BY

8. Gemini

9. The Madman

Tracks 1 to 9 are the US double-album "Love Is" - released December 1968 in the USA on MGM Records SE-4591-2 in Stereo only and April 1969 in the UK as a 'single album' on MGM Records CD 8105 in Stereo. 

The 6-track UK LP can be sequenced from this CD as follows - Side A: 1. River Deep, Mountain High 2. I'm An Animal 3. I'm Dying, Or Am I? Side B: 1. Ring Of Fire 2. Coloured Rain 3. To Love Somebody 

BONUS TRACK:

10. River Deep. Mountain High (Single Version, Stereo Mix)

Track 10 is the B-side of "White Houses - a November 1968 US 45 7" single on MGM Records K 14013 (the A-side "White Houses" is Track 8 on Disc 3)

Disc 5 "Winds Of Change" MONO (43:53 minutes):

1. Winds Of Change [Side 1]

2. Poem By The Sea

3. Paint It Black

4. The Black Plague

5. Yes I Am Experienced

6. San Franciscan Nights [Side 2]

7. Man - Woman

8. Hotel Hell

9. Good Times

10. Anything

11. It's All Meat

Tracks 1 to 11 are the album "Winds Of Change" - released September 1967 in the USA on MGM Records E-4484 (Mono) and MGM SE-4484 (Stereo) and November 1967 in the UK on MGM Records C 8052 (Mono) and CS-8052 (Stereo) – the MONO MIX is used here – Stereo CD Variant is Disc 1. Produced by TONY WILSON - it peaked at No. 42 in the USA (didn't chart UK).

Substantial to hold and pretty to look at - the glossy outer hard-case Box Set has a pull out tray that offers five Mini LP Card Repro Sleeves of the American Artwork – Discs One to Five as listed above with the Stereo versions of "Winds Of Change" and "Love Is" being gatefolds while the other three are single sleeves (as per their original MGM Records artwork). The one-sided six-leaf foldout poster is fact an advert for the Box Set (very cool looking) and is a nice touch.

But the 66-Page Booklet is a straight-up work of art, a veritable feast of info and images. There are so many Psych-based posters of the period, concert and festival flyers, rare ticket stubs, trade adverts, live photos, promotional material and more. But surely the piece de resistance is Pages 56 to 63, each offering up a huge array of foreign picture sleeves for both singles and albums – France, Germany, Brazil, Japan, Norway, Yugoslavia, USA, UK demos – and all in gorgeous colour. Combined with the preceding text that is in itself peppered with rare period stuff – it doesn’t half make an impact.

MALCOLM DOME also puts together a fantastic history of the period – his liner notes liberally dosed with recent conversations and remembrances on sessions and tours from band member Antion Meredith (the new name for Vic Briggs), guest Zoot Money (talking about future Police guitarist Andy Summers), producer Keith Olsen and more. There are even lists of live dates on the final pages that show the band criss-crossing the UK, Europe and the States. Although there are loads of snaps and warm recollections of his talent and charisma, conspicuous is the absence of EB in the notes? Also Esoteric forgot to put in the catalogue numbers I’ve provided above for any of the releases. But these minor points don’t stop "When I Was Young..." from being exemplary in every way.

The transfers are care of the vastly experienced Audio Engineer BEN WISEMAN – 24-bit digital Remasters from original tapes done at Broadlake Studios in Herefordshire. Those of us who have had to pick at the bones of these recordings across the decades will marvel at these punchy little beasts – only the BGO CD reissue of "Every One Of Us" gets close to how good these CDs sound. To the music...

After the dissolution of the R&B phase of the Animals with November 1966's "Animalisms", Burdon relocated to San Francisco and soaking up the hippy Psych counter-culture exploding there, he relaunched as Eric Burdon & The Animals. Drummer Barry Jenkins remained from the old line-up and in came the trio of John Weider on Guitar, Violin and Bass, Vic Briggs on Guitar and Piano (now known as Antoin Meredith) and Danny McCulloch on Bass. Wasting no time, the band launched their MGM contract with the Eddie Kramer engineered 45 times were very hard "When I Was Young" in April 1967 with the heavy fuzz-guitar Psych-based "A Girl Called Sandoz" on the flipside. Also recorded at that session was "And Just That" - a tune used in the 1967 James Mason, Geraldine Chaplin and Bobby Darin movie "Stranger In The House" (all three turn up in the Bonuses on Disc One). Burdon's new incarnation of The Animals hit big and fast - the single peaking at No. 9 in the USA while his native England seemed less interested with a No. 45 placing (Tina Turner, The Ramones and The Smashing Pumpkins have subsequently covered "When I Was Young"). To the mish-mash that was their MGM debut...

The "Winds Of Change" album is a product of Tom Wilson's one-take lackadaisical Production and the band's have-no-material, let's-make-it-up-right-here approach. But it did give way to experimentation with styles - the Tex Mex trumpet on "Hotel Hell", strings and Jazz moments on the ballad "Anything", Music Machine Bassist and future Producer Keith Olsen playing Bass on "Winds Of Change" and "The Black Plague" and Piano on "Good Times" because McCulloch had broken his wrist. A patchy album anyway, but when MGM put Burdon’s liner notes (a eulogy to acid) on the front cover instead of the inside (without his permission) – the band hated it and the public thought he was a preachy git. So even with good tunes like "San Franciscan Nights" and the Ray Charles, Ravi Shankar praising "It's All Meat" – stupid moves like Producer Wilson tricking the band into recording a substandard cover of "Paint It Black" by The Stones and then putting it on the album without their knowledge or permission – left a ranker.

And of course it's a period piece so stuff like the Tabla 'n' words experimentation of "Man - Woman" sound a tad trite 52 years on – but with this cracking audio – tunes like the sitar-driven eternity song "Winds Of Change", the I took a walk and wrote a "Poem By The Sea" song (with crashing percussion) and the take you under my wing "Anything" sound ahead of their time and not bound by it. I also rejigger the track list of the LP – drop "Man - Woman" and "Paint It Black" to include the Cream-sounding British B-side "Gratefully Dead" and "When I Was Young" – to get the album I really want (but that's just me!).

Ravi Shankar, The Who, Hugh Masekela, The Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix all get praised in the cool sounding "Monterey" – a fab groover about the famous 60ts Festival. With Guitar, Sitar and Horns ripping along like the theme song to some Tarantino movie about car chases and drugs – that sexy opener for "The Twain Shall Meet" album from March 1968 quickly segues into the Summer of Love swish and sway flower song "Just The Thought" (fab audio). Clever cross channel panning of the vocals and guitars opens the equally wicked "Closer To The Truth" and already three songs in and the album feels like the masterpiece the first LP struggled to be. Burdon advises that no matter how low you are, there is always someone lower in the philosophically dodgy and sound (at the same time) "No Self Pity" – a be what you are piece given hippy nuances with the Harpsichord and Sitar doing battle with the Bass and Burdon's otherworldly delivery. The seven minutes and thirty-six seconds of "Sky Pilot" is all flanged vocals and guitars - soldier's blood and crying mothers back home filling up the anti-war song with genuinely well-written lyrics. Another near eight-minute piece ends this excellent album - "All Is One" - opening with an uncredited Royal Scots Guards giving in some highland moaning bagpipes before we embark on a very-Doors we're all one and the sun is your son hippy trip. Yeah baby...

The "Every One of Us" LP divides people – I think its part genius and part crap. It starts out so well too. Eric thinks people better get straight in "White Houses" – a rather good jaunty tune tail-ended by cool guitar soloing. "Uppers And Downers" is a 20-second piss-take on the Grand Ole Duke of York melody of olde. Better is the John Weider instrumental "Serenade To A Sweet Lady" – a polished toe-tapping piece of Rock-Jazz music for the woman who would become his wife of the next 50 years (she sadly passed in 2019). Seagull screeches begin "The Immigrant Lad" – a very Donovan/Dylan strummed acoustic song - the Remastered audio gorgeous as Eric sings of coal and old sailors and the waters of time. Side 1 then ends with a tambourine-shaking shuffling rocker called "Year Of The Guru" that could have been a kick-ass single - clever follow-your-leader warning lyrics backed by brilliant piano fills and sexy overdubbed guitars.

Side 2 opens with "St. James Infirmary" – a brilliant Eric Burdon groove that is quickly side-swapped by the beast the album is most remembered for - the infamous near 19-minutes of "New York 1963 – America 1968" playing out Side 2 and overstaying its welcome big-time. Starting out well with sung lyrics about arriving in New York in 1963 where EB goes to the Bronx and the Apollo theatre – his Newcastle mind blown by multicultural parts of the city and the possibilities it offered. But of course assassinations in the news and the riots that followed soured the dream. Throughout this social commentary workout that then extends into 1968, John Weider plays a stormer on guitar while Zoot Money (credited as George Bruno) plays Organ and Piano. About 6:16, the music stops and becomes a spoken dialogue about a Government-abused pilot only to return to a slow-build of I Feel Free chants and music. You can either love it or hate it – and like most – you'll probably feel a bit of both.

Ex Dandelion's Lion and future Police axeman Andy Summers joined EB, Zoot Money, John Weider and Barry Jenkins for the double-album "Love Is" from December 1968. In an interesting aside, Eric Burdon & The Animals would join a very minimalist set of ranks - bands or artists who released three studio albums in the same year or three albums of original material in the same year (Creedence, Fleetwood Mac and Fairport Convention in 1969, Canned Heat and Matthews Southern Comfort in 1970, Nilsson in 1971, James Brown in 1973 to name but a few - my list is on-going and presently has only 22 names on it). Another cover of the Ike & Tina Turner classic "River Deep, Mountain High" might induce a yawn amongst listeners - but EB and his newly infused band go at it with Rocking R 'n' B gusto for seven and half minutes - his love for the lady boundless. Sly Stone's "I'm An Animal" gets an almost DIY punk ethic going on - hey hey hey, they shout - before it gets all mellow yellow and Soul-Rock-ish.

Their cover of Johnny Cash's "Ring Of Fire" sees EB give it some welly on those burns-burns-burns lyrics. But one of the double's undoubted highlights is the nine and half minutes of "Coloured Rain" where Summers and the other guitarists in the band get to stretch out with chops and changes on the Traffic cover that are almost Prog in their structure. Seven minutes of "To Love Somebody" does The Bee Gees proud - a daring re-working of their catchy hit made into an epic Rock tune. Don Robey's "As The Years Go Passing By" has Eric waxing lyrical about Blues Music and its effect - a fantastic ten-minute piano-and-guitar Blues Rock shuffler than got left off the single British LP when "Love Is" was finally released April 1969 in Blighty. "Gemini" gets eleven minutes of Psych blissed out free form brilliance - an obscure Steve Hammond song that would eventually show up on the lone self-titled Quatermass LP in May 1970 on Harvest Records (Hammond has also been in the ranks of Fat Mattress). It ends on the huge chunky doomy riffage of "The Madman" - a song that soon becomes a bopper as Eric ponders the world.

I'm fairly sure that 'outsiders' who do not know this part of Eric Burdon and The Animals story might wonder what all the fuss is about. But do I love you (my oh my) - bet your life baby. Well done to all the good bods who brought the legacy of "When I Was Young: The MGM Recordings 1967-1968" to life...

"The King Of Soul" by OTIS REDDING – 92-Tracks from 14-Albums Released Between January 1964 and November 1993 Including Posthumous Compilations and Non-LP Single Sides – featuring duets with Carla Thomas and The Stax In-House Backing Band of Isaac Hayes, David Porter and all of Booker T. & The MG's (3 February 2014 UK Rhino/Atlantic '50th Anniversary' 4CD Compilation - Charles Benson Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Turn It Loose..."

If you want a big old hunk of Otis funk on CD – there are four ports of call in 2020 – each with varying prices.

The oldest is "The Otis Redding Story" from 1987 with 60 Remastered Tracks – but its small audio beer by today’s standards and sells for as little as four to five quid. That got quickly kicked into touch by the November 1993 set "Otis! The Definitive Otis Redding" – a 4CD 96-Track Book Set with a 100-page booklet that was part of the Rhino/Atlantic & Atco Remasters Series. It's a thing of presentation and audio beauty for sure and even though it has been deleted for decades - secondhand copies can be obtained for as little as £20 to £25. One to bear in mind...

Door Number Four is more recent - October 2015's "Soul Manifesto: 1964-1970" on Rhino/Atlantic 081227951979 (Barcode 081227951979). That mini box offers you all twelve albums from "Pain In My Heart" in January 1964 through to the posthumous compilation "Tell The Truth" in July 1970. At 138-tracks in twelve single Mini LP Repro Card Sleeves - it certainly offers the most bang for your buck - even if there isn't a shred of annotation or any of those single mixes and non-LP cuts (it has a price tag of £34.00). Which brings me to my poison of choice...

"The King Of Soul" by Otis Redding and its sister set "The Queen Of Soul" for Aretha Franklin – are both 3 February 2014 packages celebrating 50th Anniversaries for the King and the Queen of Soul Music. With the Otis instalment, you get 4CDs with a generous 92-tracks, great new remasters from a chap called CHARLES BENSON and a reasonably good 12-page booklet that gives all the factoids you'll need. You even get a pretty card wrap holding in the double jewel-case that gives the whole thing a respectable look. Best of all it ranges between £12 and £14. Let's get to the details and turn it loose...

UK released 3 February 2014 - "The King Of Soul" by OTIS REDDING on Rhino/Atlantic 8122796068 (Barcode 081227960681) is a 4CD '50th Anniversary' Compilation of Remasters that plays out as follows:

CD1: (63:42 minutes):

1. These Arms Of Mine (December 1962 US 45 on Volt 103, A)

2. Hey Hey Baby (December 1962 US 45 on Volt 103, B)

3. That's What My Heart Needs (June 1963 US 45 on Volt 109, A)

4. Mary's Little Lamb (June 1963 US 45 on Volt 109, non-LP B-side)

5. Pain In My Heart (September 1963 US 45 on Volt 112, A)

6. Something Is Worrying Me (September 1963 US 45 on Volt 112, B)

7. Come To Me (February 1964 US 45 on Volt 116, A)

8. Don't Leave Me This Way (February 1964 US 45 on Volt 116, non-LP B-side)

9. Security (April 1964 US 45 on Volt 117, A)

10. Chained And Bound (September 1964 US 45 on Volt 121, A)

11. Your One And Only Man (September 1964 US 45 on Volt 121, B)

12. That's How Strong My Love Is (January 1965 US 45 on Volt 124, B)

13. Mr. Pitiful (January 1965 US 45 on Volt 124, A)

14. A Woman, A Lover, A Friend

15. Nothing Can Change This Love

16. It's Too Late 

17. For Your Precious Love

18. Home In Your Heart

19. I've Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now) (Mono Version) (April 1965 US 45 on Volt 126, A)

20. I'm Depending On You (April 1965 US 45 on Volt 126, non-LP B-side)

21. Respect (Mono Version) (August 1965 US 45 on Volt 128, A)

22. Ole Man Trouble (Mono Version) (August 1965 US 45 on Volt 128, B)

23. Change Gonna Come 

NOTES:

Tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 9 from the January 1964 US LP "Pain In My Heart" on Atlantic 33-161 in Mono

Tracks 7 and 10 to 18 from the March 1965 US LP "The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads" on Volt 411 in Mono

Tracks 19, 21, 22 and 23 on the September 1965 US LP "Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul" on Volt 412 in Mono 

CD2: (73:52 minutes):

1. Shake

2. Satisfaction (February 1966 US 45 on Volt 132, A)

3. Down In The Valley

4. My Girl

5. Rock Me Baby

6. You Don't Miss Your Water (April 1967 US 45 on Volt 149, B-side of "Shake" (Live))

7. I Can't Turn You Loose (November 1965 US 45 on Volt 130, A)

8. Just One More Day (November 1965 US 45 on Volt 130, B)

9. Any Ole Way (February 1966 US 45 on Volt 132, B)

10. It's Growing

11. Cigarettes And Coffee

12. Chain Gang

13. Nobody Knows You (When You're Down And Out)

14. Good To Me (An Edited Version was on September 1966 US 45 on Volt 138, B - for A, see Track 2 on CD3)

15. Everybody Makes A Difference

16. Just One More Day (Live, 1966)

17. Mr. Pitiful (Live, 1966)

18. (I Can't get No) Satisfaction (live, 1966)

19. These Arms Of Mine (Live, 1966)

20. Papa's Got A Brand New Bag (Live, 1966) (November 1968 saw an Edited Version US 45 on Atco 6636, A - for B, see Track 17, CD4)

21. Don't Mess With Cupid (May 1966 US 45 on Volt 136, A)

22. My Lover's Prayer (May 1966 US 45 on Volt 136, B)

NOTES:

Tracks 1 to 6 from the September 1965 US LP "Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul" on Volt 412 in Mono 

Tracks 8 to 15 from the April 1966 US LP "The Soul Album" on Volt 413 in Mono

Tracks 16 to 20 on the October 1968 US LP "Otis Redding In Person At The Whisky A Go Go" on Atco SD 33-265 in Stereo

Track 21 from the February 1968 US LP "The Dock Of the Bay" on Volt 419 in Mono

Track 22 from the October 1966 US LP "Complete & Unbelievable...The Otis Redding Dictionary Of Soul" on Volt 415 in Mono - see also Tracks 1 to 8 on CD3

CD3: (64:44 minutes):

1. Try A Little Tenderness (November 1966 US 45 on Volt 141, A)

2. Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song) (September 1966 US 45 on Volt 138, A - for B see Track 14 on CD2)

3. I'm Sick Y'all (November 1966 US 45 on Volt 141, B)

4. Tennessee Waltz

5. Sweet Lorraine (January 1968 US 45 on Volt 157, B-side of "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay")

6. Day Tripper

7. You're Still My Baby

8. Hawg For You (Mono Version)

9. I Love You More Than Words Can Say (March 1967 US 45 on Volt 146, A)

10. Let Me Come On Home (March 1967 US 45 on Volt 146, B)

11. Open Your Door (April 1968 US 45 on Volt 163, B)

12. Trap - OTIS REDDING and CARLA THOMAS (April 1967 US 45 on Stax 216, A)

13. Knock On Wood - OTIS REDDING and CARLA THOMAS (July 1967 US 45 on Stax 228, A)

14. Let Me Be Good To You - OTIS REDDING and CARLA THOMAS (July 1967 US 45 on Stax 228, B) 

15. Lovey Dovey - OTIS REDDING and CARLA THOMAS (January 1968 US 45 on Stax 244, A)

16. New Year's Resolution - OTIS REDDING and CARLA THOMAS (January 1968 US 45 on Stax 244, B)

17. Ooh Carla, Ooh Otis - OTIS REDDING and CARLA THOMAS (April 1969 US 45 on Atco 6665, B)

18. White Christmas (November 1968 US 45 on Atco 6631, A)

19. Merry Christmas Baby (November 1968 US 45 on Atco 6631, B)

20. Glory Of Love (June 1967 US 45 on Volt 152, A)

21. The Huckle Buck

22. Tell The Truth
NOTES: 

Tracks 1 to 8 from the October 1966 US LP "Complete & Unbelievable...The Otis Redding Dictionary Of Soul" on Volt 415 in Mono) - see also Track 22 on CD2

Tracks 9, 10, 11, 20 and 21 from the February 1968 US LP "The Dock Of the Bay" on Volt 419 in Mono (Track 21 in Stereo) - see also Track 21 on CD2

Tracks 12 to 17 from the March 1967 US LP "King & Queen" on Stax 716 in Mono

Tracks 18 and 19 from the November 1968 Various Artists US LP "Soul Christmas" on Atco 33-269 in Mono)

Track 22 from the July 1970 US LP "Tell The Truth" on Atco SD 33-333 in Stereo

CD4: (74:33 minutes):

1. Respect (Live, 1967)

2. Can't Turn You Loose (Live, 1967) (April 1969 US 45 on Atco 6677, B-side of "Love Man", Stereo)

3. I've Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now) (Live, 1967)

4. My Girl (Live, 1967)

5. Shake (Live, 1967)

6. Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song) (Live, 1967)

7. Try A Little Tenderness (Live, 1967)

8. I've Got Dreams To Remember (September 1968 US 45 on Atco 6612, A, Stereo)

9. Nobody's Fault But Mine (September 1968 US 45 on Atco 6612, B, Stereo)

10. Hard To Handle (June 1968 US 45 on Atco 6592, B-side to "Amen", Stereo)

11. Thousand Miles Away

12. The Happy Song (Dum-Dum-De-De-De-Dum-Dum) (April 1968 US 45 on Volt 163, A, Stereo)

13. A Waste Of Time

14. Champagne And Wine

15. A Fool For You

16. I'm A Changed Man

17. Direct Me (November 1968 US 45 on Atco 6636, B-side of "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag" - for A, see Track 20, CD2, Stereo)

18. Love Man (April 1969 US 45 on Atco 6677, A - for B, see Track 2, CD4, Stereo)

19. Look At That Girl (November 1969 US 45 on Atco 6723, A as "Look At The Girl", Stereo)

20. Free Me (July 1969 US 45 on Atco 6700, A, Stereo)

21. The Match Game

22. A Little Time (Mono)

23. Johnny's Heartbreak (March 1970 US 45 on Atco 6592, B-side of "Demonstration", Mono)

24. Amen (June 1968 US 45 on Atco 6592, A - for B, see Track 10, CD4, Stereo)

25. (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay (January 1968 US 45 on Volt 157, A - for B, see Track 5, CD3, Stereo)

NOTES:

Tracks 1 to 4 and 6 to 7 from the July 1967 US LP "Live In Europe" on Volt S-416 in Stereo

Track 5 originally issued as a Mono 45 in April 1967 on Volt 149: this mix is STEREO first issued on the November 1993 4CD Box Set "Otis! The Definitive Otis Redding" on Atlantic/Rhino R2 71439 

Tracks 8 to 15 and 24 from the June 1968 US LP "The Immortal Otis Redding" on Atlantic SD 33-252 in Stereo

Tracks 16 to 20 from the June 1969 US LP "Love Man" on Atlantic SD 33-289 in Stereo

Tracks 21, 22 and 23 from the July 1970 US LP "Tell The Truth" on Atlantic SD 33-333 in Stereo

The bulk of CD1, CD2 and CD3 are mostly MONO recordings (Stereo tracks are noted) whilst the majority of CD4 is all STEREO baring two songs towards the end (Tracks 22 and 23). The Audio is just superb and as you can see from the detailed lists above – you get a huge number of his singles – both A&B-sides. The balls-to-the-wall classic Soul albums from 1965 "The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads" and "Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul" get a chunky ten and four songs each and there are nuggets in-between like the 45 B-side "Merry Christmas Baby" from October 1968 – as joyous a Soul sound as you're ever likely to hear.

And although Soul Music live can be a precarious thing to capture (especially 60ts recordings) – you have to bow your head in sheer awe to his staggering stage presence and majesty in the two sets presented here - "Live In Europe" (1967) and "Otis Redding In Person At The Whisky A Go Go" (1968). In sky-slicing form, it's not surprising that both are given hefty representations.

But I dig the later compilations that followed after his tragic and horrible passing in December 1967 – the posthumous LPs like "The Immortal Otis Redding" from June 1968 (8 of its 11 tracks are here), "Tell The Truth" from July 1970 and more wicked groovers ahoy on the July 1969 "Love Man" LP too. It's all jut so bloody good and man is there a lot of it...

Get your daily dose of the original "Love Man" here and find out why those who saw him in the UK and Europe when he did those tours have never been the same since. Immortal indeed...