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Otis Redding

Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul

Music

Sound

Otis Blue Rhino Reserve

Label: Rhino Reserve

Produced By: Jim Stewart

Engineered By: Tom Dowd

Lacquers Cut By: Chris Bellman

By: Michael Fremer

June 9th, 2025

Genre:

R&B/Soul

Format:

Vinyl

Rhino Reserve Series' "Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul" Is the One to Have

mono mix is definitive

Rhino Records' new Reserve series, sold direct from the Rhino online store are cut from original master tapes by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering and pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing in Oxnard, CA. Most are not in the sonic realm of the "High Fidelity" series but most musically surely are, including this one, which can be ordered now but drops this June 27th.

They cost $31.98, which, when taking inflation into account, means these sell for around $6.00 more than what they originally sold for. This Otis Redding album, which had a list price of $3.98 or around $36.00 in today's dollars was often discounted to $2.59, or around $26.50. For the extra 5 or so dollars you get a much better mastered and pressed record. Only the jacket takes a slight hit here: it's not paper on cardboard, which is a way Rhino can bring this series in for less than its more deluxe Rhino High Fidelity series. These Fidelity Record Pressing pressings are uniformly outstanding.

That out of the way, Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul is an essential record in any serious collection of 20th century popular music, as most Tracking Angle readers already know. Most also already know that Redding was a member of Johnny Jenkins's Pinetoppers and the group's driver and following a recording session at STAX in Memphis he sang a few of his own tunes that caught the ear of STAX exec, producer and co-owner Jim Stewart.

This was his third album released on Volt, the Stax subsidiary. Almost all of it was recorded within 24 hours, with the 23 year old Redding backed by Booker T. and the M.G.s plus Isaac Hayes on piano, with brass supplied by the Mar-Keys and Memphis Horns. The opener, "Ole Man Trouble" had been recorded earlier and "I've Been Loving You Too Long" originally recorded in mono only with Booker T. on piano was re-recorded for the "stereo" version that puts his voice hard right, with guitar and drums and horns mostly hard left. Redding of course was on fire but the take is kind of lethargic compared to the mono original. The entire record is in that kind of "stereo", with a bit of echo added, which is why the far more cohesive mono mix is preferable.

Redding covers three Sam Cooke songs (Cooke had died the previous December), Smokey's "My Girl" and among others, a then surprising and genre-breaking "Satisfaction" that helped Redding reach across the racial divide. The landmark tune of course is the original "Respect" later flipped by Aretha Franklin, but Redding's cover of Cooke's "Change Gonna Come" is also memorable.

Redding crossed way over playing Monterrey Pop two years later and then 3 years to the day plus one following Sam Cooke's death, Redding died in a plane crash in Wisconsin along with members of his band. Three days earlier he'd recorded “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay”, showing a new, more reflective soul who'd posthumously have his biggest hit.

What a sad, sad song.

Music Specifications

Catalog No: RES1 412/081227811693

Pressing Plant: Fidelity Record Pressing

SPARS Code: AAA

Speed/RPM: 33 1/3

Weight: 180 grams

Size: 12"

Channels: Stereo

Source: original master tapes

Presentation: Single LP

Comments

  • 2025-06-09 02:04:34 PM

    Bret wrote:

    Thanks for reviewing this, Michael! How does this compare to the recent 2 45 RPM LP Analogue Productions stereo reissue? I'm also hoping we get a comprehensive review of the new Steely Dan Royal Scam UHQR this week...

    • 2025-06-09 04:15:37 PM

      Michael Fremer wrote:

      The stereo mix is a mess. I've owned it since it was first released. This is a cohesively mixed record and "the one to have".

  • 2025-06-09 03:12:48 PM

    Fred Morris wrote:

    Thanks Michael. I don’t mean to be snarky, and maybe I’m missing something, but how do you square “one to have” (headline) with “mono mix is preferable” (body)?

    • 2025-06-09 04:14:18 PM

      Michael Fremer wrote:

      This is the mono mix!

      • 2025-06-16 06:55:35 PM

        Concertkid wrote:

        What am I missing? Under Music Specifications>Channels is says “Stereo”. Is that a typo?

  • 2025-06-09 03:44:28 PM

    Spin The Black Circle wrote:

    I can’t wait to get this! Every “stereo” mix that I’ve heard, including the Analogue Productions, is just dreadful! The hard right/left panning just doesn’t sound natural. I’m excited about this!

  • 2025-06-10 12:53:04 PM

    RZangpo2 wrote:

    I don't doubt that the mono mix is the one to have. How does this mono pressing compare to the Atlantic 75 mono pressing of 2023?

  • 2025-06-10 04:34:15 PM

    Darryl Lindberg wrote:

    A high quality disc in a serviceable jacket: what a concept! Although a highly produced jacket is nice to look at, it's an added expense and doesn't contribute diddly squat to the sound. I'm glad that Rhino is thinking outside of the box, so to speak. And I wish others in the reissue business would follow suit. After all, the jackets on many original releases were pedestrian--at best.

  • 2025-06-11 04:46:57 AM

    Todd Fredericks wrote:

    Great review of a great album! I wonder how this compares to the 2015 mono Doug Sax cut? I also own the 2017 Otis Redding mono box. If I recall correctly this album uses the same TML parts.

  • 2025-06-13 09:38:51 AM

    John Marks wrote:

    On the subject of jackets... Argh.

    Does anyone else find it a bit off-putting that a recording by an African-American male singer has a jacket design that is dominated (I use that word intentionally and mindfully) by a close-up photo of a young Caucasian woman? A blonde, no less? (Believed to be a German model named Dagmar Dreger.)

    What was the message that was being sent?

    My best guess is that Fraulein Dreger's job was to catch the eye of Male Caucasian record buyers, thereby delivering the subliminal message that women just like Fraulein Dreger will enjoy listening to Otis Redding. And, who knows, ya just might get lucky!

    The sad reality is, "Otis Blue" moved 250,000 LP copies in short order, while the nearly-contemporaneous Wilson Pickett album that duuh, had a picture of... hmm... WILSON PICKETT on its cover, "languished in the R&B racks." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otis_Blue/Otis_Redding_Sings_Soul [fn. 27]

    So, what's a mother to do?

    I can imagine a scenario in which Otis Redding's Guardian Angel tapped him on the shoulder and said, "Look, Otis. The bad news is that you will not be on the cover; a randomly-chosen German chick will be. The good news is that she will be a major factor in your selling a quarter of a million LPs. So, my dear Brother, I recommend that you just suck it up."

    All of which is merely one more validation of my long-held, Ancient-Mariner-Like contention that the place of component audio and recordings in the 1950s through mid 1980s (up to the Betamax case) United States shared vision of, "the Good Life, Well Lived" was inextricably intertwined with the then-prevailing social mores on Dating, Mating, and Family Formation. https://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/808awsi/index.html

    • 2025-06-16 04:43:11 AM

      Todd Fredericks wrote:

      I do not find the cover off-putting at all. It was common marketing at the time to use an attractive woman on an album cover. Do you feel the same way with the women featured on the cover of George Shearing albums? Imo, I think you are falling into the common recent rabbit hole of applying a 21st century lens on something from decades ago and finding fault with it. They were just trying to sell the record and make some moolah. :)

      • 2025-06-16 03:52:56 PM

        John Marks wrote:

        Of course I know that "Babes" were on the covers of many LPs created by male musicians, such as "Roger Williams," Percy Faith, Ray Conniff, Paul Mauriat, Herb Alpert, Paul Desmond, and dozens of others. But at least, as far as I know, when Miles Davis featured women on his LP covers, they were Women of Color. Of course they were just trying to sell some records and take home some dinheiros. I just want to keep telling people or reminding people that in many cases back then, the music was not valued in and of itself as music. It was valued for its place in the then-contemporary mores about Dating, Mating, and Family Formation. I truly believe that the PRIMARY reason Miles Davis's "Kind of Blue" is the best-selling Jazz record in history is its complete absence of drum solos. Because drum solos might interrupt the make-out sessions.

  • 2025-06-18 02:05:03 PM

    Jeremiah wrote:

    I guess my local brick and mortar store jumped the gun because I just picked this up this afternoon. I don't have any other issue to compare it to, but this thing sounds stunning. The bass is so rich and full and the mix is crystal clear. It jumps out of the speakers. I'm so happy to have this.