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| That's how strong my love is |
I generally reject
the idea that anyone was the best at anything when it
comes to art or music. For me, art is about communication and
transcendence. If someone can draw you into their world and show you
something that you like that's really all that matters. I don't have the
interest or the talent to say anyone is the best. There are however
some artists who do tempt me to say that they are
the best and Otis Redding is one of them. If someone wrote that "Otis Redding is the best soul singer that ever
existed" could anyone disagree with that? I mean if
you're not Al Green, David Ruffin, Wilson Pickett or Marvin Gaye, could
you? And if you mention D'Angelo or Mayer Hawthorne I'm going to throw
something heavy at your head. Seriously. You should duck.
Unfortunately Redding's life was
tragically cut short in a 1967 airplane crash that also killed most of
the Bar-Kays. So we never got to hear everything that he was capable of
doing. He was really just getting started. I don't listen to a lot of
modern R&B. One reason I don't, besides a generalized distaste for
pseudo-disco, excessive melisma, synths and drum machines, is that I just
haven't heard many modern male singers that have the kind of power and
control that was exemplified by classic soul singers and most
particularly Otis Redding. He was nicknamed "The Big O". (He stood 6-4 though judging by
how some women carried on at his concerts there may have been other
reasons for that sobriquet)
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