smcfarland27's review
5.0
A beautiful tale of black music in mid 20th century America
Otis Redding deserves more attention
Otis Redding deserves more attention
joshrskinner's review
5.0
As much a story of the times of Otis Redding as it is about his life. Broad and exhaustive, this is a tremendous presentation of a fascinating life.
ARC provided.
ARC provided.
mohawkm's review
2.0
While this book is painstakingly researched, it was dry and not engaging. I have a new appreciation for Redding's music, but didn't need the long pages of details about the successes and failures of individual songs in the same genre, which is what makes up at least half of the book.
cchartier's review
5.0
This is the best music book I've read that wasn't written by someone with the last name "Guralnick." It's exceptionally well-researched, but rather then a completely scholarly tone, it's funny and not afraid to take many of the players to task for their greed, myopic decisions, and bad takes.
Otis Redding did not leave behind many records; he died at 26 and much of his family's papers were lost in a fire when he was a teenager. He also did not give many interviews, as the U.S. press simply did not take R&B artists that seriously at the time. The fact that Gould was able to pull together such. rich and compelling book is a credit to his research and talent.
Gould had unprecedented access to Redding's family, we well as family members form his management company, Stax and Atlantic records, etc. Redding's story is woven with the story of rock and roll and R&B in the U.S., as well as the racial politics that defined his life in the U.S. South and his career in the U.S. music business. In Addition to Redding, you get a feel for the personalities and musical/performance contributions of his heroes and contemporaries (Ray Charles, Little Richard, James Brown, Sam Cooke, Wilson Pickett, the structure of Motown) to the landscape of American music.
I knew I would cry through the last 1/3 because the writing is so good. There's an almost novelistic feel to the text, and I just had to keep looking away from the page starting with the chapter "December 10" and on through the end to avoid tearing up.
I won't be shocked if we finally get a biopic of the Big O now that this excellent book exists.
Otis Redding did not leave behind many records; he died at 26 and much of his family's papers were lost in a fire when he was a teenager. He also did not give many interviews, as the U.S. press simply did not take R&B artists that seriously at the time. The fact that Gould was able to pull together such. rich and compelling book is a credit to his research and talent.
Gould had unprecedented access to Redding's family, we well as family members form his management company, Stax and Atlantic records, etc. Redding's story is woven with the story of rock and roll and R&B in the U.S., as well as the racial politics that defined his life in the U.S. South and his career in the U.S. music business. In Addition to Redding, you get a feel for the personalities and musical/performance contributions of his heroes and contemporaries (Ray Charles, Little Richard, James Brown, Sam Cooke, Wilson Pickett, the structure of Motown) to the landscape of American music.
I knew I would cry through the last 1/3 because the writing is so good. There's an almost novelistic feel to the text, and I just had to keep looking away from the page starting with the chapter "December 10" and on through the end to avoid tearing up.
I won't be shocked if we finally get a biopic of the Big O now that this excellent book exists.
footnotes's review
3.0
Well written and impeccably researched, but about 100 pages too long. This book devotes about 80 pages to Otis's grandparents, even more distant ancestors, and the history of sharecropping in rural Georgia; at least three full chapters to the career of Little Richard; and about four pages to the fatal plane crash that ultimately killed Otis, and the climax toward which this book was building. Even the "acknowledgements" section was longer. This needed a much stronger edit.
danni_faith's review
2.0
I'm a bit torn on this. On the one hand it does do what the blurb says it does. The book discusses Otis Redding through the lens of the historical context of racism in the South and the cultural phenomenon of race music and its white audience. It positions Otis as a musician in conversation with other elements.
On the other hand about two thirds of this books is not about Otis. My problem is that this book is named Otis: An Unfinished Life but maybe 30% of the information is about him specifically/is related to him. As I'm pretty well informed on the issue of racism in the American South during the early 1900s, I didn't learn much in that regard, which is sad because that's a large portion of the book.
Overall, I appreciate how well researched the book is. I simply wish the book were not marketed as being a biography of Otis Redding. A better discription of this book is a general history, accounting race music and its musicians from 1900-1960s. In other words, I did not find its framing of Otis Redding to be useful or compelling.
On the other hand about two thirds of this books is not about Otis. My problem is that this book is named Otis: An Unfinished Life but maybe 30% of the information is about him specifically/is related to him. As I'm pretty well informed on the issue of racism in the American South during the early 1900s, I didn't learn much in that regard, which is sad because that's a large portion of the book.
Overall, I appreciate how well researched the book is. I simply wish the book were not marketed as being a biography of Otis Redding. A better discription of this book is a general history, accounting race music and its musicians from 1900-1960s. In other words, I did not find its framing of Otis Redding to be useful or compelling.
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