Gavin B.

The Dock of the Bay is a song that it's quite unlike any of Otis' other songs. I think producer/guitarist Steve Cropper selected Dock of the Bay for release on Otis' first posthumous album of original songs because the song had a quiet and introspective quality that signaled a new direction for Otis.

The singer's crisp vocals on Dock of the Bay are due in part to his recovery from throat surgery for removal of polyps from his vocal cords. In fact had Otis lived, his post surgical voice may have been closer to the smooth sound of his friend Sam Cooke.

The smoother sound of Otis' voice had a broader appeal to his growing crossover audience of white fans. Several MOR pop artists like Frank Sinatra, Sergio Mendes & Brazil '67, Englebert Humperdinck and Tom Jones rushed out to their own cover versions of Dock of the Bay, in the year following Otis Redding's death.

But Dock of the Bay was the only song that Otis was able to record using his smother polyp free vocal cords. It was recorded just three days before his death in December, 1967. The rest of the material on the posthumous Dock of the Bay album is collection of unreleased songs that date as far back as 1965 when Otis sang with his rougher pre-surgical vocal cords.

Dock of the Bay is an excellent Otis Redding album, even if you don't like the sound of his smoother post operative voice. The remaining cuts like Old Man Trouble, Don't Mess With Cupid, I Love You More than I Can Say, and Tramp (a vocal duet with Carla Thomas) are among the best sides Otis ever recorded.


Cover of Otis Redding's The Definitive Soul Collection (2006)

The best introduction to Otis' music is The Definitive Soul Collection issued in 2006. It's a two cd anthology of 30 studio songs carefully selected by producers Lou Adler and Isaac Hayes to cover the complete span of Redding's meteoric five year recording career with Volt Records.

The Definitive Soul Collection is the only available digitally remastered Otis Redding anthology, and there's a big improvement in sound fidelity compared to the previously issued anthologies of Redding's songs. The price of the 2 cd album is an affordable $13.99 (USD) which is lower than the price of many single cd album releases.

Unfortunately, The Definitive Soul Collection is not available in the MP3 format. I haven't found any MP3 downloads of Otis Redding's music that have been digitally remastered. Atlantic Records probably won't release any remastered issues of Otis' music in the MP3 format until all of his official album releases have been remastered in the cd format.

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There are two types of music: the first type is the blues and the second type is all the other stuff.
Townes Van Zandt