'Otis Blue' is widely considered one of the all-time great soul albums, along with Marvin Gaye's 'What's Going On' and a few others. It's seen as the definitive masterpiece of a definitive master. Makes you think. The whole album contains 11 tracks - 3 originals, 3 by his idol Sam Cooke (who'd died months before), and 5 other covers. It was recorded in 24 hours and was one of four studio albums Otis Redding released in a two year period. Kanye West claims to have spent 5000 hours composing one song, 'Power'. Even if he's added a zero by mistake or for effect, hell, even if he's added two zeros, that says an awful lot about the way the music industry's changed and what can be "great".
Don't get me wrong, this is a great album. It's wonderful to listen to, every song's lush and provokes an emotion, there's light and shade and hope and pain all the way through. Otis Redding had a few things helping him along which most people didn't have 1. the best backing band in the history of the world, including the likes of Steve Cropper, Donald Dunn and Isaac Hayes. 2. the best voice in the history of the world ... if you like that sort of thing.
Otis Redding's voice, this beloved instrument, rasping and rocking, soulful and strong. Pretty different from the other great soul voices of the 60s, but arguably more influential, in particular on rock singers. Otis Redding is a bit hick, a bit country. Where the great Motown artists were pop singers, he's a rock singer. The music is looser and grittier and somehow more moving.
He had something else going for him, of course - he was a tremendous writer - Dock of the Bay was still to come, but this album contains Ole Man Trouble, Respect and the marvellous I've Been Loving You Too Long. Just three of his own though, and how funny that one of those, Respect, has been taken from him and is not associated with him at all anymore. Likewise, there's a strange thing when you look at various of the most famous songs on 'Otis Blue' - Respect, Wonderful World, My Girl, Change Gonna Come, Satisfaction ... the definitive, most famous versions of these songs are all by someone else - respectively Aretha Franklin, Sam Cooke, the Temptations, Sam Cooke and the Rolling Stones. He didn't succeed in claiming these songs for his own, however highly this album is thought of.
If it comes to it, I prefer Otis Redding's versions to Sam Cooke's - Otis sounds more authentic on Wonderful World - Sam Cooke is so smooth and schooled, you think he knows plenty about algebra, trigonometry and the French he took. Shake is one of my favourites and A Change is Gonna Come is one of the greatest songs of all time, but I just tip to Redding's over the original.
You wouldn't necessarily say he improves on the original 'My Girl' or 'Satisfaction'. The fact of him covering 'Satisfaction' says it all though. Even now, genuine crossover is quite rare, but Otis Redding crossed over effortlessly, whether on record or at events like the Monterey Pop Festival.
Anyway, I mentioned it before when writing about Gram Parson's 'Grievous Angel', but sometimes a great album is a happy accident, a thrown together ragbag - how much time went into the song selection and sequencing here? Who knows? Maybe a few days, maybe a few hours? Yet now it's faultless, timeless, definitive, classic, etc ...
Was everything just way better in the good old days? Of course not. Here's a thing, Paolo Nutini sounds like Otis Redding. Deny it all you want, he does. Half the people who'd scoff at that wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Paolo Nutini could sound even more like Otis Redding if he didn't keep his own Scottish accent, yet he never gets praised for authenticity.
I've found myself watching a live set of Paolo Nutini at a festival - I'd have rather been somewhere else, but it was pretty good. There was no way I could get past my innate music snobbery to actually "enjoy" it but he sang great, the band were great, at least one song was really good and several were good. He sells plenty of records but he can't catch a break when it comes to "authenticity". He might as well be James Blunt. I'm not now going to tell you that James Blunt sounds like Marvin Gaye, don't worry.
People love Otis Redding because he just sang and there was none more real. I thought a fair bit about why this has come to be seen as the definitive soul album - why soul music is more often at the top of Greatest Singles lists than Greatest Albums, likewise disco, hip-hop etc, and why only certain black artists have been able to break through in terms of being seen as great albums artists. I don't have an answer right now. I'm going to think about it and one day write an essay on it. But for now, here's an Otis Redding compilation you should really listen to.
Shake
Hard to Handle
Try a Little Tenderness
Cigarettes and Coffee
That's How Strong My Love Is
I've Been Loving You Too Long
Respect
You Don't Miss Your Water
Ole Man Trouble
Mr Pitiful
(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay
Love Man
These Arms of Mine
Change Gonna Come
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