Tag Archives: Soul

Great albums, Soul, Stax

Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul

 

From Wikipedia:

Released September 15, 1965
Recorded April 19 and July 9–10, 1965
Stax Recording Studios
(Memphis, Tennessee)
Genre Soul, R&B
Length 32:22
Label Volt/Atco
Volt 412
Producer Jim Stewart, Isaac Hayes, David Porter

Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul, or simply Otis Blue, is the third studio album by soul singer Otis Redding, released September 15, 1965 on Stax Records. “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” was originally recorded and released as a mono single in April 1965 whilst the rest of Otis Blue was recorded in a 24-hour period over July 9/10, and mainly features cover songs by popular R&B and soul artists. Two other original songs, “Ole Man Trouble” and “Respect”, were written during the sessions in the Stax Recording Studios in Memphis, Tennessee.

Otis Blue was critically acclaimed upon release and became Redding’s most successful studio album to date, peaking at number 6 on the UK Albums Chart, and his first to reach the top spot of the Billboard R&B chart. Furthermore, it produced three popular singles, all charting at least in the top 50 on both the Billboard R&B and the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It is considered by many critics to be Redding’s first fully realized album.

Recording:

After Otis Redding‘s appearance in a session with guitarist Johnny Jenkins, producer and co-founder of Stax Records, Jim Stewart. was so deeply affected by Redding’s rendition of “These Arms of Mine” that he signed him immediately. Following the moderately successful Pain in My Heart and The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads, both of which performed well in the newly-established Billboard R&B LP chart but not in the Billboard 200, preparations for the third studio album followed soon after. The album would be Redding’s third studio album and second on Stax’s sister label Volt.

Redding recorded the album with the Stax’s house band Booker T. & the M.G.’s—guitarist Steve Cropper, bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn, drummer Al Jackson Jr.—pianist Isaac Hayes and a horn section consisting of members of the Mar-Keys and the Memphis Horns. The album was recorded in two sessions, lasting from July 9 to 10, between Saturday 10 pm and Sunday 2 am,  as the backing band had to omit several gigs. The album opens with “Ole Man Trouble”, which was finished on the sessions earlier than other songs, and was later released as a B-side of “Respect“. 

The fifth track, “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long“, was the only one not recorded during the 24-hour session. It was, together with “Respect”, recut in stereo during the Otis Blue-session, with the remarkable change that on the latter song the line “hey hey hey” was sung by Earl Sims and not by Redding, while the first song was completely rewritten. “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” was released with B-side “I’m Depending on You” and became a number-two hit on Billboard‘s R&B chart.

Critical Response:

  • Otis Blue has been regarded by music critics as the Redding’s best work. Bruce Eder of Allmusic wrote that “Redding’s powerful, remarkable singing throughout makes Otis Blue gritty, rich, and achingly alive, and an essential listening experience.” He also felt the album “presents his talent unfettered, his direction clear, and his confidence emboldened.”
  • Angus Taylor of BBC Music viewed that it stands “at the crossroads of pop, rock, gospel, blues and soul”, and asserted that the album contains “a set of short, punchy covers and originals, flawlessly ordered to ebb and flow between stirring balladry and foot stomping exuberance”. He dubbed the album “[Redding’s] definitive statement.”
  • Blender music critic Robert Christgau called Otis Blue “the first great album by one of soul’s few reliable long-form artists” and gave its 2004 collector’s edition four out of five stars, which he said “comes with many useless alternate takes, but also with live tracks that preserve for history Redding’s country-goes-uptown style of fun”.
  • Nate Patrin of Pitchfork Media cited the album as “[the] 1960s’ greatest studio-recorded soul LP”, and furthermore stated, “[the album is] a hell of a record, the crowning achievement of a man who could sound pained and celebratory and tender and gritty and proud all at once, with a voice that everyone from John Fogerty to Swamp Dogg to Cee-lo owes a debt to.”
  •  Claudrena N. Harold of PopMatters also praised the diverse sound, which, according to her, is a mixture of “Motown pop, the blues, British rock, and Southern Soul”, although she cited Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul as Redding’s best album.
  • Rolling Stone described the album as “Redding’s true dictionary of soul, a stunning journey through the past and future vocabulary of R&B … documenting a masterful artist rising to … the immense challenge of his times.
  • In The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), Rolling Stone journalist Paul Evans gave Otis Blue five out of five stars and cited the album as Redding’s “first masterwork”.

  • NME ranked it 35 on their list of the “Greatest Albums of All Time”.
  • The album was also ranked 74 on the Rolling Stone magazine’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list
  • 92 on Time magazine’s list of the All-Time 100 Greatest Albums
  • included in Q magazine’s Best Soul Albums of All Time list.
  • The album appeared in “1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die”

Track listing

  1. “Ole Man Trouble” Otis Redding
  2. “Respect” Redding
  3. “Change Gonna Come” Sam Cooke
  4. “Down in the Valley” Bert Berns, Solomon Burke, Babe Chivian, Joe Martin
  5. “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” Redding, Jerry Butler
  6.  “Shake” Cooke
  7. “My Girl” Smokey Robinson, Ronald White
  8. “Wonderful World” Cooke, Lou Adler, Herb Alpert
  9. “Rock Me Baby” B. B. King
  10. “Satisfaction” Mick Jagger, Keith Richards
  11. “You Don’t Miss Your Water” William Bell

Musicians

I’ve Been Loving You Too Long (Monterey ’67):

Respect:

Satisfaction:

Album:

Also check out this one:  The Best Songs – ” Rock Me Baby”

-Egil

Bob Dylan, Music Calendar

Today: Bob Dylan released “Shot of Love” in 1981 – 31 years ago

I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea
Sometimes I turn, there’s someone there, other times it’s only me
I am hanging in the balance of the reality of man
Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand

From Wikipedia:

Released August 10, 1981
Recorded March–May 1981
Genre Rock, gospel
Length 40:15
Label Columbia
Producer Chuck Plotkin, Bob Dylan
with Bumps Blackwell on “Shot of Love”

Shot of Love is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan‘s 21st studio album, released by Columbia Records in August 1981.

It is generally considered to be Dylan’s last of a trilogy of overtly religious, Christian albums. Also, it was his first since becoming born-again to focus on secular themes, from straight-ahead love songs to an ode to the deceased comedian Lenny Bruce. Arrangements are rooted more in rock’n’roll, less in gospel than on Dylan’s previous two albums.

At the time of its release, Shot of Love received mixed reviews; Paul Nelson of Rolling Stone in particular savaged the album, though he did single out the last track, “Every Grain of Sand,” as a stand-out. Shot of Love, while reaching UK #6, continued Dylan’s US commercial decline, reaching #33 during a brief chart stay. By contrast, Bono of Irish band U2 described Shot of Love as one of his favourites, particularly due to Dylan’s singing ability.

Track listing:

Side One

  1. “Shot of Love” – 4:18
  2. “Heart of Mine” – 4:29
  3. “Property of Jesus” – 4:33
  4. “Lenny Bruce” – 4:32
  5. “Watered-Down Love” – 4:10

Side Two

  1. “Dead Man, Dead Man” – 3:58
  2. “In the Summertime” – 3:34
  3. “Trouble” – 4:32
  4. “Every Grain of Sand” – 6:12

“The Groom’s Still Waiting at the Altar”, originally the B-side to “Heart of Mine” and included only on cassette release, was added to Shot of Love as track 6 in 1985 (song one on side two of the vinyl LP), and has been present in all subsequent pressings.

—

5 best songs.. according to me:

  1. Every Grain of Sand
  2. The Groom’s Still Waiting at the Altar
  3. Lenny Bruce
  4. Shot of Love
  5. Heart of Mine

—

A large number of songs recorded during the Shot of Love sessions were ultimately omitted from the final album, but several outtakes later found their way into private circulation.

Best of the outtakes is Caribbean Wind & Angelina… but that is another story.

Aftermath:

A number of critics had already turned on Dylan for the evangelism of his last two albums, but the reception for Shot of Love was particularly harsh. Despite lavish praise of “Every Grain Of Sand,” Paul Nelson of Rolling Stone savaged the rest of the album. Nick Kent of New Musical Express called it “Dylan’s worst album to date.” Despite heavy touring in Europe and North America (in which all but two songs were performed), sales of Shot of Love were below CBS’s expectations. Still, in an interview taken in 1983, Dylan would describe Shot of Love as a personal favorite.

Great live version of “Every Grain of Sand” – Paris 84:

Every Grain of Sand – studio version:

Now here is a real gem! – “The Grooms Still Waiting At The Altar” – live (probably Nov 1980):

Album of the day:

Other August-10:

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Memphis, Music Calendar, Soul, Stax

Today: William Bell is 73

From Wikipedia:

William Bell (born July 16, 1939) is an American soul singer and songwriter, and one of the architects of the Stax–Volt sound. As a performer, he is probably best known for 1961’s “You Don’t Miss Your Water” (his debut single); 1968’s “Private Number” (a duet with Judy Clay, and a top 10 hit in the UK); and 1976’s “Tryin’ To Love Two”, Bell’s only US top 40 hit, which also hit #1 on the R&B charts. Upon the death of Otis Redding, Bell released the well-received memorial song “A Tribute To A King”.

From Allmusic (Jason Ankeny):

A principal architect of the Stax/Volt sound, singer/composer William Bell remains best known for his classic “You Don’t Miss Your Water,” one of the quintessential soul records to emerge from the Memphis scene. Born William Yarborough on July 16, 1939, he cut his teeth backing Rufus Thomas, and in 1957 recorded his first sides as a member of the Del Rios. After joining the Stax staff as a writer, in 1961 Bell made his solo debut with the self-penned “You Don’t Miss Your Water,” an archetypal slice of country-soul and one of the label’s first big hits. A two-year Armed Forces stint effectively derailed his career, however, and he did not release his first full-length album, The Soul of a Bell, until 1967, generating a Top 20 hit with the single “Everybody Loves a Winner”; that same year, Albert King also scored with another classic Bell composition, the oft-covered “Born Under a Bad Sign.”

You Don’t Miss Your Water:

Album of the day:

Read more about this album here -> Allmusic – The Soul of Bell

 Other July-16:

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Music Calendar, Rolling Stones

Today: The Rolling Stones released the “Honky Tonk Women” single in 1969 – 43 years ago

I met a gin soaked, bar-room queen in memphis,
She tried to take me upstairs for a ride.
She had to heave me right across her shoulder
Cause I just can’t seem to drink you off my mind.

From Wikipedia:

“Honky Tonk Women” is a 1969 hit song by The Rolling Stones. Released as a single on 4 July 1969 in the United Kingdom and a week later in the United States, it topped the charts in both nations.

B-side “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”
Released 4 July 1969 (UK)
11 July 1969 (US)
Format 7″
Recorded June 1969
Olympic Studios, London
Genre Hard rock
Length 3:02
Label Decca F.12952 (UK)
London 45.910 (US)
Writer(s) Jagger/Richards
Producer Jimmy Miller

Two versions of the song were recorded by the band: the familiar hit which appeared on the 45 single and their collection of late 1960s singles, Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2); and a honky-tonk version entitled “Country Honk” with slightly different lyrics, which appeared on Let It Bleed. The concert rendition of the song featured on Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! differs from both the hit version and the country version, with a markedly different guitar introduction and an entirely different second verse, but is much closer to the single version than the album version.

Live from Hide Park, London – 1969:

Live from Madison Sq Garden, NYC – Nov 1969:

album of the day:

 

Other July-4:

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Bergenfest, Blues, Soul

Bergenfest 2012 – Day 2 – Summary

 Friday – June 22

Best Concerts:

  1. Charles Bradley And His Extraordinaires
  2. Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
  3. Monica Heldal
Short Summary:
Great weather even today! more people, and 2 fantastic soul concerts. Charles Bradley moved us deeply, best concert so far @ Bergenfest. A wonderful soul night in Bergen, overall rating is .. again 5/6.
Saturday will be hectic as we aim for 7 concerts…!

-Egil & Hallgeir