For the next few weeks, on Mondays, I'm writing about individual albums in the Otis Forever: The Albums and Singles 1968 - 1970 box set. This is the second Otis Redding box set I have, but this one focuses on his posthumous albums. Otis has been a long time favorite of mine, and the opportunity to finally pick up nice copies of the albums released after he passed was one I was not going to pass up.
The third of Otis Redding's posthumous albums is Love Man. You would think that after mining two LPs worth of unreleased material already, the vaults might start to run dry. Especially considering that Otis' career was tragically brief. But somehow, this album is still a revelation.
Maybe it's not quite as strong as the prior two, and maybe there isn't an epic, classic, signature song like "Dock of the Bay" (Though "Love Man" really isn't too far off, in my opinion), but the quality and consistency of the songs Otis recorded at the end of his career are so impressive. Equally impressive is that this isn't a collection of cover songs. Of the twelve songs on the album, only three weren't written, at least in part, by Otis himself.
As an album, this and next week's Tell The Truth are the ones that I was least familiar with coming into this box set. But the wave of familiarity washed over me as I listened to Love Man. There is something so timeless and perfect about Otis Redding and there really isn't ever a time where his music doesn't put a smile on my face.
Otis Redding - Love Man:
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=hdFjGVBtx0w&list=OLAK5uy_m-4BurZK-qVjlAp5NuErHhByb5CFkPous
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