The Days of Lore

Otis Redding. Redux. Again.

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 | musiX | No Comments

It’s hard to believe that Otis Redding was only 26 when his plane crashed into Lake Monona on Dec. 10, 1967 … 26—just a kid. You watch that old concert footage and there was this smartly dressed, larger-than-life man whose soul poured out in buckets of sweat. And that voice—it could pierce your heart or rip your head off … both good things, of course, only in the analogical sense.

The Best: See & Hear is the umpteenth collection dedicated to Redding—a two-disc CD/DVD of his songs as well as footage from two 1967 performances from Oslo, Norway and the Monterey Pop Festival. Both the audio and video portions don’t offer anything new (everything on the discs has been previously released), but serve as a good reminder that no one can touch his voice, or those songs.

The Norway show was part of the Stax/Volt tour that included fellow Stax-ers Sam & Dave and Booker T. & the MG’s, both of whom are also featured on the disc. Shot in black and white, the footage is striking, and the energy coming from the stage could power a small city. The best part? Watching the very prim European audience take in these soul performers who at times looked like they were possessed. You can tell the crowd is having the time of their lives.

Otis Redding’s performance at Monterey Pop was just as explosive. The entire three-day festival was captured by D.A. Pennebaker, who directed the Dylan documentary Don’t Look Back. The mostly white audience numbered in the thousands—easily the biggest show of Redding’s career—as he referred to them as “the love crowd.” Otis Redding died only six months after the Monterey performance, and only three days after recording his biggest hit “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay.” The unfinished song (the whistling portion was to be replaced with lyrics) was released posthumously one month after Redding’s death. It marked a notable departure from the furious soul burners he had written in his short career. No doubt one of his best, and perhaps a glimpse of what was to come.

“(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” - Otis Redding

“Tramp” - Otis Redding (with Carla Thomas)

Otis Redding live in Oslo, Norway, April 7, 1967

Tags: Booker T. & the MG's, D.A. Pennebaker, Monterey Pop Festival, Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Stax Records, The Best: See & Hear

Happy birthday to you, Arthur Lee

Saturday, March 7th, 2009 | musiX | 1 Comment

It’s common practice to honor the anniversary of someone’s death. Not me. I’ve decided to instead honor the birth of a musician I hold very dearly. It’s also my birthday (I have many, many years), so I’m going to celebrate it with Arthur Lee right here.

OK, a few other notable people born on this date: Dutch chemist Ernst J. Cohen, Japanese playwright Kobo Abe … Matt Frenette, drummer for Loverboy—all, of course, admirable in their accomplishments. But Arthur Lee fronted Love, a band whose influence would and should be part of every rock band.

Arthur Lee—a tall, slender black kid from a rough L.A. neighborhood—started playing music in the early-’60s with his first band The LAGs. He was obsessed with Booker T. & the MG’s. One of his earlier songs, “My Diary,” was recorded by R&B singer Rosa Lee Brooks and featured a young kid named Jimi Hendrix on guitar (Love would cover Hendrix’s “Hey Joe” on their debut).

Lee formed Love in 1965, and his R&B and folk influences were all over albums like 1967’s Da Capo and Forever Changes, the latter of which is considered his masterpiece. But Love made rock music, and was a welcome response to the flower-power movement. Although Lee did consider himself the first “black hippie,” Love’s music was always a little darker.

Arthur Lee has been through it all. In the ’80s he all but disappeared, taking care of his ailing father who was battling cancer. In 1996 he did a five-year stint in prison under California’s “Three Strikes” law for illegal possession of a firearm. During his time Lee rarely had contact to the outside world. Upon his release in 2001, Lee began playing and performing again until he succumbed to leukemia on Aug. 3, 2006.

But this is a happy post, a cause for celebration …

Over the past two months I haven’t been able to get enough of Love’s self-titled 1966 debut. It is rock ‘n’ roll—a true proto-punk garage rock classic, tempered with jangly guitars, distorted basslines and Lee’s soulful vocals. And I’ve been itching to write this for months. So here, on what would have been Lee’s 64th birthday, I give you my labor of love.

“My Flash On You” - Love

“No Matter What You Do” - Love

Tags: Arthur Lee, Booker T. & the MG’s, Da Capo, Forever Changes, Jimi Hendrix, Love, The LAGs