Track Listing

1. That's How Strong My Love Is
2. Chained And Bound
3. Woman A Lover A Friend
4. Your One And Only Man
5. Nothing Can Change This Love
6. It's Too Late For Your Precious Love
7. I Want To Thank You
8. Come To Me
9. Home In Your Heart
10. Keep Your Arms Around Me
11. Mr Pitiful

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8759 in Music
• Released on: 1992-12-07
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

CD Description
Otis Redding's second album SINGS SOUL BALLADS found him abandoning his usual upbeat material for songs of yearning andheartbreak. Over the course of 12 songs, Redding establishes himself as one of the greatest soul singers by tapping into these universal feelings with his smoldering delivery and his mastery of vocal nuance. His effective call-and-responsewith Packy Axton's tenor sax on "A Woman, A Lover, A Friend" is spine-chilling, while his pleading is accentuated by a full horn section on "Your One And Only Man".
Redding's talents as a songwriter were blossoming on material such as "Chained And Bound", "Your One And Only Man" and "I Want To Thank You". His choice of covers is also inspiring as he gives loving readings of songs by Chuck Willis ("It's Too Late"), Jerry Butler ("For Your Precious Love") and hero Sam Cooke("Nothing Can Change This Love".)

Customer Reviews

One of the best genuine "soul" albums...
Recorded in 1965 when "soul", as opposed to R&B, Motown and gospel, was starting to develop its own identity, "The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads" set an early reference point for this new style of music. And, while his next album - "Otis Blue" - was more polished, more commercial and more successful, this often overlooked record is in many ways much more satisfying. Redding's singing is quite stunning, with heart-rending deliveries that make you believe that he means what he says and the back up from Booker T, Steve Cropper and the Stax "house band" is consistently creative and incisive. Many of the arrangements used here were subsequently recycled in the flood of "soul" (or, more aptly, "not really soul") records that were to follow but, while Sam Cooke and Ray Charles fans may argue, this was where it all came together for the first time in a glorious, unified whole. There's no R&B and, with the exception of "Mr Pitiful", no dance tracks. What there is, is a genuinely painful heart and... that's what "soul" - a much maligned musical label - is in fact all about.