Otis Redding's talent began to surge, across songs and their stylesand absorbing them, with the recording of The Soul Album.
In contrast to The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads, which was an advance over its predecessor but still a body of 12 songs of varying styles and textures, rising to peaks and never falling before an intense, soulful mid-range, The Soul Album shows him moving from strength to strength in a string of high-energy, sweaty soul performances, interspersing his own songs with work by Sam Cooke ("Chain Gang"), Roy Head ("Treat Her Right"), Eddie Floyd ("Everybody Makes a Mistake"), and Smokey Robinson ("It's Growing") and recasting them in his own style, so that they're not "covers" so much as reinterpretations; indeed, "Chain Gang" is almost a rewrite of the original, though one suspects not one that Cooke would have disapproved of.
He still had a little way to go as a songwriter -- the jewel of this undervalued collection is "Cigarettes and Coffee, co-authored by Eddie Thomas and Jerry Butler -- but as an interpreter he was now without peer, and his albums were now showing this remarkable, stunningly high level of consistency.
Also significant on this album was the contribution of Steve Cropper, not only on guitar but as co-author of three songs.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Just One More DayOtis Redding | Otis Redding | Play | 03:27 | 7 MB | 14 MB |
| 2 | Cigarettes and Coffee | Otis Redding | Play | 03:53 | 8 MB | 16 MB |
| 3 | Chain GangSam Cooke | Otis Redding | Play | 03:04 | 7 MB | 13 MB |
| 4 | Good to MeJulius Green | Otis Redding | Play | 03:51 | 8 MB | 15 MB |
| 5 | Scratch My BackRev. James Moore | Otis Redding | Play | 02:38 | 6 MB | 11 MB |
| 6 | Treat Her Right | Otis Redding | Play | 02:11 | 5 MB | 9 MB |
| 7 | Any Ole WayOtis Redding | Otis Redding | Play | 02:30 | 5 MB | 11 MB |
| 8 | Nobody Knows You | Otis Redding | Play | 03:07 | 7 MB | 13 MB |
| 9 | Everybody Makes A Mistakes | Otis Redding | Play | 03:23 | 7 MB | 14 MB |
| 10 | 11 - 634-5789 | Otis Redding | Play | 02:49 | 6 MB | 12 MB |
| 30 mins | 70 MB | |||||
| 30 mins | 133 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sam Cooke | Composer |
| 2 | Jimmy Cox | Composer |
| 3 | Steve Cropper | Guest Artist |
| 4 | Donald "Duck" Dunn | Guest Artist |
| 5 | Eddie Floyd | Composer |
| 6 | Julius Green | Composer |
| 7 | Isaac Hayes | Guest Artist |
| 8 | Booker T. Jones | Guest Artist |
| 9 | Gene "Bowlegs" Miller | Guest Artist |
| 10 | Rev. James Moore | Composer |
| 11 | Floyd Newman | Guest Artist |
| 12 | Otis Redding | Composer, Primary Artist |
| 13 | Smokey Robinson | Composer |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |