Description

Personnel: Otis Redding, Carla Thomas (vocals); Steve Cropper (guitar); Andrew Love, Joe Arnold, Charles “Packy” Axton (tenor saxophone); Floyd Newman (baritone saxophone); Wayne Jackson, Sammy Coleman, Gene “Bowlegs” Miller (trumpet); Booker T. Jones, Isaac Hayes (keyboards); Donald “Duck” Dunn (bass); Al Jackson, Jr. (drums).
Producer: Steve Cropper.
Reissue producer: Yves Beauvais.
Recorded between 1965 & 1968.
Originally released on LP on Volt (419).
Includes original release liner notes by Jon Landau.
Compiled in the wake of Otis Redding’s premature death, THE DOCK OF THE BAY is a suitable testimony to a gigantic performer. The melancholic title track suggested a new musical blueprint, and elements of the previously unissued “Open The Door” show a similarly muted perspective. Tracks culled from OTIS BLUE and THE SOUL ALBUM sit beside the playful “Tramp,” which represents the singer’s brief partnership with Carla Thomas. The remaining material is drawn from various sources, including flip-sides and compilations and, taken as a whole, the album provides a precis of Redding’s past, as well as intimating what was so sadly lost.