''The Immortal Otis Redding'' is a posthumous
studio album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
by American
soul recording artist
Otis Redding, released in June 1968 by
Atco Records. It compiles 11 songs recorded by Redding in a three-week stretch of sessions that concluded days prior to his death in December 1967.
"The Happy Song (Dum-Dum)" was the only song previously released, having been a single in April 1968. ''The Immortal Otis Redding'' featured four charting singles including "The Happy Song", "I've Got Dreams to Remember", "Amen", and "Hard to Handle".
Critical reception and legacy
Writing for ''
Creem'' magazine in 1977,
Robert Christgau
Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
called ''The Immortal Otis Redding'' his favorite album by Redding and "probably among my five most-played LPs", because it "showcases the unduplicated warmth, tenderness, and humor of his ballad singing". The following year, it was voted the 33rd best album ever in
Paul Gambaccini's poll of prominent rock critics, published in his book ''Rock Critics' Choice: The Top 200 Albums''. Christgau ranked it third in a list accompanying the book. The album was included in "A Basic Record Library" of 1950s and 1960s recordings, published in ''
Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies'' (1981).
Music critic
Dave Marsh
Dave Marsh (born March 1, 1950) is an American music critic, and radio talk show host. He was an early editor of ''Creem'' magazine, has written for various publications such as ''Newsday'', ''The Village Voice'', and ''Rolling Stone (magazine), ...
gave the album five stars in ''
The New Rolling Stone Record Guide'' (1983). Lindsay Planer of
AllMusic gave it three-and-a-half stars and said although it "wasn't quite on par with" Redding's several other studio albums, the songs on ''The Immortal Otis Redding'' were "welcome (if not mandatory) additions to all manner of listeners".
Track listing
Personnel
Credits adapted from
Allmusic.
*
Otis Redding – vocals
*
Booker T. Jones,
Isaac Hayes
Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American singer, actor, songwriter, and composer. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwri ...
– keyboards, piano
*
Steve Cropper
Steven Lee Cropper (born October 21, 1941), sometimes known as "The Colonel", is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, which backed artists such as Ot ...
– guitar, producer
*
Donald Dunn – bass guitar
*
Al Jackson Jr.
Albert J. Jackson Jr. (November 27, 1935 – October 1, 1975) was an American drummer, producer, and songwriter. He was a founding member of Booker T. & the M.G.'s, a group of session musicians who worked for Stax Records and produced their ...
– drums
*
Wayne Jackson Wayne Jackson may refer to:
*Wayne Jackson (brigadier), List of Australian generals and brigadiers, senior Australian army officer
*Wayne Jackson (footballer) (born 1944), Australian football player and former CEO of the Australian Football League
...
– trumpet
*
Andrew Love, Joe Arnold – tenor saxophone
Charts
Album
Singles
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Immortal Otis Redding, The
1968 albums
Otis Redding albums
Albums produced by Steve Cropper
Atco Records albums
Albums published posthumously