Love Man

飛行機事故で若くして世を去ってしまっただけに、早すぎた死を惜しむかのように以後もオーティス・レディングの遺作は次々とリリースされた。追悼盤として発表され大ヒットを記録した『The Dock Of The Bay』がなにより有名だが、以後の作品も決して見逃すことができない。『The Immortal』に次いで1969年に発表された3枚目の遺作にあたる今作、未発表曲をまとめたとはいっても単なる寄せ集めで終わっているはずはなく、ブッカー・T&ザMGs との圧倒的なグルーヴ感が貫かれた傑作としてのたしかなクオリティが確認できる。その証拠に、ファンキーなジャンプ・ナンバーに仕上がったタイトル曲、そしてコッテリとブルージーな「Free Me」が大ヒットを記録した。

While Otis Redding was already one of the biggest stars in soul music when he died in a tragic plane crash in 1967, as is some times the case his star rose considerably after his passing, and this 1969 release dusted off a set of unreleased tracks Redding had cut in 1967, one of which (the title cut) went on to become a sizable chart hit. Love Man doesn't hold together quite as well as Redding's best proper albums, such as Otis Blue and Complete and Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul, but it also manages to avoid sounding like a collection of out-takes and leftovers; as an album it's significantly stronger than the average R&B release of similar vintage, due to Redding's indefatigable energy and conviction as a vocalist and the ever-indomitable groove of Steve Cropper, Al Jackson, Jr., and the other members of the Stax Records studio crew. If Love Man is flawed, it's not a matter of execution so much as material; while Redding's originals are good, none are quite up to the standards of "Cigarettes and Coffee" or "My Lover's Prayer", and covers like "A Lover's Question" and "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher" are not ideally suited to Redding's style. But even the flawed material helps prove just how strong Redding's work was, even under less than ideal circumstances, and Love Man makes it clear he never gave less than %110 percent in the studio. ~ Mark Deming