Live in Europe was the first full-length concert album released on
Otis Redding, and the last LP of his work that he lived to see issued. Recorded along the Stax/Volt tour of Europe in March of 1967, it featured
Redding backed by Booker T. & the MG's. Their playing, along with that of
Wayne Jackson (trumpet) and
Andrew Love and
Joe Arnold (tenor saxes), is more elegant and elegantly articulated than the work of his usual touring band, and this album is a sort of idealized
Otis Redding concert. Some of it lacks the raw excitement of Live at the Whisky a Go Go (which was recorded a year earlier than the shows where this album was cut, but not issued until a year later), but in compensation one gets all of the virtuoso flourishes and details that one would expect from this ensemble. The audience, ecstatic at the rare chance to see the soul idol in concert, is very vocal in their enthusiasm for the singer and his songs, and "Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)" is practically a singalong number with some finely detailed playing from
Booker T. Jones,
Steve Cropper, and Al Jackson, Jr., who, with
Wayne Jackson and company, also add some exquisite grace notes to the finale, "Try a Little Tenderness." Beyond the musical power of his performance,
Redding's emotions are practically overflowing as he addresses the crowd in a very personal manner as he introduces "These Arms of Mine." The only flaw in this recording, if there is one, is that it does have only ten songs, but that was the nature of the shows on this tour. ~ Bruce Eder