Donny Hath or Otis Redding?
Jimster
Cruffiton.etsy.com 6,892 Posts
Both on spin this morning...Donny has more skillz but Otis could read parking tickets and you'd cry.OTIS.
Comments
Donny is amazing, but Otis IS soul music (I even named my cat after him...)
Bryan Ferry named his son after him..... Redding that is, not your cat
On a side note been listening to that recent release of the Stax tour in London and Paris and his version of Try A Little Tenderness from Paris is one of the most urgently sexual pieces of soul music I've ever heard.
that said...id have to go with Otis
as great as Donny was, his albums are spotty
yup
Apples and Grapefruits.
Yeah. But you have to pick one.
Sayin'.
Why can't people understand simple questions?
Donny
not true...both are singers, songwriters and producers...both hit their artistic peak at about the same age and both died way too young.
That said, Otis is soul music...Otis sons Donny.
needs to be taken to the 'statements that are bullshit' thread
honestly, when it comes down to it, I think i derive more enjoyment from Donny. but i realize that Otis is more important and influential in the history of music.
As one wise man once intoned, "F*ck that." I stand by my original statement 200%.
When Donny was good, he was unstoppable.
When Donny was bad, he was Roberta Flack with a sex change!
It's cool that Donny had all these grandiose concepts, but they didn't always come off...
And both men played music with Carla Thomas and had five fingers on each hand.
wait, you're dissing roberta now? world... collapsing... around me...
donny has 2 near-perfect albums. the other 2 i'd give ~8/10.
but didn't you once say that curtis' albums are spotty too? i'm feeling more and more conflicted about you. torn by feelings of love and hate
yes i did!
remember, even though the LP's are inconsistent, i never said that Curtis/Donny were BAD...even after I got the lesser album tracks out of the way, I still played the hell out of what was left!
Otis hands down.
Donny Hathaway was wicked inconsistent -- much more so than Curtis Mayfield. Curtis had a few snoozer album cuts, but I pretty much stand by every solo LP during the 70s. I might be able to be persuaded to stand down from that ish he did for RSO in like '79, but otherwise, I'm standing up.
Roberta Flack was pretty inconsistent as well. I love her first two or three albums, but after that the production just gets kinda smooth jazz. I mean, you might throw 'em on some times, and there might be one or two nice tracks but otherwise, I could live without. I don't feel that way about any Curtis records.
As for a choice between Donny Hathaway and Otis, it's an unfair fight. Otis Redding was arguably the number one soul brother in the mid-1960s (with all due respect to James Brown) and he created space for himself and others to follow -- Donny was one of the ones that followed into the space. The space was so immense that Donny doesn't have to be too much like Otis to nonetheless have to live in his shadow. Hence the current question pending.
Believe it or not, the one Curtis album I can press play and listen from end to end is Got To Find A Way, which doesn't get discussed much, but everything came together well on that one.
I don't really like Flack at all, to be truthful. Like you say, she is way too close to smooth jazz. I dislike Billy Paul for the same reason.
That's exactly what I was thinking.
I could see if it was, say, Otis vs. Wilson Pickett, as far as 1960's southern soul guys go. Or Donny vs. Curtis, in terms of progressive black music from the early '70s. But even though Big O and Don were both infuential soul singers, they still come from different times and different subgenres.
My head says Otis but my heart wants Donny.
BAN
you're a disgrace to the House of Stax
Even Otis' close friends admit that he did a lot with a little.
frankly I never understood why Donny was sweated so heavily by bourgie nouveau soul types - most of his records are overarranged & if I must be candid - a bit on the tepid side
the whole tragic martyr thing has a certain appeal I guess - cynically, if Leroy Hutson flew out a window maybe more people would be into him these days
But what could get me halfway calm was this Donny Hathaway song.
I love how you completely ignore most of my post which, in essence, agrees with much of what you said in yours. Try having a conversation for once. You might find you'd actually learn something or say something someone cares about.
Otis Redding's Soul is from the Civil Rights Era.
Donny Hathaway represented a coming out period. His audience were slightly upscale and educated. His art reflected the times. The Black Bourgie crowd werent stuck on 60's Soul by the time Donny/Curtis/Marvin were doin their thang in the 70's.
Comparing these cats on the same playin level is suspect.
Otis helped set up/solidify the foundations of Soul, Donny extended the possibilities.
Alot of cats have this romantic view of 60's Soul as standard. That's cool in hindsight, but the audience had evolved.
First came Otis, then came Donny
b/w
[kala]EAT A DICKKKK DR CUNTSPEW[/kala]
pS: I gotta bounce to go spin some rekkids at the Lyman Woodard tribute show - feel free to take your time responding