Try (More Than) A Little Otis

Otis Redding (1941-1967) had a brief, but prolific singing career. Most of the music he made occurred during the final four years of his life. The material he recorded for the Stax/Volt label in those years wound up on over a dozen albums and several compilations. The most comprehensive of the compilations was the four-disc set, "Otis! The Definitive Otis Redding." This 1993 release contains nearly 100 tracks, with all of Redding's hits and a great deal more. A number of the other songs here are popular, and other tracks appear on a Redding CD for the first time.

Redding had eleven songs crack the Top 40 from 1965-1969, two of which were duets with Carla Thomas. The hits began for Redding with "I've Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now)," a ballad full of Redding's bluesy soul. It's a plea for a lover to stay that starts soft and slow, and builds from that start, allowing Redding to show off his vocal range. The horns grow stronger as the vocals become more and more pleading. The next Top 40 hit was his rendition of "Respect," which is better known in its #1 rendition by Aretha Franklin. Most people, including Redding, have said that Franklin has the superior version. Redding did a decent version of his own song, though it's a beat slower than Franklin's, and doesn't include lines like "R-E-S-P-E-C-T" and "Sock it to me!" that added to the liveliness of the Franklin hit.

While Otis wrote or co-wrote his first two Top 40 hits, he also proved he could cover other people's songs well. Clearly, Redding was fond of Sam Cooke and his songs, as he covered the Cooke hits "Shake," "Cupid," and "Change Gonna Come." Redding's renditions were as sweet in their own way, though Cooke's voice didn't have the gritty quality of Redding's. Another cover that had chart success was "Satisfaction," with a lively horn arrangement and bass playing (Redding was often backed up by Booker T. and the MG's and the Memphis Horns). The Rolling Stones, like many of the acts of the British Invasion, had originally hoped to be a great R & B band. I suppose this was Otis's way of saying these British lads wrote songs with lots of soul.

His most famous cover, without a doubt, is "Try A Little Tenderness," which only reached #25 during its 1966-67 chart run. It's a song that separates one generation of music lover from another. Previous renditions of this song were crooned, but Redding was no crooner (neither was Jack Webb, but that didn't stop him from doing a Joe Friday-like version of this song). I can remember my mother hearing Redding's version of this song and wonder with disgust what he'd done to the song. He simply found a new and exciting spin for a popular ballad. While he's anything but tender in his delivery, Otis drives home the point with conviction. "You've got to, got to, got to, try a little tenderness," he sings in a voice that implores. It's this interpretation of the song that Three Dog Night copied to have a hit of their own. The Commitments also borrowed from Redding's version when they sang that song in the 1991 film of the same name.

During Redding's life, he never cracked the Top 20. The first Redding single released after he lost his life in a plane crash was "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay," which topped the charts for four weeks in 1968. It was the last song he recorded during a creative flurry in the fall of 1967, which concluded just four days before he died. It marked a change of pace for Redding. The song begins with the sounds of waves and birds, soon to be joined by the soft sounds of a bass and acoustic guitar. Otis's vocals are decidedly calmer, but just as powerful in a different way. He takes us on the journey of a man who believes a change of scenery will change his luck in love, but learns that's not the case. He does, however, come to admire the beauty around him in his new home.

The entire fourth disc, entitled "The Ultimate Live Otis Redding Show," showcases the excellent concert performances of this singer. Of the body of Redding work available, you will find three live albums, his entire five-song set from the Monterey Pop festival, and tracks from other sources. In the Monterey Pop concert, he shows he learned a little bit from the Queen Of Soul with a peppier take on "Respect" than the one from his single release. "Try A Little Tenderness" from the same set (and released as a single in 1971) showed he could make this a rousing crowd pleaser. The live version of "Shake" features an audience sing-along. Other tracks feature the crowds clapping to the beat and screaming with delight. In concert, he often used another Memphis band, the Bar-Kays (who had a 1967 hit with "Soul Finger"), as his band. They proved just as capable on the road as Booker T. And The MG's and the Memphis Horns were in the studio. Sadly, most of them perished along with Redding on December 10, 1967.

Still, Redding left an impressive body of work, always singing as if every note could be his last. While his biggest chart success did come posthumously, he did see "Respect" become a #1 hit. He also produced Arthur Conley's biggest hit, "Sweet Soul Music," which was a #2 smash in 1967. Other artists have also had success with Redding's music. The Blues Brothers used an instrumental rendition of "I Can't Turn You Loose" as their opening theme. The Black Crowes first drew the attention of their fans with their take of "Hard To Handle." Michael Bolton's first big hit was his cover of "Dock Of The Bay."

For people who want to get all of those hard-to-find Otis Redding recordings, "Otis!" has virtually all of them. The CD opens with his pre-Stax songs with the Shooters and the Pinetoppers. The collection also includes a Coke radio spot that was never used and a public service announcement for staying in school. Otis sings, "If you didn't go back to school this year, you know you're really not groovy" for that PSA. This set also contains a booklet with a complete listing of Redding's releases. It also has an assortment of photos, essays, and commentary by those who knew Otis or were influenced by his music. The testimonials include comments from his Stax/Volt associates, Al Green, and Redding's widow, Zelma. The legacy of Otis Redding is captured in all its phases in "Otis!" The Memphis Sound of the sixties would have been a lesser one without him.