My Greatest 100 (or so) Albums...

Otis Blue (Volt, 1966) Otis Redding. This was Otis's 3rd album and it seems in the past ten years or so some people have started regarding it more highly than Dictionary of Soul. I don't see it that way, but certainly this, the Soul Album and Dictionary of Soul are his three best studio albums, and we've already discussed Live in Europe as the best live album ever. Here are the tracks:

Ole Man Trouble" (Otis Redding) – 2:55
"Respect" (Redding) – 2:05
(#4 R&B, #35 pop charts)
"Change Gonna Come" (Sam Cooke) – 4:17
"Down in the Valley" (Solomon Burke) – 3:02
"I've Been Loving You Too Long" (Redding, Butler) – 3:10
(#2 R&B, #21 pop charts)

"Shake" (Cooke) – 2:35
"My Girl" (William Robinson, Ronald White) – 2:52
"Wonderful World" (Barbara Campbell) – 3:00
"Rock Me Baby" (B.B. King, Joe Josea) – 3:20
"Satisfaction" (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards) – 2:45
(#4 R&B, #31 pop charts)
"You Don't Miss Your Water" (William Bell) – 2:53

You'll notice, if you don't already know this, that Otis covered three Sam Cooke songs on Blue. He recorded Blue in 65, and Cooke, his idol had died on December 11, 1964. I think this was his tribute to Sam.

BTW, the cover of Blue always bugged me cause that woman couldn't possibly look less like Otis Redding, and it makes me sad to think that Stax/Volt didn't think they could do as much business with a picture of Otis on the cover. Sad.