24-year-old Otis Redding's 3rd studio album was released on 15 September 1965.
Recorded in the span of 24-hours Otis Blue contains 3 songs written by Redding ("Ole Man Trouble," "Respect," and "I've Been Loving You too Long" - co-written with Jerry Butler), 3 songs written by Sam Cooke, who had been killed just 6 months before the recording sessions ("Change Gonna Come," "Shake," and "Wonderful World" - co-written with Lou Adler and Herb Alpert), and other hit songs (e.g. "My Girl," "Satisfaction," and "You Don't Miss Your Water").
Redding was backed by Booker T. and the M.G.'s (Steve Cropper, Duck Dunn, and Al Jackson Jr.), as well as Isaac Hayes and members of the Mar-Keys and the Memphis Horns (Andrew Love, Wayne Jackson, and Floyd Newman).
Often cited as Redding's best album, Otis Blue peaked at #75 on the Billboard Albums chart (#1 on the R&B chart) and included 3 hit singles: "I've Been Loving You Too Long" peaked at # 21 (and stayed on the chart for 11 weeks), "Respect" peaked at #35 (and also charted for 11 weeks), and "Shake," which peaked at #47 (6 weeks on the chart).
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Alright, between forgetting on Friday plus a long weekend, I've got FIVE albums to jabber about. Let's go!
Friday was Innervisions by Stevie Wonder. Not my favorite Stevie, and nothing on it is bad that I can recall. "Living For The City" was my favorite here. 3/5
Saturday was Skylarking by XTC. So, I want to paint a picture of my morning that day real quick. I woke up, lazed about in bed for a while, rolled out of bed to do some chores around the house, walked down the street to a bridal store where my friend's wedding party is having their tuxes come from to get sized, had to pop across the street from that to get cash from the ATM to PAY for said tux, walked back to my house, then down to a super hipster coffee shop/craft brewery for breakfast. It was like, the platonic ideal of suburban banality. Just peak boring shit. And the entire time, I was listening to this album and it fucking landed perfectly. It is a PERFECT soundtrack for suburban banality. Play it sometime when you're engaging in some banality. Outside of that context, I don't think I would've liked it. Well, not true. The album closer "Dear God" is just a flatly amazing song and completely out of step with the rest of it. 4/5.
Sunday was Repeater by Fugazi. I've said it before and I'll say if again. There is just an unfathomable amount of middle of the road punk music that critics love and I just don't. 3/5, moving on.
Monday was 3 Years, 5 Months, And 2 Days In The Life Of... by Arrested Development. Now I was vaguely familiar with this band's NEXT album because of a YouTube series I like about career-killing albums. From that, I was expecting something kinda meh. And it was not meh. It's really good! Can get kind of obnoxious with its moralizing at times, but the album's heart is clearly in the right place, the music is fun as hell, and it's all just good. 5/5, really liked this.
And lastly today was Otis Blue by Otis Redding. This one just didn't click for me, but there is one thing on here I found SUPER interesting. Okay, what's THE song from Aretha Franklin? For my money, that's "Respect." Did YOU know that's a rewritten, gender flipped version of an Otis Redding song of the same name? I sure didn't! And the Otis version is WAAAAAAAAY worse. It's a song that's basically like "I'm the man, I'm the provider, all I want when I get home from work is respect." And it just does NOT land well. 3/5.
Welp, all I know of Otis Redding is "(Sitting On) The Dock of the Bay" and that he wrote Respect before Aretha covered it and effectively made it hers.
Wikipedia says this is (paraphrased) mostly a cover album. Otherwise, I'm going in blind on this one.
•Ole Man Trouble-
It's ostensibly a blues album, and this is an amazing first track; a blues song about getting stuck in the dumps again and again and again. Fuck Ole Man Trouble.
All my homies hate Ole Man Trouble.
Those horns are hot, though! Hoping for a lot more of that coming up.
•Respect-
Okay, I was expecting this, but this version is just WEIRD. The pieces are there, but it's subtly wrong. Lukewarm take: Aretha did it WAY better. This song works so much better as a feminist anthem than it does like this, it's very 'better have my dinner ready when I walk in the door'.
•A Change Is Gonna Come-
Hearing this man's beaten-down and bedraggled optimism about how things have to get better for the black community despite living though a particularly dark part of America's history gave me a bit of hope that, yeah, things have got to get better.
Then, I think about my racist, fascist governor and I can't stop myself from thinking: "well, not fuckin yet, I guess."
Then, I lose myself in thinking about pushing Ronathan Desantis into the industrial crushing machine from the end of 30 Days of Night, and I get just a bit happier.
It's legitimately soul-destroying to think that it's been so long since this song was written and we've gotten to "no no, you see, slavery was good actually because it taught them valuable skills!" and that kinda makes me want to slit my fucking wrists
This country sucks shit.
•Down in the Valley-
As if he knew the last song was gonna be A Bummer, this one is basically "oh yeah, shit SUCKS, but those motherfuckers can't stop us from dancing, even if it's just to spite them."
That said, I really like it. A breath of fresh air.
•I've Been Loving You Too Long-
My man, she's gone. She's checked the fuck out.
She wants out, you said as much. Let her go.
I get that you feel like you can't let go, but you're being the Crab in the goddamn Bucket right now.
(For real, it sucks to be in a one-sided relationship but let them go if they want to leave, and you'll both be happier eventually for it.)
•Shake-
This song has some SERIOUS energy to it. Funky as hell, and the horns are working overtime. If this doesn't make you want to move, you're broken.
I bet this one was a killer at a live set.
•My Girl-
I was initially going to say that this sounds wrong without the Temptation's back-up singers, but the horns actually work pretty well in their place.
Also, god DAMN, the man could sing.
A beautiful cover. I almost like it more than the original, tbh.
•Wonderful World-
Was expecting trees of green and red roses, too, aaaaaaaand now all I can think about is Animal House, a now deeply problematic fave from my younger years. (But still not nearly as problematic as Revenge of the Nerds.)
(For those who aren't familiar, this was a featured song in that film, iirc the last song of the movie that plays over the epilogues.)
I definitely relate to this song though, as I also don't remember much about the French i took, either.
Possibly the most upbeat song so far.
•Rock Me Baby-
2001. Junior year history class taught by one of my all-time favorite teachers: Mr. Bradish.
This song was the given example of how creative people could get around the strict censorship laws in the mid-century like the Hayes code.
"Well, we can't say 'i want you to screw me all night long', but these dipshit honky record executives don't exactly understand what we mean by the word 'rock', they're just snapping their fingers, so we're good."
I simply cannot divorce this song from that moment in time.
That said, A SERIOUS blues guitar solo, hot damn.
•(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction-
To be totally on the level, I was always more of a Beatles fan than a Stones fan.
That said, this cover FUCKING SLAPS!
In a perfect world, this song would be known as an Otis Redding song.
•You Don't Miss Your Water-
The inverse of I've Been Loving You Too Long, and the return of: "Aww, man I've been such a gigantic cheating prick it's been so great, wait, why is my girl leaving me? [Surprised_pikachu.jpg]"
I seriously CAN'T believe how common a subject that has been during this project.
Well, that was an interesting album, all in all. Otis Redding had one hell of a voice, and it's on full display here.
Definitely worth checking out, especially since it's a quick one at like 35 minutes long.
Favorite Track: (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction. It's amazing how much better this song can seem when it's not being sneered at you by a quasi-noncey British multi-millionaire. It comes off much less like the diatribe of a jaded douche when it comes from Otis.
Least Favorite Track: You Don't Miss Your Water.
Yeah, maybe I'm a dyed in the wool wife-guy, but I will never, ever be a fan of the nigh-omnipresent "I'm an asshole, I'm a cheater, wait a minute, why doesn't my partner like me anymore?" song.
Album #51: “Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul” by Otis Redding (1965)
Otis was known as the King of Soul, and it’s not hard to see why. there’s a handful of originals on here, but the record is mostly covers, including a cover of the Rolling Stone’s “Satisfaction,” which is fantastic.
Otis was backed by the exquisite Booker T. & the M.G.’s, who have already appeared on this list. I mentioned in that review about how the Ray Charles’ “Modern Sounds...” record was an album of “white” music being recorded in the “black” sound, and similarly this record was considered a “crossover” success (meaning it appealed to many different demographics).
soul music is not a genre of music i think about very often, but it’s records like this that come along and make me realize that i’m a fool.
sadly, Otis died in a plane crash a couple of years after this record came out. at only 26, the man still managed to leave a massive legacy behind him.
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