Dreams to Remember: Otis Redding, Stax Records, and the Transformation of Southern Soul

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Mark Ribowsky

Dreams to Remember

Otis Redding, Stax Records, and the Transformation of Southern Soul

Mark Ribowsky

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English

Liveright Publishing Corporation
20 June 2016

Soul & R 'n' B; Individual composers & musicians, bands & groups

When he died in one of rock's string of tragic plane crashes, Otis Redding was only twenty-six, yet already the avatar of a new kind of soul music. The beating heart of Memphis-based Stax Records, he had risen to fame belting out gospel-flecked blues in stage performances that seemed to ignite not only a room but an entire generation. If Berry Gordy's black-owned kingdom in Motown showed the way in soul music, Redding made his own way, going where not even his two role models who had preceded him out of Macon, Georgia-Little Richard and James Brown-had gone.

Now, in this transformative work, New York Times Notable Book author Mark Ribowsky contextualizes his subject's short career within the larger cultural and social movements of the era, tracing the crooner's rise from preacher's son to a preacher of three-minute soul sermons. And what a quick rise it was. At the tender age of twenty-one, Redding needed only a single unscheduled performance to earn a record deal, his voice so ""utterly unique"" (Atlantic) that it catapulted him on a path to stardom and turned a Memphis theater-turned-studio into a music mecca. Soon he was playing at sold-out venues across the world, from Finsbury Park in London to his ultimate conquest, the 1967 Monterrey Pop Festival in California, where he finally won over the flower-power crowd.

Still, Redding was not always the affable, big-hearted man's man the PR material painted him to be. Based on numerous new interviews and prodigious research, Dreams to Remember reintroduces an incredibly talented yet impulsive man, one who once even risked his career by shooting a man in the leg. But that temperament masked a deep vulnerability that was only exacerbated by an industry that refused him a Grammy until he was in his grave-even as he shaped the other Stax soul men around him, like Wilson Pickett, Sam and Dave, and Booker T. and The MG's.

As a result, this requiem is one of great conquest but also grand tragedy: a soul king of truth, a mortal man with an immortal voice and a pain in his heart. Now he, and the forces that shaped his incomparable sound, are reclaimed, giving us a panoramic of an American original who would come to define an entire era, yet only wanted what all men deserve-a modicum of respect and a place to watch the ships roll in and away again.

By: Mark Ribowsky
Imprint: Liveright Publishing Corporation
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 211mm, Width: 140mm, Spine: 28mm
Weight: 316g
ISBN: 9781631491931
ISBN 10: 1631491938
Pages: 416
Publication Date: 20 June 2016
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Mark Ribowsky is the author of twelve books, including Ain't Too Proud to Beg: The Troubled Lives and Enduring Soul of the Temptations and the New York Times Notable Book Don't Look Back: Satchel Paige in the Shadows of Baseball. He lives in Florida.

Reviews for Dreams to Remember: Otis Redding, Stax Records, and the Transformation of Southern Soul

""...lively and judicious account of the life of Otis Redding…"" -- The Telegraph ""His [Ribowsky's] understanding of the music is exemplary…"" -- Mojo ""A lot of familiar ground is inevitably covered, but Ribowsky is largely equal to the task of making it seem fresh again...He's especially good at the way the music business at the time was run…"" -- Uncut ""Ribowsky tackles his subject matter with conviction and aplomb, reaffirming Redding's seismic role in Southern soul music…"" -- Record Collector