The Complete Stax Volt Singles Collection

Otis Redding is the King of Soul for me and this is a great 3 cd set of all the singles released in the USA. The tracks are superlative. So it's 5 stars for content.What lets this down, as previous reviewers have written, is the packaging and sleeve notes. Firstly, the sleeve notes. They are all-too-brief - one page liner notes about the recordings generally. There's an error relating to track 10 disc 3 which is a live track but not mentioned or referred to in the notes. It feels like nobody could be bothered to make it really interesting by providing detailed liner notes. (Compare this with the Complete Motown Singles issues which have really good notes).The packaging itself is clumsy. Getting the cds out is awkward and the track listing on the back is held on by clear-tac. The pages with pictures of each of the A&B sides are kinda interesting but adding notes on each single would have made this purchase much more worthwhile.So should you buy it ? If you are a collector then probably yes, although it's not good value (since I purchased my copy the price has decreased) and you'll probably have all the tracks elsewhere. If you're a casual fan you'd do better by looking at the Very Best of Otis Redding Vols 1 & 2 or the Original Album Series.

Actually - I like the packaging. It is kind of cool and artsy. Sure, you don't get the background story etc but this you can easily find elsewhere.I am blown away by the quality of the music - in most cases you could not tell which is the A side and which is the B side. For me who knows Otis from Otis Blue and the hits, there is so much new good music here to discover.And the new mastering is so good - the mono mixes shines on both resolution and punch.

Prima !!

i cannot believe what they are charging for this set.3cds in a cardboard block with photos of the singles.many are identical apart from the title.very poor quality there are scratches on some labels.writing on one sleeve and a price tag on another?this could easily have been cleaned up.a mono Otis blue and an unreleased live album should have been included.it should be a 3cd set with a detailed booklet in a fold out digi-pack.then £14.99 is the most this would be worth. Complete Stax / Volt Singles

this excellent compilation is ruined by poor packaging and non existent liner notes which is of poor service to both committed fand new fans again the label has let the artist down in pursuit of a fast buck.

C'est peut-être bien la meilleure façon d'appréhender la carrière légendaire de Monsieur Otis Redding. Soit, répartis sur trois CDs bien serrés, tous les singles, faces A et B, de l'immense chanteur. Ca commence avec l'insurmontable "These Arms Of Mine" et ça va tanguer sans discontinuer jusqu'à la fin, déployant tout du long une soul magnifique, impeccablement jouée par des musiciens au sommet de leur art.Un des géants de la soul, tout simplement, dont on aligne ici les pépites. Le son est top nickel et le livret offre des photos pleine page de chaque 45 tours. Alors, à vrai dire, ça couterait une fortune de les posséder en vrai mais là, pour le coup, le coffret remplace avantageusement cela et ça devient donc un truc énorme, incontournable, beau comme tout.C'est le son Stax, les gars, avec un des fleurons de l'écurie, un petit gars qui a inventé quasiment son propre style hautement personnel, souvent imité mais jamais égalé. Que dire en vérité ? Cette musique est immortelle et dès qu'on l'envoie, le charme opère, toujours, c'est d'une évidence... Alors je ne vais pas trop me fatiguer, quoi. Mais que celui qui ne possède pas d'Otis chez lui, eh bien, si c'est pas une faute de goût, ça. Et je ne parle pas de renvoi d'ascenseur là.Non, bon, voilà, un truc essentiel, voire obligatoire, franchement, un des trucs qui font qu'on est contents d'être en vie et qu'elle vaut le coup d'être vécue. Magique et incommensurable, définitivement divin, parfait à tous les points de vue. Alors, parfois, c'est vrai, on aime bien varier, changer, essayer des trucs, tout ça. Mais bon, à l'arrivée, il existe des incontournables. Otis fait partie de ceux-là. D'ailleurs, on dit juste son prénom. Ca suffit, on sait de qui on parle. D'un géant. Et je vais vous dire: sur ces trois CDs, j'ai beau chercher, je ne vois pas la moindre faille. C'est dément tout le temps, à chaque fois, sur chaque morceau.Otis, c'est le genre de gars rare qui fait qu'on a aimé la musique et qu'on continuera de l'aimer. Le reste n'est que billevesées. Allez, payez-vous ça, ça vous rendra heureux comme tout, si, si.

otis redding passed away when a was three years old, so the music I grew up in the late '70s, when I was a teen, was bowie, the new age, the stones. one afternoon in a movie theater I was watching hughes/deutch pretty in pink & I was simply thunderstruck by a song played during one scene. it was try a little tenderness. from that moment on I loved otis redding's music with a ferocious tenacity that has not lessened now that I'm in my 50's. in those days it was not easy to find otis redding's records in europe. I remember that only after browsing record shops in paris, london, berlin & milano I found a handful of records, original recordings & best of... all in stereo, even worse, electronically re-recorded to simulate stereo. the original records came from japan & the stereo sound was ok. the sound of most of the compilation was muffled, without definition, a muddy mix of instruments & voice very frustrating, while the music was so exciting. I thought it was the recording technical limitation of that time. it was not. the sound of this remastered collection is overwhelmingly spectacular: I'm listening to these CDs with a B&O 2000(74) switched to mono amplifier, CD-X player and P-45 loudspeakers & I can hear all the instruments that are playing with such a definition I'm speechless. the sound stage has a depth never listened before & I really understand why many audiophiles regret the end of this kind of mono records, their argument being that (bad) stereo channel separation does not enhance space enough to compensate the depth loss in sound image. well, these mono recordings give a total new voice to those muddy & invertebrate recordings we used to hear even in prior CD releases. so, this collection is the best document of otis redding's music in terms of mono sound, with such depth in sound image that you can hear the different positions of the instruments in the sound stage. otis! the definite collection, whose first 3 CDs are mono, does not has the same spectacularly defined sound, even if the remaster sound engineers are the same. about the song selection, this is the complete stax/volt singles collection so it aims to collect all the singles, not necessarily all the best otis redding's songs. I loved the book presentation that actually seems like a stack of all the 45s singles published, bound in a hardcover that contains the 3CDs, but it's true that the CDs come out of their sleeves a little scratched. too spartan linear notes, some inaccuracies, but this is the best mono sound of otis redding's songs. however it is paramount to play these CDs with a mono amplifier. if you want stereo, choose the 2 vols. of the otis redding original album series with 5 CDs each in mini LP sleeves with equally splendid (even if totally different) sound with otis redding's voice up front (atco stereo mixing philosophy). with king&queen (jewel box) & otis live in london & paris (digipack) that finally gives us the complete, untamed version of live in europe, you'll have all otis redding's stereo records you must have. if you need to have everything, the otis! 4CDs long box compilation & the dreams to remember anthology are fulfilling in terms of informations but not as satisfying in sound quality.PS. I purchased these CDs in aug, 2014. Today, feb, 2017 I took the CDs out of their plastic sleeves &, while they still work perfectly, they are opaque & clouded all over, not shiny anymore. it's probable some chemical reaction happened because of these plastic sleeves. so, if you buy this set, it's best to change the sleeves & use something more proper for conservation.

Eine hervorragende Zusammenstellung über die gesamte, leider viel zu kurze Karriere des wohl besten Soul-Sängers aller Zeiten. Dieses Soul-Level kann nie mehr erreicht werden.

Otis redding box set is fantastic the sound and quality is greatIf you are looking for good music this is a must have box set

Ottimo acquisto, arrivato nei tempi giusti. Oggetto bellissimo e nuovo. Sono molto soddisfatto di avere comprato questo box. Affidabilissimo e competente