Maps of Music

Live in Europe (1967)

Where the lyrics of Live in Europe take you, and where it was really made.

The only live album Otis Redding released in his lifetime came out exactly five months before his death.

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Live in Europe: live album by soul singer Otis Redding
Redding's first live album and the only live album released in his lifetime
Issued exactly five months before his death on December 10, 1967
Backed by Booker T. & the MG's
Recorded during the Stax/Volt tour of Europe
Currently available on CD, digitally remastered by Bill Inglot and Dan Hersch for Rhino Records' Atlantic & Atco Remasters Series
Seven of its ten tracks also appear as bonus tracks on the 2008 reissue of Otis Blue and the 2016 reissue of The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul

Stax/Volt revue toured Europe in March and April 1967
Revue featured Arthur Conley, Eddie Floyd, Carla Thomas, Sharon Tandy and Sam & Dave, with Redding as headliner
Booker T. & the M.G.'s and The Memphis Horns backed the artists
The Memphis Horns were introduced to European audiences as the Mar-Keys
The tour began in the UK and ran three weeks, with artists often playing two shows a day
The tour also visited the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Sweden

Recorded at the Olympia Theatre, Paris, on March 21, 1967
Spanish-language accounts give the same date and venue
French-language accounts give the two Paris Olympia concerts as 29 March 1967, which conflicts with the 21 March date
Japanese-language accounts note that the credits give no exact recording dates or venues
Japanese-language accounts treat the album as a recording of the March concerts

Otis Ray Redding Jr. was born September 9, 1941 in Dawson, Georgia, and raised in Macon.
He left school at 15 to support his family, performing in local talent contests and at Macon's Douglass Theatre.
In 1958 he joined Johnny Jenkins' band, the Pinetoppers, touring the Southern states as singer and driver.
A Stax Records session in 1962 led to a contract and his first hit, "These Arms of Mine".

His debut album Pain in My Heart was released by Stax in 1964; he later reached a wider pop audience.
He performed at Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles, toured Europe, and played the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967.
"(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" was recorded shortly before his death and released January 1968, becoming his only Billboard Hot 100 number one.
He died in a plane crash on December 10, 1967 in Lake Monona, near Madison, Wisconsin.
He is known as the "King of Soul" and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.

Robert Christgau selected the album as a representative Redding LP in his basic rock library of 25 albums, in a 1969 piece for Stereo Review
Christgau wrote that the album is Redding's best, because his stage presence was integral to his popularity and it contains most of his best songs
He added that the audience is white and that no other black performer had bridged the racial barrier so completely

Christgau's later appraisals ranged from the album capturing a sensitive soul man at his toughest and most outgoing to it being among Redding's worst
The criticism cited too many concessions to an English audience that wanted fast rock and roll songs
Bruce Eder of AllMusic gave the album 3 out of 5
Eder said the backing band of Booker T. & the MG's and the horns was more polished and crisp than Redding's usual touring band
Eder compared it with the Whisky a Go Go album, which captures a performance a year earlier but was released later, and found this album somewhat short of raw live excitement

Billboard Top R&B Albums: 8th
Billboard 200: 32nd
UK Albums Chart: peak at 14th
Single "Shake", a Sam Cooke cover: 16th on Hot R&B Singles, 47th on Billboard Hot 100, 28th on UK Singles Chart
Rolling Stone 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums: 474th
Removed from the list in a later revision, per the Japanese and Spanish accounts

The 1969 Christgau piece named this album a representative Redding LP in a 25-album basic rock library.
The single "Shake", a Sam Cooke cover taken from the album, reached 28th on the UK Singles Chart.
The 2008 Stax live release Live in London & Paris includes a 17 March 1967 London show and a 21 March 1967 Paris show.
The French-language account gives the Paris Olympia concerts as 29 March 1967, while other accounts give 21 March.
The album came out in July 1967 on Volt and Atco.