OTIS REDDING/THE DOCK OF THE BAY VOLT S-419 (-68) US

First posthumous issue, appearing a couple of months after his premature death in a plane crash December 10, 1967. A compilation of five 45 B:s and four A:s, coupled with two tracks - "The Huckle-Buck" and "Nobody Loves You (When You're Down And Out)" - I guess were previousy unreleased (right me if I'm wrong!). So a rather ordinary posthumous patchwork and you could expect a hodge-podge including some more or less half assed recordings, but not in this case. I hear a great album where most tracks are winners and non poor. It says a lot about his overall high quality when even the flip-sides were no less than magic. I was thinking of separately describing some favorite tracks, but about the same goes for the whole album - his personal vocals to emotional brass and rhythm guitars and precise bass/drum backing. Sounding so equally lovely if people told me all cuts were from the same session they would have fooled me. Two of the cuts - "I Love You More Than Words Can Say" and "I'm Coming Home" - are called "electronically reprocessed" on sleeve, but very carefull done so what you get is the former in mono and the latter just slightly rebalanced. No big deal. The rest good stereo for its time and the audio perfect for the music - soft and warm, yet clear. As a whole very good listening and one I wanna return to often. Not some average post-departure release, but a classic soul LP. Issued and reissued on every possible fromat around the world through the years. First UK on Stax (230 001) with different sleeve design. Premiere US had label as shown here and glossy cover. (YZÄ*) (ÖRÖ*) (TÄX*)