VA • Rhythm & Blues Espresso Time

 

 

Ray Charles, Bo Diddley, Etta James, Booker T. & The MG's, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Sam Cooke, Willie Dixon, Memphis Slim, Otis Redding, Fats Domino …

VA • The Best Sixties Album In The World... Ever

 

 

The Monkees, Sonny & Cher, Carole King, Cliff Richard & The Shadows, Del Shannon, The Four Seasons, Dusty Springfield, The Everly Brothers, Tommy James & The Shondells, Jeff Beck, The Move, The Kinks, Beach Boys, The Zombies, Manfred Mann, The Troggs, The Righteous Brothers, Gerry & The Pacemakers, Procul Harum, Glen Campbell, The Hollies, The Walker Brothers, Petula Clark, Andy Williams, The Tremeloes, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick, The Supremes, The Four Tops, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, Stevie Wonder, Sam & Dave, Tom Jones, Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames, The Small Faces, Cliff Bennett & The Rebel Rousers, Wilson Pickett, Eddie Floyd, James Brown, Fontella Bass, The Moody Blues, Van Morrison, The Byrds, The Animals, Percy Sledge, Patsy Cline, Louis Armstrong, Ben E. King.

Otis Redding: An Unfinished Life

 

Otis Redding remains an immortal presence in the canon of American music on the strength of such classic hits as “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay,” “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long,” “Try a Little Tenderness,” and “Respect,” a song he wrote and recorded before Aretha Franklin made it her own. As the architect of the distinctly southern, gospel-inflected style of rhythm & blues associated with Stax Records in Memphis, Redding made music that has long served as the gold standard of 1960s soul. Yet an aura of myth and mystery has always surrounded his life, which was tragically cut short at the height of his career by a plane crash in December 1967.
 
In Otis Redding: An Unfinished Life, Jonathan Gould finally does justice to Redding’s incomparable musical artistry, drawing on exhaustive research, the cooperation of the Redding family, and previously unavailable sources of information to present the first comprehensive portrait of the singer’s background, his upbringing, and his professional career.

In chronicling the story of Redding’s life and music, Gould also presents a social history of the time and place from which they emerged.  His book never lets us forget that the boundaries between black and white in popular music were becoming porous during the years when racial tensions were reaching a height throughout the United States. His indelible portrait of Redding and the mass acceptance of soul music in the 1960s is both a revealing look at a brilliant artist and a provocative exploration of the tangled history of race and music in America that resonates strongly with the present day.