Review of Otis Redding: Remembering Otis

Introduction

Rhythm and blues legend Otis Redding performs his classic tracks at two venues; The 1966 Stax Volt European Tour and at the 1967 Monterey Pop festival. The authentic footage shows off his singing talent, movement style and the different variations of music he performs. Other performance footage of America`s rhythm and blues superstars, Sam and Dave and also Booker T. and the MG`s is included too. Some of the tracks featured are; `Shake`, `Satisfaction`, `My Girl` and `Sitting on the Dock of the Bay`.

Video

The performance footage is split between black and white segments and colour and is shown in the standard 4:3 aspect ratio; there is no mention of widescreen on the sleeve that`s for sure. The standard of visuals is very low key and of poor quality but to some enthusiasts of Otis Redding would this spoil the music? The picture throughout the DVD has a dark look to it overall apart from the brighter areas despite if colour footage is used or not. The first sign of colour footage is during the stage set in Monterey, California but even here the picture leans more in the dark and detail is lost.

The picture has a softened edge to everything and from distant shots of the stage and the artists, faces and detail look blurred out. Also quite noticeable is a strange `haze` or bright colour run coming from the brighter areas, whether it is a face, hand, guitar etc. This is during the black and white footage and gives the picture quality a slight "pirated copy" or import look to it.

Production glitches or bad filming errors can also be spotted during the DVD, a bad edit or possible frame jump pops up on at Title 2, Chapter 2, 2 mins 33 secs aprox during the `Shake` performance (speaks for itself) and there are also some visible lines that intrude on the footage during Sam and Dave`s performance at Title 2, Chapter 5, 11 mins 32 secs aprox. Bad quality in the making or is it because of the age of the footage itself? Mixed between the performance footage are small pieces of text giving insights, that scroll the screen and in some cases a slideshow of stills over certain tracks played, `Try a Little Tenderness` shows colour footage of mostly smiling (not in some cases) 1960`s girls at the venues with their sleep over equipment. The camera pans over the audience here and there showing the styles, expressions and head banging all of which is amusing to see, especially the person who is asleep on the floor or has fainted!

Audio

Although the audio is in Dolby Digital 5.1 the source was mixed from a 2 track mix, during the performances the sound seems at the front and pushed to the centre speaker only through the vocals, all clapping and ambient sound can be faintly heard through the rear speakers. Not a good use of the 5.1 set up compared to some other music DVDs even the sub wasn`t up to scratch and only gave off an odd flutter and was hardly noticeable.

Features

The menu is a darkened screen with purple text, a shadowed picture of Otis is seen on the right. There is no audio present, music or sound effects and no screen animations either, options are headed "Monterey Pop", "The Stax Volt tour with special guests" and "Play the show". The first venue lets you choose from 5 songs of Otis Redding, the screen changes to a different still of Otis and displays the tracks to play. The second venue has a play list and is split between Otis and other guests, 3 of Otis` tracks here are the same as on the first venue section. The play option plays the whole disk and both performances.

Conclusion

Big fans of Otis Redding, `The Blues Brothers` movie, rhythm and blues or the 1960`s would most likely appreciate this performance despite the audio and visual quality of the DVD. Even with the introduction of the colour footage the quality did not improve and in my opinion the whole deal here seemed like a crude "knocked up" DVD for the sale rack! The only slightest piece of quality during the DVD was most probably the visual and audio presentation of the `Pioneer Artists` logo at the start.

Featured in the performances are a young looking Donald `Duck` Dunn on bass guitar and Steve Cropper on guitar, better known for a portion of the band in `The Blues Brothers` movie.