Digital Video Singles • Classic Rock Videos

"Try a Little Tenderness" Ranks No. 204 on Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time

"Reach Out (I'll Be There)" Ranks No. 206 on Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time

OVOW Communications, Inc. announced the release of two performances from historical European tours of 1967:  Otis Redding performing “Try a Little Tenderness” at the Finsbury Park Astoria, and The Four Tops performing “Reach Out (I’ll Be There)” on the French television variety show, “Tilt”. Available for purchase and download on the iTunes Store, these videos will join the growing inventory of Digital Video Singles (DVS), a new music video label featuring classic performances from the archives of music history.

“European audiences were fast to recognize the genius of American R&B and Soul music, and these tours elevated Otis Redding and The Four Tops to international superstars,” said Stuart Samuels, co-owner of OVOW Communications, Inc.  “It is amazing to watch these artists introduce their music to the world stage, and to go back to the moment when their music was new and the crowds were euphoric.”

These videos were sourced through the French public television archive, INA, and are made available under agreements with the artists and their estates.   This is the first digital release of these performances.

Otis Redding performs “Try a Little Tenderness” on March 17, 1967 at London’s Finsbury Park Astoria theater, the first stop on the historic “Stax/Volt Revue 1967 European Tour” (the Beatles sent their limousine to pick up the entourage for the concert). This was the final song and Otis Redding was the final act in a mythical event that teamed Otis Redding with Sam & Dave, Eddie Floyd, Arthur Connolly, the Mar-Keys and Booker T & the MGs.  Presented by “pirate radio” DJ, Emperor Rosko (who appears in the video), this performance was the showcase that made Otis Redding a global sensation and was performed within four months of its original release.  It is one of the prized relics of Otis Redding’s career, which ended suddenly in a plane crash at the end of the year.

• “Try a Little Tenderness” ranks Number 204 on Rolling Stone Magazine’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
• Otis Redding is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and “Try a Little Tenderness” is on their list of 500 Songs That Shaped Rock
• Pause & Play have added “Try a Little Tenderness” to Songs Inducted into a Time Capsule

The Four Tops performed their break-out hit, “Reach Out (I’ll Be There)” on February 22, 1967 for French television audiences as a musical act in their weekly variety show, “Tilt.”  Levi Stubbs’ famously raspy lead vocals (Phil Spector once called Stubbs, “the black Dylan”) provide the urgency and yearning that distinguished The Four Tops from other Motown acts.  Written by Motown songwriting team Holland-Dozier-Holland, this song has entered the pantheon of music history. (Critic Dave Marsh ranked it as the Number 4 “single” of all time, and wrote that Reach Out “is simply as colossal an extravaganza as rock and soul music have ever produced, as monumental in its way as “Like a Rolling Stone.”)

• “Reach Out (I’ll Be There)” ranks Number 206 on Rolling Stone magazine’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
• The Four Tops are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and “Reach Out (I’ll Be There)” is listed as one of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock.
• New Music Express ranked “Reach Out (I’ll Be There)” as the Number 45 song on their list, The Top 150 Singles of All Time
• Mojo magazine (UK) ranks “Reach Out (I’ll Be There)” Number 2 on their list The 100 Greatest Singles of All Time

TRY A LITTLE TENDERNESS

Featuring Otis Redding, Booker T & the MGs (Booker T. Jones, keyboards; Steve Cropper, guitar; Duck Dunn, bass; and Al Jackson, drums), the Mar-Keys (Wayne Jackson, trumpet; Andrew Love, tenor saxophone; and Joe Arnold, tenor saxophone).

Appearance by DJ Emperor Rosko

Date: March 17, 1967

Venue: Finsbury Park Astoria  (London)

Running Time: 4:41

Written By: Irving King & Harry M. Woods

Arranged by: Otis Redding & Isaac Hayes

REACH OUT (I’LL BE THERE)

Featuring: The Four Tops (Levi Stubbs, Abdul “Duke” Fakir, Renoldo “Obie” Benson, Lawrence Payton)

Date: February 22, 1967

Venue: French Television Show, “Tilt”

Running Time:  2:46

Written by:  Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland, Edward Holland, Jr.