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So I go over to the All Music Guide to check out some Otis Redding CDs. I take a look at two specifically:

The Ultimate Otis Redding
Yet another anthology package, this one from Warner Special Products. It's a single-disc, economy item designed for those who only want a small sample of Redding's greatness. If you're only going to get a nibble, you'd be better off getting one of his reissued albums rather than this sampler; it would be much more representative. — Ron Wynn

This got 3 stars.

The Very Best of Otis Redding, Vol. 1
The Very Best of Otis Redding wasn't the first Otis Redding compilation but it is the best of the single-disc collections, distilling the high points across his career (up thru the posthumous hits "(Sitting' On) The Dock of the Bay" and the heartbreaking "I've Got Dreams to Remember") in 16 tracks, every one a musical milestone and a soul music high-point of one kind or another. Although aimed at the casual listener and the neophyte fan, there are some astonishing realizations to be had in listening to this disc and looking at the chart placements of the early sides, and realizing just how uniform his musical influence is — "These Arms of Mine" and, especially, "Pain In My Heart," from 1962 and 1963, respectively, sold only a fraction of what his later singles did, yet they've been covered by so many artists since, that they're as familiar as any of the other, bigger hits on this disc. The collection is hardly comprehensive, but all of the major bases are touched, right down to his 1967 hit duet "Tramp" with Carla Thomas. The other advantage, especially for those on a budget, is that this was the first Otis Redding compilation to avail itself of the improved master tape research and analog-to-digital technology of the early '90s. — Bruce Eder

This got 5 stars, and a check, which if I'm remembering my AMG terminology correctly, means "this is the one to buy".

Take all of that in. Now, look at a few facts:

- "Ultimate" has 20 tracks; "Very Best Of" has 16.
- The only tracks from "Very Best Of" not on "Ultimate" are 'My Lover's Prayer', 'The Happy Song (Dum-Dum)', and 'I've Got Dreams To Remember'. Yet "Ultimate" adds 'Come To Me', "Security', 'Chained And Bound', 'Ole Man Trouble', 'Let Me Come On Home', 'Open the Door', and 'That's What My Heart Needs'
- The notes to "Ultimate", while not great, do note recording date, producer, and original release. There's also a brief bio. (I haven't seen the notes to "Very Best Of", although I'd assume they are better in the bio department, and hopefully as good in the track annotation department).
- The sound on "Ultimate" isn't great, but then again, this is Stax/Atlantic we're talking about - the recordings are only going to sound so great. The stereo tracks sound about as good as I've heard Stax stereo sound, and the mono tracks are actually pretty good in most cases. The main problem is some were obviously transferred with a stereo head, and exhibit various stereo dropouts. That said, there's no fake stereo here. (Again, I haven't heard "Very Best Of", but I have heard Rhino Stax releases from that era, and they don't seem to be much, if any better. The main thing in common they have is a lack of any twin-track stereo, which "Ultimate" does have).

Which leads me to - why exactly did "Very Best Of" get 5 stars while "Ultimate" only got 3? It certainly wasn't better/more song selection. Based on what I know, it certainly wasn't better sound quality. I'm beginning to think it was simply "this says 'remastered' and has much nicer artwork'."

Anyone?

Well, that's what ya get when different people do the reviewing. If the sound quality issues affected the rating for the "Ultimate OR" collection, you'd think the review would've mentioned that fact. AMG also gives only three stars to each of the three posthumous LPs on Atco [records I'm very fond of] while giving five stars to "Dock of the Bay," one of my least favorite OR records. Go figure.

Bruce Eder raves about *everything*. He spooges all over the Stones digipak discs, for example...he means well, but he's far too positive most of the time.

I don't trust AMG, they're like the Roger Ebert's/David Fricke's of music reviews. Richie Unterburger (sp?) is the only one I can think of who seems to know what he's talking about.

Robert Christgau at his worst is an arrogant, pretentious jerk, but at least he's honest and to the point in his Consumer Guide which, for better or worse, is massively influential.

Xenu wrote:Bruce Eder raves about *everything*. He spooges all over the Stones digipak discs, for example...he means well, but he's far too positive most of the time.

Er . . . would you be so kind as to provide a definition of the verb "spooge." I think I've got a handle on the usage, e.g., "My housboy spooged all over my recently cleaned carpet," but I'm still hazy on the meaning.

I think you've got that usage down a bit *too* well there, Ron.

MK wrote:I don't trust AMG, they're like the Roger Ebert's/David Fricke's of music reviews. Richie Unterburger (sp?) is the only one I can think of who seems to know what he's talking about.

Robert Christgau at his worst is an arrogant, pretentious jerk, but at least he's honest and to the point in his Consumer Guide which, for better or worse, is massively influential.

I do like Richie U, but he has something of the opposite problem to Bruce Eder...simply put, everything after a certain obscurity level is crap to him. There're several cases where I have the sneaking suspicion that he didn't go into them with an entirely open mind...but heck, he has a lot of work. "G.S. I Love You Too"--an excellent comp--is one example.

Then again, I'm far past the point of using this sort of opinion as my barometer. The guy I tend to refer to with regard to CD/album reviews is George Starostin...we tend to share similar tastes. I got into Can thanks to him, for example...I had only heard of them in passing before, but his glowing recommendation of Tago Mago/Soundtracks made me check 'em out, and I thoroughly enjoyed 'em.