Otis Redding - The Immortal Otis Redding (1968)

Otis Redding was a highly influential American singer and songwriter, considered one of the most important artists of the soul genre. 

After Otis Redding died aged 26 in 1967, "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay" gave him his biggest ever hit posthumously. His fame continued to grow and his music went on to reach an even larger audience after his death, and as there was a lot of unreleased material still waiting to be heard more Otis Redding albums were inevitable. The Immortal Otis Redding was the second such posthumous release, and four of its songs became chart hits when released as singles in 1968. On the R&B singles chart, "The Happy Song" reached #10, "Amen" got to #15, and "I've Got Dreams To Remember" made it to #6. "The Happy Song" also broke into the Pop charts at #25. becoming one of his biggest pop hits. However the most memorable song on the album was actually the b-side to "Amen" - "Hard To Handle" was the funkiest number Redding had recorded, and though it only charted at #38 R&B and #51 Pop in the US, it was very popular in the UK, where it made it to #15.

The Dock Of The Bay (1968) <|> Love Man (1969)
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Otis Redding - The Dock Of The Bay (1968)

Otis Redding was a highly influential American singer and songwriter, considered one of the most important artists of the soul genre.

Tragedy struck the music world in December 1967 when Otis Redding died in a plane crash whilst travelling to a gig in Madison, Wisconsin. Also killed in the accident were the pilot Richard Fraser, roadie Matthew Kelly, and members of Redding's backing group The Mar-Kays, Jimmy King, Phalon Jones, Ronnie Caldwell and Carl Cunningham. Only trumpeter Ben Cauly survived. Redding was 26 years old at the time. His funeral was held on December 18th in Macon, Georgia, and was attended by over 4,500 people.

What made his death even more tragic was the fact that his music was still developing, and even greater successes were still on the horizon. Shortly before his death he had written and recorded a song with Steve Cropper which he was very excited about. "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay" was finished and released less than a month after his death, and it went straight to #1 on both the R&B and pop charts, becoming the first ever posthumous #1 in US chart history. It was also a huge hit in the UK, reaching #3. It was his most successful single and his greatest cross-over success, introducing his music to a much wider audience just a little too late.

There was still a great deal of Otis Redding music which had not been released, and his first posthumous album saw release in February 1968, with "The Dock Of The Bay" as the title track. Three songs were repeated from earlier albums ("Nobody Knows You (When You're Down And Out)", "Ole Man Trouble", and "Tramp", his 1967 duet with Carla Thomas), but the rest of the album was made up of new unheard material. It became his best-selling album, getting to #1 in the UK and #4 in the US. Three more posthumous albums would be released over the next two years, and his fame quickly grew even after his death.

Live In Europe (1967) <|> The Immortal Otis Redding (1968)
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Otis Redding - Live In Europe (1967)

Otis Redding was a highly influential American singer and songwriter, considered one of the most important artists of the soul genre.

1966 was the year Otis Redding had broken through from the R&B chart into both the US and UK pop charts. He toured Europe and appeared on UK television, and was enthusiastically received. The next year he released an album of duets with fellow Stax singer Carla Thomas, which produced the Top 10 R&B hits "Tramp" and "Knock On Wood". In the summer of 1967 he performed at the Monterey Pop Festival, gaining a massive new audience of rock fans.

The same summer his first live album was released, recorded at a gig in Paris with Booker T & The MGs from a few months earlier. It was a great set containing most of his biggest hits, and today is an excellent document recording the energy and excitement he generated onstage, and the enthusiastic audience reaction. The live cover of Sam Cooke's "Shake" was also released as a single, charting as a #16 R&B hit.

Unfortunately, the album turned out to be the last to be released in Redding's lifetime. He died later that year in a tragic plane crash.

The Otis Redding Dictionary Of Soul (1966) <|> The Dock Of The Bay (1968)
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Otis Redding - The Otis Redding Dictionary Of Soul (1966)

Otis Redding was a highly influential American singer and songwriter, considered one of the most important artists of the soul genre.

By 1966 Otis Redding was well and truly a star, but only in the mostly black R&B world - he had not yet made a true crossover to a wider pop audience. 1966 was the year that began to change, as first he chose to perform at the Whiskey a GoGo in L.A., being one of the first ever soul artists to perform on the west coast. His performance was critically acclaimed, and helped with his recognition in mainstream pop culture. He then went to the UK for a number of gigs, TV performances and interviews. Many of the British groups such as The Rolling Stones and The Animals were huge fans of his, and had covered his songs.

Back in Memphis, he got to work with the Stax house band on his fifth album. Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary Of Soul was released in October 1966, and featured a greater number of original compositons than his past albums had (some of them co-authored with Stax comrades Steve Cropper, David Porter, Isaac Hayes and Al Bell). The covers included soul readings of "The Tennessee Waltz" and The Beatles' "Day Tripper", plus "Try A Little Tenderness", a song at the time best associated through its version by Bing Crosby (though both Sam Cooke and Aretha Franklin had sung soul versions of it). It was given the full Stax treatment and subsequently re-invented, and became a hit at #4 on the R&B chart and #25 on the pop chart. The other hits generated from the album were Redding's own "My Lover's Prayer" (#10 R&B) and "Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)", which got to #12 R&B, #29 pop and also #23 over in the UK.

The Soul Album (1966) <|> Live In Europe (1967)
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Otis Redding - The Soul Album (1966)

Otis Redding was a highly influential American singer and songwriter, considered one of the most important artists of the soul genre.

1965 saw Otis Redding release achieve his first hit in the UK - "Just On More Day" got to #29 on the UK singles chart, and also reached #15 on the US R&B chart. Its b-side was also a big R&B hit ("I Can't Turn You Loose", #11 R&B). His cover of "My Girl", taken from Otis Blue, also gave him another UK hit at #11.

"Just One More Day" became the opening song for his first album of 1966, another typically solid and consistent product of Stax Records, crafted with the help of Isaac Hayes, Booker T & The MGs and The Memphis Horns. The diverse selection of songs on The Soul Album included Sam Cooke's "Chain Gang", Roy Head's "Treat Her Right", Smokey Robinson's "It's Growing" and Jimmy Cox's "Nobody Knows You When You're Down Out", all re-cast in Redding's own distinctive way. It also featured three songs co-authored by MG guitarist Steve Crooper (one of which, "634-5679", had been a hit for Wilson Pickett earlier that year).

Otis Blue (1965) <|> The Otis Redding Dictionary Of Soul (1966)
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Otis Redding - Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul (1965)

Otis Redding was a highly influential American singer and songwriter, considered one of the most important artists of the soul genre.

In 1965 Otis Redding released two singles which turned out to be landmarks in his career. The first, "I've Been Loving You Too Long", he co-wrote with fellow soul singer Jerry Butler. A slow, aching ballad, it was massively successful when released in April, giving him both a #2 R&B hit, and his first pop cross-over hit at #21 on the Billboard Hot 100. Another original song, "Respect", came out four months later and was another big hit - #4 R&B and #35 pop. Redding's career had taken a leap forward over the summer.

That summer he also quickly recorded his third album with a small group of Stax stalwarts - guitarist Steve Cropper, bassist Donald Dunn, drummer Al Jackson Jr., keyboard player Isaac Hayes, and The Memphis Horns. Released in September, Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul featured the two hit singles with a host of covers - three Sam Cooke songs, Solomon Burke's "Down In The Valley", Smokey Robinson's "My Girl", BB King's "Rock Me" and William Bell's "You Don't Miss Your Water". It also had a surprise with a cover of The Rolling Stone's "Satisfaction", which they had only released themselves a few months earlier, returning the favour they had paid countless American R&B artists by introducing their songs to the British pop audience.

The album was a hit - it garnered instant critical acclaim, topped the R&B album chart, and even got to #6 on the UK chart. It also generated two more hit singles - "My Girl" got to #11 in the UK, and "Satisfaction" became a #4 R&B hit. The result was Otis Redding's long-awaited breakthrough, and his fame and recognition expanded greatly. The album is today generally regarded as his best, and in many ways epitomises both his sound and the sound of Stax Records.

The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads (1965) <|> The Soul Album (1966)
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Otis Redding - The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads (1965)

Otis Redding was a highly influential American singer and songwriter, considered one of the most important artists of the soul genre.

By 1964 Otis Redding had managed to have three successful singles on the R&B charts, and had released a fantastic debut album. 1965 saw the release of its follow-up, The Great Otis Redding Signs Soul Ballads. Like its predecessor, it saw him backed by Booker T & The MGs, along with The Memphis Horns. Rumour also has it that Isaac Hayes made his recording debut on this album, playing piano, but this is disputed. The songs themselves featured both new originals and covers, including Sam Cooke's "Nothing Can Change This Love", Chuck Willis' "It's Too Late" and Jerry Butler & The Impressions' "For Your Precious Love". As the title suggests, the focus was on ballads (but not without a few more upbeat numbers included as well).
The most important songs on the album were "That's How Strong My Love Is" (written by Roosevelt Jamison, and originally released by O.V. Wright just days earlier) and "Mr Pitiful", which Redding co-wrote with Steve Cropper of the MGs. The latter was released as a single (with the former as the b-side) and got to #10 on the R&B charts - Redding's first Top 10 hit, and another big step forward for him.

Pain In My Heart (1964) <|> Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul (1965)
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Otis Redding - Pain In My Heart (1964)

Otis Redding was a highly influential American singer and songwriter, considered one of the most important artists of the soul genre.

Otis Redding was born the son of a gospel singer in Georgia in 1941. He was musically talented from a very early age, with Little Richard and Sam Cooke as major influences. After years of playing in bands and winning talent shows, his first big success in the music business came in 1962, with the self-penned #20 R&B hit "These Arms Of Mine", released on Stax Records. It was then followed by "That's What My Heart Needs" (#27 R&B) and "Pain In My Heart" (#11 R&B). The former was again written by Redding himself, whilst the latter was an adaptation of an Allen Toussaint composition (originally recorded by Irma Thomas as "Ruler Of My Heart" in1963).
To follow up on these singles' sucesses, his first album came out in the beginning of 1964. Alongside the afore-mentioned singles and other strong originals were covers of songs by Rufus Thomas ("The Dog"), Ben E. King ("Stand By Me"), Sam Cooke ("You Send Me"), Little Richard ("Lucille") and Richard Berry ("Louie Louie"). The instrumental backing throughout came courtesy of the Stax house band, Booker T & The MGs. Pain In My Heart introduced one of the most distinctive voices of southern soul and R&B. It was Redding who would become one of soul music's most recognised artists throughout the 60s, his voice both heartfelt and distinctly gritty. He was soon going to get a great deal more success.

|> The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads (1965)
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