Otis Redding - The Otis Redding Dictionary Of Soul: Complete & Unbelievable - 1966 - Vinyl - Sundazed Mono LP 5063
With its somewhat grandiose title, the legendary Otis Redding's fifth album maintained much of the same formula that had been used on his previous recordings for the Stax subsidiary label Volt, combining some fine Redding-penned originals with the stylized vocalist's interpretations of others' material. While Redding always lent his own special raw, gospel-edged stamp to everything from the Beatles' perky "Day Tripper" to a slowed-down, unparalleled reading of the pop standard "Tennessee Waltz," it was on his own songs--such gems as "Fa- Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)" (his 15th R&B hit single), the plaintive "Ton of Joy," and the bluesy "Hawg for You"--that Redding was at his soulful best. That said, nothing quite compares to how he turned another pop classic, "Try a Little Tenderness" into an emotive opus that became a showstopper wherever he appeared during his tragically short-lived four years as a hit-making recording artist. As an example of the horn-driven Memphis sound, Dictionary of Soul is an excellent reference, and Redding is in peak form as a true American original, whether he's giving '50s hit man Chuck Willis's "You're Still My Baby" a workover or breezing through his own almost-joyful "She Put the Hurt on Me." For the benefit of those with limited "knowledge" of Redding's specialized vocal vocabulary, the original album included some sidesplitting definitions of terms such as "gotta-gotta" ("not able to do without it") and "ou" ("ouchless excitement"), and they are reproduced in full on this reissue of what is easily one of Redding's finest recordings.
"The finest record ever to come out of Memphis and certainly the best example of modern soul ever recorded." In 2003, the album was ranked number 251 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Product Description
Nobody burrowed more deeply into a song than Otis Redding -- hands down, the most emotive, soulful singer the '60s ever produced. Redding's impassioned, sweat-soaked delivery kept him straddling both pop and soul charts until his untimely death in 1967. Here is a high-definition vinyl exact reproduction of Dictionary of Soul from 1966. Everything is taken from the absolute master tapes in knockout mono. Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fabulous!
01 - Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)
02 - I'm Sick Y'all
03 - Tennessee Waltz
04 - Sweet Lorene
05 - Try A Little Tenderness
06 - Day Tripper
07 - My Lover's Prayer
08 - She Put The Hurt On Me
09 - Ton Of Joy
10 - You're Still My Baby
11 - Hawg For You
12 - Love Have Mercy
Otis Redding - vocals
Booker T. Jones - keyboards, vibraphone on 03, bass on 11
Issac Hayes - keyboards
Steve Cropper - guitar
Donald "Duck" Dunn - bass
Al Jackson Jr. - drums
Wayne Jackson - trumpet
Andrew Love & Joe Arnold - tenor saxophones
Floyd Newman - baritone saxophone
Art compiled from LP and CD, with a little editing of my own ;)
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