That’s How Strong My Love Is/Chained & Bound/A Woman A Lover A Friend/Your One & Only Man/ Nothing Can Change This Love/Its Too Late/For Your Precious Love/I Want To Thank You/Come To Me/Home In Your Heart/Keep Your Arms Around Me/Mr Pitiful
Sings Soul Ballads was the follow up album from soul legend Otis Redding. The low chart placing belies the subsequent importance of these songs in the development of soul music. (US:147 UK:30)
"Recorded in 1965 when 'soul', as opposed to R & B, Motown and gospel, was starting to develop its own identity, Sings Soul Ballads set an early reference point for this new style of music."
"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 is consistently creative and incisive."
"Many of the arrangements used here became standard reference points for 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."
"While the subsequent soul standards, Mr Pitiful and That's How Strong My Love Is provide the opening and closing bookends, it is the numbers in between that make this album really stand-out. If 'soul' is the ability to capture emotions through music then, here it is."
"If you like slower tracks than on Otis Blue then buy this, it won't disappoint."
"I have been listening to this album since 1965 and I never tire of it. Nothing Can Change This Love is possibly the best 'soul' song that was ever recorded. The soul music of Otis Redding journeys the peaks and valleys of life and speaks to them eloquently. All the songs on this album are great, and is one that belongs in everyone's collection."
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