Otis Redding
Live in Europe

Otis Redding, the king of soul music. A legend. As often happens, after repeatedly listening to the studio versions, clean and perfect of famous songs, when they are sung live, if they do not express the magic of the record, one is left a little disappointed. That's how it is for me with this "Live In Europe" by Otis Redding. The only live album released while he was still alive. In my opinion, it was published a bit hastily, just to ride the wave of the great success Otis was having at that moment. Covers and some of his songs, for a total of just over thirty minutes. It contains great songs from "Respect" to "Satisfaction," to "Shake" or even "These Arms of Mine," but the overall delivery of the album seems hasty to me and lacks the right pauses of silence that the "soul" should demand. It's just a testimony of Otis Redding live but nothing more. It doesn't leave me particularly excited. A special mention goes to the performance of "I've Been Loving You Too Long" which manages to hit the intimate as always. It's a pity that a few months later Otis died in a tragic plane crash. He was at the peak of his career, and even though weather conditions didn't recommend it, he decided to take off with his private plane anyway, to honor the commitment he made to sing at the University of Wisconsin. Thus he entered into legend.