They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.
Okay okay, so I know I have been pretty awful at this whole blog thing. I’ve got myself a job now, though, so I’m a bit more settled down (living 5 days a week at a New Age hippy retreat center in Madison, CT doing custodial work during the day & plunging toilets at any odd hour of the night — do as I say, kids, not as I do). I’m getting a tad bored with this list of experiential albums what with all this excitement about Edu-freakin’-punk going around (some of which riles me up, while other parts of it just make me a little annoyed. I’m no educator, though, so who am I to say?), but I might as well finish what I started (I hope it’s still interesting to someone!).
Otis Redding – The Very Best of Otis Redding (1992)
I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I first played this album. Listening to it for the first time was a bit like having Warheads as a little kid — people tell you it’s an experience, & you don’t believe it but you’re not necessarily opposed to the idea. & then the experience is more than what they told you, & it hurts, it hurts really, really bad. That’s exactly what this Rhino compilation is: painful, & there’s no reason that it needs to be anything more. Otis Redding is the most timeless & convincing soul singer of our time (I won’t say “my time,” for obvious reasons, but still let me consider the 60’s “our time” for my own sake in making a point, please). Every single thing about the way he performs the music he performs comes across in the inflection of every itty-bitty syllable, & there’s more emotion packed in “These Arms of Mine” than you’re ever going to experience in anything less than complete & utter heartbreak.
That’s the power of this album. Yes it’s a compilation, & yes it’s missing a couple necessary Otis tracks (pick up the Otis! boxset if you want it all, like I did), but it has the power to break your heart. A strong, strong contender for containing 2 or 3 of the most intensely powerful songs that America has produced outside of the avant-garde.
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