SACD Otis Redding – Pain In My Heart (Mono)

Pain In My Heart, Otis Redding’s debut, as a hybrid mono SACD from the Atlantic 75 Series, mastered by Bernie Grundman direct to DSD from the original analogue master tape. Twelve tracks in one sequence – from the title song via “These Arms Of Mine” to “Lucille”.

A debut built from the first recordings

Released in 1964, Pain In My Heart was Otis Redding’s first album, gathering recordings from 1962 and 1963. His own songs stand next to established material: “These Arms Of Mine” belongs to this beginning, as do his versions of “Stand By Me” and “You Send Me”. You can hear the emerging songwriter meet the singer who could reshape other people’s songs.

The recordings come from the Stax world in Memphis, and Steve Cropper, Booker T. Jones and Al Jackson Jr. are among the documented musicians. Voice, rhythm instruments and horns share the job of carrying the songs. Listen to how the accompaniment prepares a vocal line – and where it waits to answer. Those exchanges drive much of the music.

Making a song his own

“You Send Me” comes from Sam Cooke’s pen, “Lucille” is associated with Little Richard, and “Louie Louie” and “Stand By Me” add more familiar melodies. The debut becomes a meeting between very different sources and one unmistakable vocal personality.

Alongside them stand Redding originals such as “Hey Hey Baby”, “Security” and “That’s What My Heart Needs”. The sources change, the singer ties everything together. Ask the same questions of every performance: where does he place a syllable against the rhythm, where does he hold back a phrase, and how does the band change its effect? That is where the real differences lie – far beyond whether a title is familiar.

Back to “These Arms Of Mine”

“These Arms Of Mine” was Redding’s first Volt single and remains a centrepiece of this early period. On this SACD it arrives as track 7 – a fresh entrance into a song whose story began before the album.

The running order moves between slower pieces and livelier numbers before “Lucille” closes the set. Heard in full, the debut shows Redding’s whole breadth: songwriter, interpreter of other people’s material and singer within an ensemble – perspectives that complement each other and give the famous songs a place in a larger programme.

The Atlantic 75 hybrid mono SACD

CAPA 055 SA is a hybrid mono SACD from the Analogue Productions Atlantic 75 Series. According to the publisher, Bernie Grundman mastered it direct to DSD from the original analogue master tape. The SACD layer plays on SACD-capable players, the CD layer on any conventional CD player. The disc contains the twelve tracks of the original album.

You order from Michael 45 in Germany. We arrange the US import and ship from Hilden.

More from the series: Atlantic 75 Series

Also in another edition: Pain In My Heart

More SACDs by Otis Redding: The Dock Of The Bay · Otis Blue · The Otis Redding Dictionary Of Soul

Customer question: Buying Analogue Productions records in Europe

Musicians

Documented selection of participating musicians. Personnel may vary by track; this list does not claim to be complete.