Some singers had his power. Some had a bigger range. No one had Otis Redding’s emotion.
Otis Redding
(September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was a titan of soul. His live performances crackled with energy, electrifying audiences with the pure power of his expression. [rockhall.com]
Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul [1966]
Recorded and released in
1966, Otis Redding's fifth album, Complete and Unbelievable: The Otis Redding
Dictionary of Soul found the rugged-voiced deep soul singer continuing to
expand the boundaries of his style while staying true to his rough and
passionate signature sound. Redding's ambitious interpretations of
"Tennessee Waltz" and especially "Try a Little Tenderness"
found him approaching material well outside the traditional boundaries of
R&B and allowing his emotionally charged musical personality to take them to
new and unexpected places, and while his cover of "Day Tripper"
wasn't his first attempt to confront the British Invasion, his invigorating and
idiosyncratic take on the Beatles' cynical pop tune proved Redding's view of
the pop music universe was broader than anyone might have expected at the time.
While Redding's experiments with covers on this set were successful and
satisfying, it was on his own material that he sounded most at home, and
"My Lover's Prayer" and "Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)" are
deep Southern soul at its finest, with Redding's forceful but lovelorn voice
delivering an Academy Award-worthy performance. And once again, the Stax house
band (centered around Booker T. & the MG's and the Memphis Horns) prove
themselves both thoroughly distinctive and remarkably adaptable, fitting into
the nooks and crannies of Redding's voice with their supple but muscular
performances. With the exception of his duet album with Carla Thomas, Complete
and Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul was the last studio album
Redding would fully complete before his death, and it proves his desire for a
broader musical statement didn't begin when he encountered "the love
crowd" at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. [Review by Mark Deming - allmusic.com]
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