Maps of Music

Love Man (1969)

Where the lyrics of Love Man take you, and where it was really made.

Love Man was released in 1969, about a year and a half after Otis Redding's death, yet every song on it was recorded in 1967.

Key places

Recording at Stax Studios, Memphis (1969)

Recording site Stax Studios — The album's recordings were made at Stax Studios in Memphis, with the Stax Records studio crew, before 10 December 1967. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Love Man: third posthumous album by American soul recording artist Otis Redding
• Released on June 20, 1969, by Atco Records
• Produced by Steve Cropper; featured Booker T. and the M.G.'s
• Contains songs Redding recorded in 1967

Background

• Part of a series of posthumous releases by Atco Records
• Released as Redding's mainstream reputation skyrocketed after his 1967 death
• Recordings made in Memphis, Tennessee, before 10 December 1967

Recording

• Recorded at Stax Studios in Memphis
• Musicians include Booker T. Jones, Isaac Hayes, Steve Cropper, Donald Dunn, Al Jackson Jr., Wayne Jackson, Andrew Love and Joe Arnold
• Direct Me and A Lover's Question were recorded around 6 December 1967 in Memphis

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · it.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• 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".

Career

• 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.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Robert Christgau of The Village Voice said that its tender passages were not on par with Redding's best work, but called Love Man his best LP since Immortal.
• Ed Leimbacher of Rolling Stone magazine wrote that the album has several of Redding's strongest performances on record.
• Leimbacher praised the loose imagination and tight style of the M.G.'s backing group.
• Leimbacher hailed Redding as a musical genius and called Direct Me one of the best Memphis soul cuts of all time.

Reappraisal

• Ira Robbins of Entertainment Weekly said that Love Man has substantial songs soaked in instrumental spirit, reviewing the 1992 reissue.
• Q magazine wrote that the album showcases Redding at his up-tempo frantic and frenetic best.
• Mark Deming of AllMusic felt the album is flawed because its material is weaker than his previous albums, while praising Redding's energy and conviction.
• Matthew Greenwald of AllMusic said that apart from (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay, the title track was one of Redding's finest and most commercial sides.

Records

• Love Man charted at number 46 on the Billboard 200.
• Love Man charted at number 8 on the R&B Albums chart.
• The title track charted at number 72 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 17 on the R&B Singles chart.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The title track has a mid-tempo funk groove and lyrical references to the hippie culture that had begun to appreciate Redding at the time.
• On the album, Redding employed scat singing in I'm a Changed Man.
• The reissue title Look At That Girl is the wrong title, still uncorrected on album reissues; the song on Love Man is Look At The Girl, written by Redding.
• Direct Me has pop and gospel elements and a heavy tambourine-laden arrangement.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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