Otis Redding: Classic or Dud

I've been wanting to check it out, but haven't read Rob Bowman's book yet; would one make the other redundant?

It's been a while since I read it, but the Guralnick book Sweet Soul Music has a lot of good material on Stax

yeah I haven't read Bowman's book -- obviously it's gotta cover a lot of the same ground (though there are so many people involved in the story that there are probably plenty of unique perspectives in each book).

been a long time since I read the Bowman book - I liked it OK but I don't remember it at all as a "total page-turner" shenanigans-fest so the Gordon book actually sounds great

http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2015-06-09/mark-ribowsky-dreams-to-remember-otis-redding-stax-records-and-the-transformation-of-southern-soul

Mark Ribowsky author of seven books, including "Ain't Too Proud to Beg: The Troubled Lives and Enduring Soul of the Temptations" has a new one out about Otis Redding. He's gonna be on this syndicated US public radio show

I like his Phil Spector bio

What a weird question Did someone actually say 'dud'? I can't be bothered to read the whole thing.

Don't worry about answering.

I wish somebody would compile his work from just before he died. He was supposed to have taken a large influence from Sgt Peppers which fed into him doing things like Dock of The Bay. But when he died the label just put out lps with material mixing recording eras dating back for the previous 5 years. So as far as I know the later era material has never appeared in one place and is scattered over a number of lps or unreleased.
Surprised that nobody has done that over the years unless they have recently and i haven't heard about it.

^The third disc of the Rhino "Otis!" box may be what you're looking for.

that box is straight fire

Is there a version of Pain In My Heart with stereo separation in the channels? I'm looking for a version with the vocals in one channel and the instrumentals in the other like the early Beatles stereo albums.

Otis Redding was the best. I listened to Try a Little Tenderness with my class and felt so spirited and exuberant afterwards. Idk what it's like to get a blood infusion but that is how I imagine it. That song!!! Most classic of classic.

truth!!! it’s such an invigorating song <3

my students loled at me a little because i couldn't stop myself from clapping and stomping a little
WOO!!

the dynamic trajectory of that song is just total magic

He really was magic. Was thinking about him this week because it was his birthday a couple days ago. Honestly one of my favorite singers ever.

He was so great, but that cover of Tenderness is something else, an epic - the sweetness of the first half, the unalloyed passion and desperation and gutbucket soul of the second half...

ha, sounds like you're talking about the original! i like the live version here. it's so good i don't even mind the watermark
the band straight up sizzles and i love watching the audience wig out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ9n2_5mbig

Picked up one of 2 current biographies I'm aware of of him a few weeks ago not read it yet.
So hoping i get more info on the influences he was picking up in late 67.
THis book is the Stax and Southern soul one Dreams TO Remember by Mark Ribowsky published in 2016.

just listened to this 28-minute piece on "Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay" & really enjoyed it, great tidbits about the writing & recording from Booker T & Steve Cropper and some affecting interviews with different random civilians about their relationship to the song:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000dgxx

cool, checking it out now

Otis passed away at only 26 years of age!

I know! Crazy, especially given how much and what he recorded in his very last sessions. Of all the early deaths in rock history, his is probably the most incalculable in terms of age, his health, how much he was creating, and where he might've went with his work.