Otis Redding: Complete and Unbelievable … The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul (50th Anniversary Edition)

Otis Redding
Complete and Unbelievable … The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul (50th Anniversary Edition)
(Rhino)
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Don’t let the schlocky if charmingly dated cover art deter you from digging into one of the finest pure soul albums of the ’60s, and some would contend ever. Better yet, this classic gets a much deserved expanded treatment on its 50^th anniversary with a double disc set that contains both mono and stereo mixes, along with eight additional tracks. Those include five studio outtakes nearly as potent as anything on the album and three sizzling live performances. 

Redding’s fifth (and final) studio release was recorded in the summer of 1966 with backing from the Stax house band, Booker T. & the M.G.’s. They were a well-oiled team by this time and these performances crackle with confidence; a great vocalist working with a group that understood and responded to his nuances. The Monterey Pop Festival where Redding crossed over to a younger, white audience was still a year away. He was in his prime when his life was cut short after that fateful Dec., 1967 plane crash at the age of 26. 

Although it’s hard to pick a “best” album from “the big O,” a case can surely be made for this as a prime contender. One his most diverse efforts, Redding takes country (“Tennessee Waltz”), gut bucket blues (“You’re Still My Baby”) and even Brit invasion pop (The Beatles’ “Day Tripper”) and runs them through his Memphis grown groove to make each of these covers sound like an Otis original. Perhaps the most potent example of how he owned everything he touched is his rearranged take on “Try a Little Tenderness.” The tune had been knocking around since the early ‘30s and was already tackled by everyone from Eddie Cantor and Bing Crosby to Aretha Franklin and Sam Cooke. But once Redding rearranged it for his own dynamics, starting slow and sorrowful then building to an explosive “got-TA, got-TA, got-TA” crescendo, every other version got left in the dust. A live, European performance of the track, tacked on as a bonus shows Otis at his sweat soaked best.

But even the deeper, less recognizable cuts on Dictionary of Soul are impressive. Songs such as the driving “She Put the Hurt on Me,” the oozing ballad “Love Have Mercy” from the fruitful Stax based Hayes/Porter writing team and the sweet “Ton of Joy” are far from filler and would be standout selections on any other soul singer’s efforts. But when you lead with the instantly memorable, sing-along hit “Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song),” the bar is set awfully high.

The remastered sound is top notch (not surprisingly, the mono mix is the way to go, especially since the wobbly stereo one often exiles Otis’ voice to one speaker) and while the bonus tunes aren’t terribly rare, they make terrific additions to a classic work that any serious lover of American soul needs to have in their collection.