Like most R&B albums of the early 1960s, Otis Redding’s 1964 debut was a haphazard mixture of the artist’s contemporary hits (˝These Arms of Mine,˝ ˝Pain in My Heart˝), B-sides (˝Something Is Worrying Me,˝ ˝Hey Hey Baby˝), and covers of popular hits of the day (˝You Send Me,˝ ˝Stand by Me˝).
Stylistically, Redding was still trying to find his feet; though he obviously had the voice and ability to pull off tender ballads like the title track, he hadn’t yet given up on trying to scream like Little Richard (˝Lucille˝).
Uneven as they may be, the tracks on Pain in My Heart get over on the sheer soulfulness of Redding’s singing.
Worth the price of admission alone is the underrated ˝Security,˝ which was the first in a string of great uptempo Redding originals.
(Dan Epstein)