Genre |
Pop Rock |
Artist |
Otis Redding |
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time - Rated 161/500!
Featured in Michael Fremer's Heavy Rotation in the March 2004 Issue of Stereophile!
Released shortly after his death, this album was the first of several posthumous Otis Redding releases. The fabulous title track reached number one on both the pop and R&B charts, introducing Otis' talent and emotive energy to a much wider (and whiter) audience. Inspired by the Beatles' adventurous songwriting, and his positive experience at the Monterey Pop Festival, he wrote "The Dock of the Bay" while relaxing in Sausalito. He recorded it on December 7, 1967, three days before the airplane crash that would take his life and four members of his touring band, The Bar-Kays. The song was unlike anything he had released thus far, and showed the promising artistic direction he was headed in.
"On December 6th, 1967, Redding recorded "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay," an experiment in "soul folk" influenced by the enthusiastic reception he'd gotten from the rock audience at the Monterey Pop Festival the previous June. Four days later, he was dead, when a plane he'd chartered went down in a Wisconsin lake. "Dock of the Bay" went on to become his biggest hit, a pop and R&B Number One. Guitarist Steve Cropper assembled this collection using unreleased sessions. So strong was Redding's output that both Dock of the Bay and the latter posthumous set The Immortal Otis Redding rank as essential soul albums." - www.rollingstone.com
Guitarist, co-writer, and friend Steve Cropper compiled this tribute album around it, gathering together some of his past singles, along with the unreleased ballad "Open The Door." There are plenty of great songs, such as the magnificent "Let Me Come On Home," "Don't Mess With Cupid," and his classic duet with Carla Thomas, "Tramp." The funky "Huckle-Buck" is from the Stax "Stay In School" record, and two fine cuts from earlier albums close out the set. As always, the backing musicians on all of the tracks are the fantastic Stax players of Booker T. & The MG's and the Mar-Keys.
Features:
150g Vinyl
Selections:
1. (Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay
2. I Love You More Than Words Can Say
3. Let Me Come on Home
4. Open the Door
5. Don't Mess With Cupid
6. The Glory of Love
7. I'm Coming Home
8. Tramp
9. The Huckle-Buck
10. Nobody Knows You (When You're Down and Out)
11. Ole Man Trouble