The Immortal – OTIS REDDING****

I’ve Got Dreams To Remember/You Made A Man Out Of Me/Nobody’s Fault But Mine/Hard To Handle/ Thousand Miles Away/The Happy Song/Think About It/A Waste Of Time/Champagne & Wine/A Fool For You/ Amen

Posthumous final album to include new material from sixties soul star Otis Redding. The Immortal Otis Redding includes the UK No. 15 hit single Hard To Handle. (UK:58 UK:19)

"Second posthumous album featuring stellar original material by the King of Soul, sustains the momentum generated by The Dock Of The Bay. All soul, no filler."

"I maintain that this is indeed the single best volume of Redding's material. Side one may be my favourite single side of music. The flipside is less arresting, with the exception of Amen, but it's still compulsively playable. It's more raw than his best known material, leaner in its arrangements, and his performances are consistently fiery and inspired."

"This second posthumous release is another great collection of tracks that is just as good as anything released while Otis was alive. My personal favourite track is Hard To Handle. All the songs are strong and really help cement his reputation as the soul singer for the ages."

"I've been listening to this masterpiece since its release and it remains as raw and emotive a statement today as it did thirty years ago. This is the full spectrum of the Otis persona, swaggering, boisterous and powerful; innocent and wide-eyed; pleading for forgiveness as the unfaithful lover. It goes on and on, each cut slicing back another part of Otis' genius. I'm a rather tough critic, even on my favourite performers, but this is about as good as R & B ever got."

"It is a testament to the talents of Otis Redding that so many complete albums of unreleased material were released after his death, and they sound just as great as the earlier albums in his catalogue. Recorded in 1967, and released the following year, The Immortal Otis Redding shows a level of sophistication unlike any other of Otis's albums. His gift of self-restraint is as powerful as his ability to light a song up with his vocal fireworks. Many of Otis's greatest songs make their first appearances on this album, including I've Got Dreams To Remember, The Happy Song, the beautiful Amen and the original version of Hard To Handle."