Let’s put a few facts on the table. I am a middle-aged, middle class white male from the Midwestern United States. I’ve got no soul, I can’t jump, I can’t dance, and I can’t get the blues. I don’t know the difference between hip-hop and rap, the blues from complaining, or soul from Shinola.
What I do know is I love Otis Redding, and if it is soul that he sings, then I’ll spend my life wishing I had some.
Otis had a voice like silk pie. He could make a blind man see, the dead rise again, and a middle class, middle-age white guy shake it like he’s got a pair.
This particular bootleg is actually a mix of at least three separate venues, all from 1967. As such, the quality of each performance varies from simply super to less than stellar. It also contains a few songs played more than once. The result feels less than complete, a little like listening to rehearsal tapes for an album, but Otis displays enough overt energy in every song to make it well worth listening to.
It helps that his band is cracker jack. They swing, jump, and pop all over the place. With Otis keeping up every step of the way, it is nothing short of a celebration of life, soul and music.
Four songs into the disk, he covers the Beatles' classic “A Hard Days Night.” At first it feels out of place, the music feels to heavy and dense. But in less than a minute, as if by sheer force of will, Otis converts me to his side of things. He’s like a fire and brimstone preacher shouting to his minions that there is a better way, and it involves plenty of horns.
Article comments
1 - tink
Love the Otis!!!! Sounds like I have some hunting and gathering to do, to try and find a copy of this!!
2 - Mat Brewster
If you can't find an easy download let me know. We can set up a trade or, if you don't trade we can work something out for the cost of blank disks.
My e-mails in my personal blog.