Otis Redding: A Soupçon of Soul
By Art Duszynski • Aug 6th, 2008 • Category: In Heavy RotationAhh, this is nice. Thumping, powerful performances from a man we lost way too soon.
As I said earlier: the “perfect” Otis release was something I really wanted to do. We had quite a few different tapes to work from. After figuring out what might have been released previously and what worked best for this release I started work on those tapes in particular. One of the things I wanted to do was make the Stockholm material sing sassy. I always hated the way the Swingin’ Pig version sounded flat and lifeless – especially considering that there was obviously a GREAT Otis show there. The tracks at the beginning of the disc (which Big P came up with) did not require all that much work so I got those out of the way and concentrated on the rest. After about 4 weeks and 100 hours of work I was very very pleased with the results and – this is the only time I ever did this – I sent a copy of the completed master to Big P to get his opinion. Then I played the master for some soul fanatic aquaintances as well to get their opinions. Everybody felt that this was something that was monumental. I sent a bunch of artwork to Tracey and told her she had free reign and should design a few covers and I’d pick the one I liked best. She sent me 4 variations of the cover and I combined 2 of them and sent it to the Japanese. They were stunned by the disc. In my opinion this is the best Otis release – official or unofficial – you can get. If anybody out there that were unfamiliar with him needed to hear just one cd by him I would choose this one. Why Atlantic cannot issue something on par with this is beyond me. Surely they would have 100 times the material (compared to the small handful of stuff I had access to) to choose from in their vaults so that they could easily issue an Otis cd of unreleased material that would rival this one – why haven’t they?
–durian1
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Otis Redding
“A Soupçon of Soul”
Various Sources 1967
Source:”A Soupçon of Soul” Big ‘Fro Bootleg (BF-007)
01. Your One & Only Man
02. Pain In My Heart
03. These Arms Of Mine
04. I Can’t Turn You Loose
05. A Hard Days Night
06. Satisfaction
07. My Girl
08. Respect
09. Pain In My Heart
10. I Can’t Turn You Loose
11. Shake
12. Land Of 1000 Dances
13. Try A Little Tenderness
14. Day Tripper
15. Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)
16. My Girl
17. Shake
18. I’ve Been Loving You Too Long
19. Satisfaction
20. Try A Little Tenderness
Tracks 1-5: Birmingham, AL – 1967
Tracks 6-13: Various US/European Radio/TV Broadcasts – 1967
Tracks 14-20: Konserthuset, Stockholm – June 4, 1967
(from newly discovered upgraded source tape)
Art Duszynski has been working on the web since 1998, and believes he's beginning to get the hang of it.
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I have spent a long time researching this bootleg. The dates commonly circulated with it are incorrect. This is what I have found to be accurate:
Tracks 1-5 are from the Whisky A Go Go shows recorded April 8 -10, 1966. They appear on the officially released “Good To Me” with different track editing.
Tracks 6-12 are from Otis’ appearance on Ready Steady Go! September 16, 1966. “Shake” and “Land of 1000 Dances” feature Eric Burdon (of the Animals) and Chris Farlowe singing with Otis.
Track 13 is from the Oslo, Norway concert recorded April 7, 1967. It is the same performance that can be seen on the DVDs “Remembering Otis” and “Stax/Volt Revue: Live In Norway.”
Tracks 14-20 may very well be from Stockholm, Sweden (I can’t verify this). However, if they are, they are from April 6, 1967 and not June 4, 1967. The Stax/Volt Revue was in Europe from mid-March to early April 1967. Additionally, Otis was in Stockholm on April 6, 1967 as verified by the DVD “Dreams To Remember.” The dates were likely misinterpreted when they were written as 4/6/67 or 6/4/67 as these can both refer to April 6 depending on which side of the pond you are from.
I’ve been trying to spread this correct information for this release so it stops circulating with the incorrect information.