The biography starts like this: born to an Arkansas share cropper, Al Green is the 6th of 10 children. His family moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where a teenage Green got kicked out of his devout family's house for listening to Jackie Wilson. His young life had some tumultuousness to it that would periodically revisit his personal life. Things were rough for the young Green but picked-up for him quickly while he was still in high school.
The music started off great right away with Al Green's first album. Back Up Train (1969) is an incredible collection of songs, especially for a debut, and is not to be overlooked, though it often seems to be: the title-track single did well but the album did not. These early albums bristle with a youthful authenticity that I would miss when I'm ten or more albums deep into his discography. This first one bridges the 60s and 70s wonderfully. It sounds a bit like "oldies," but by the third song the orchestra and back-up singers kick in, and it's veering towards his mid-70s signature soul sound already. It's such a nice sounding soul album, with an an incredible variety in his repertoire and his voice: funky, chilled, rocking. Note that the album features the real-spelling of his last named (Greene) and comes out on Hot Line Records, a label formed by his high school friends, who also played in his band and wrote most of the songs. Their lyrics aren't always great and the production isn't quite perfect (yet), but the drums anticipate that 70s warmth and the also-warm organ is kept effectively low. The album gets re-released several times over the years following various record label acquisitions, including for the first time in 1972 when "Guilty" re-charts as a Top 30 R&B Hit. This practically a 4-star album that promises a 5-star classic in the future, and that promise is fulfilled shortly. While his first album didn't really catch on much initially, it led to his fortuitous connection with Hi Records. So the second album is immediately better, but the fact that Green Is Blue (1969) is considered his breakthrough album is a disservice to his first. There are a bunch of covers here: they are nice vehicles for his incredible voice, but I just didn't need to hear "My Girl" done none-too-differently from the original, nor additional covers of both "Summertime" or "The Letter" - though the drum-breaks in the later would get sampled a lot in hip-hop (by both The Notorious B.I.G. and Salt-N-Pepa among others). The cover of The Beatles "Get Back" is wonderfully sick though and well worth it, yet not to be confused with the song that precedes it, "Get Back Baby," which in my mind needs a comma between the last two words. The 40th Anniversary edition of the album from 2009 includes another Beatles cover: "I Want To Hold Your Hand." However, the originals on the album are standout tracks and mark the beginning of Green's career-long collaboration with producer and player Willie Mitchell; they called him "Papa Willie" because he ran Hi Records. We have him to thank for that hard-hitting bass/drum sound, heard here and on the likes of Booker T and the M.G.s. As much as Green's second album improved from the first, the third one really kicks hard right from the start. I love the way the overblown vocals distort just a bit when he's yelling, but not, of course, when he switches to that soulful crooning, offering a somewhat miraculous range of possibilities. Although it still relies on a bunch of covers to fill out the album, the smooth-yet-heavy-hitting 70s soul sound was now fully in place for Al Green Gets Next to You (1971), which contains the title track, a bluesy version of the Temptations' "I Can't Get Next To You," but not "I Wanna Get Next To You" (that song is by Rose Royce of "Car Wash" fame). I won't complain much about anyone covering The Doors, but Jose Feliciano had already covered "Light my Fire" a few years ago; we don't really need to hear routine soul covers of random hits. At this point in my discography listen I was still waiting for him really to come into his own with more original songs. The next album is a really big deal, but the one after that is my favorite. Let's Stay Together (1972) in an indisputable classic. The title track was a runaway success, and his only number-one pop single, even before it was memorably used in the Pulp Fiction soundtrack. And he and Poppa Willie wrote most of these songs themselves. The notable exception is Green's legendary and stunning cover of The Bee Gees "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart," which I want to say is better than the original, itself a #1 disco hit; it's Green's version that shows up on a bunch of contemporary movie soundtracks including Good Will Hunting. It brings me no joy to also report that in 2008 "Green's version was remade into a duet with Joss Stone for the soundtrack to the Sex and the City movie, with her vocals overdubbed onto the track"; the freakin' nerve of these people sometimes, I swear!
Although Let's Stay Together is the treasured classic, his next one is actually my personal favorite. I'm Still in Love with You is also released in 1972 and I prefer it. It doesn't have his most famous songs on it, but it is a five-star experience with some really stellar moments. It's entirely possible that I favor this album simply because it was on the jukebox in the all-night diner I worked at in New Orleans. And let me tell you, there were some Good Times had there, especially during Mardi Gras. I distinctly remember punching in "For The Good Times" one last time as I clocked-out of my last shift, blowing kisses to everyone as I dramatically backed out the front door. The song is incredible and vastly underrated in Green's repertoire, even though it was a Country hit for a bunch of other people; it is some of Kris Kristofferson's greatest songwriting, but so much more than just another cover here. The fact that it immediately follows a somewhat-needless rendition of Roy Orbison's "Oh Pretty Woman" just adds to its power. How was it not a single? Maybe because he didn't write it, but the song is an unforgettable encapsulation of Green at his very best: that is to say, perfect. I don't know that his voice has ever sounded smoother. The deep strings are so awesome. And that organ! The little riff the organ does the second time he mentions "the raindrops" is a transcendent musical moment of an absolutely perfect performance; it's penultimate trill waiting until just the right moment to embellish the soundscape. Thank you, organist Charles Hodges, who also played and wrote with the likes of Boz Skaggs and Albert Hammond- and holy shit in 2020 The Mountain Goats got him to play on their album! I'm Still in Love with You grooves from start to stop, and I've never grown tired of hearing a single moment on it. "What a Wonderful Thing Love Is" made my own wedding soundtrack because it is the track least about heartbreak.
Let's Stay Together and I'm Still in Love with You both come out in 1972, which is already a remarkable output, but then he puts out another album every year of the 70s...until the unpleasantness 1978. That said, his next album Call Me (1973) is supposed to be his masterpiece, but I read that for the first time after listening to it - and didn't really feel it upon my initial listening. It continued the greatness for sure, but I hadn't regularly heard most of these songs much before, as opposed to my old favorites. I was most struck by the multiple country numbers: a cover of Hank Williams' "I'm so Lonesome I could Die" (which, lyrically at least, is a good fit) and another of Willie Nelson's "Funny How Time Slips Away." Green and Papa Mitchell wrote most of the rest. The album was a hit, but the singles haven't endured as well as some of his other songs...Unless you're into pop-soul, of course. I'm wondering now if Al Green is to soul music what Bob Marley is to reggae: I don't know much about soul, but I know Al Green, and I know I like it.
1973's Livin' for You marks the start of a protracted but undeniable decline, as perhaps indicated by the somewhat absurd, illustrated album cover. It does contain the notable hit "Let's Get Married," and--other than a forgettable cover of "Unchained Melody"-- features all Green originals. Something has begun to slip though. It would almost be impossible to replicate the exquisite perfection of 1972 over and over again. The next albums, Al Green Explores Your Mind and Al Green is Love, just seem to repeat the formula without adding much of anything new to the mix. These aren't bad albums - they are generally good. However, they don't approach the Classic status of the earlier masterpieces....and is that so wrong? How many masterpieces is a man supposed to produce in his prime? Is one enough? Two? There are definitely some slightly awkward moments that arise. I couldn't believe how many times he ended up singing a duet with himself. I love the orchestral arrangements, but the strings really seem to be carrying some of these later songs with more than just so some spry countermelodies, especially on the Al Green is Love. That's The Memphis Strings playing with him once again. I'm not really complaining, but these albums are like that first one: not to be missed for fans of Al Green but otherwise less impressive than other key albums. You'll please forgive me if when I heard "Take Me To the River" I was almost ready to dismiss it as another apt but unnecessary cover, yet of course it was the Talking Heads (and others) who covered this Al Green original! The spoken word intro to the album version of "Take Me To the River" dedicates it to honey-voiced bluesman Junior Parker, who once notably covered the Beatles "Tomorrow never Knows." But again, the songs work well together and the albums are fine, but it is hard to justify spending too much time on this stuff in a world where Love and Happiness also exist. When people discuss the impeccable production on those classic albums it is not always easy to understand what they mean, but listening to these follow-up releases shows what it is like to just go through the same motions with the same instrumentation but somehow lack the perfect sound.
Things change noticeably for Full of Fire and Have a Good Time - and it is difficult to ascertain why. Willie Mitchell is still on board as a writer, and I'm assuming producer in some capacity, and Teenie Hodges is still around playing guitar and helping write. Hodgeses are on organ and bass. But the production values have begun to shift ever so perceptibly. There is some poly rhythmic stuff going on and they have otherwise begun to tinker with the sound. The palate gets broadened again and the sound distinctly altered for the bizarrely specifically titled The Belle Album (1972), his 12th but his first other than the debut recorded away from Mitchell and Hi Records. Most of his old band is gone too. The occasional bluesy acoustic guitar he prominently plays himself is an alright new sound and the clavinet is a great addition. However, the synth strings are so thin and whiney sounding, and I'm not a fan of that wacky sax that starts showing up either. All of these new sounds are incorporated somewhat more effectively on the next album, which finds Green in a more solid groove with that new instrumentation and production. That would be 1978's Truth n' Time, which, like the previous album, he self-produced. I'm a sucker for "To Sir With Love" but it's hardly a stand-out track here. There's not much to dig into here on his last secular album for a long while, but I liked the sound a little more than the previous slew of albums.
To bridge the coming gap, someone releases a live album of his at some point later in 1981. Apparently it is "rare and raw soul." It is taken from two June 1978 shows in Japan, right after he won the Tokyo International Music Festival's Grand Prize with his passionate performance of "Belle". The live band is alright- it's the new guys. Even if the songs don't all exactly sound right, his voice is still golden. At least the synths aren't even pretending to be real strings anymore. The horns are real, though they almost have trouble keeping up when they decide to do "Love and Happiness" crazily fast as an encore. I don't like how the album is chopped up with selections from both nights collected, rather than the presentation of a smoothly flowing show; the few songs that do lead into each other are appreciable. It's a great listen though: he's having fun with the audience, stretching out with some of these songs, and it's sweet when he sings his stage banter. There's a great moment when he's sing-shouting at the audience off-mic while the band plays lowly behind him. Overall, it's bit post-prime, but I thoroughly enjoyed the review of what turns out to be only the first third of his career, with the religious stuff in the middle period next, and then a less prolific late stage.
Still, his record sales were steadily declining at this point... And then he beat his girlfriend unconscious with a tree limb. It wasn't the first assault charge leveled against him either, including previously from his pregnant wife; this time the charges were dropped - though just because she didn't show up in court. The worst of it was in 1974: first his secretary sued him for back-pay and for shoving her through a glass door, and then he got in a fight with his girlfriend - who then killed herself. Then right after he got out of the hospital from that incident (she threw a pot of boiling grits on him) his cousin abducted him at gun point over money, again not his first tussle over disputed funds. In his defense, after all that trouble he stops making popular records completely and turns to the church. There have been sprinkled references to God, and then increasing allusions to Jesus, throughout the first half of Green's long career, but then he gets a little preachy. More than a little, he actually becomes a literal preacher and that is reflected in the tone and contents of his mid-career stretch of albums: there's about 10 gospel, Christmas, and contemporary Christian albums. I listened to each of these- once:
The Lord Will Make a Way
Higher Plane
Precious Lord
Feels like Christmas
I'll Rise Again
Trust In God
He is the Light
Soul Survivor
Sure there are some predictable though nice cover songs thrown in, and there are some traditional songs too, but he mines the same type of material over and over again on these albums, with little engaging about the overall sound or instrumentations. The Christmas album is functionally funky and occasionally soulful - the ballads work better than the intolerable version of "Jingle Bells". While the songs on these Christian albums with a choir are some good gospel tunes, otherwise the instrumentation and production are shadows of their former glory. The production gets increasingly 80s sounding, to a degree that it becomes grating by the time of his last fully religious album, Soul Survivor (1987), which gives us a minor hit in "Everything's Gonna be Alright," his first charting song in over a decade. It's OK if you miss(ed) this one and his next gospel one Love Is Reality (1992). Sure, his voice is still great, but he doesn't use it well. He raps about Jesus on a couple tracks and it is awful. This stuff would have fit right in on 1980s pop radio, but it is sad to hear it from this soul master. The instrumentation and production are disappointing: fake organ, slap bass, synth drums, and obnoxious sax solos all over the place. I'm not universally opposed to a child's choir, but here it is a particular misstep. The songs with a full gospel choir though again offer a more impressive power, and the man's enthusiasm for his faith cannot be denied. But Love is Reality got some really bad reviews, which it deserves; it might be his career nadir. It made me yearn for any half-forgotten track from any of those first few albums.
You may recall Green's return to secular music, which was inauspiciously on the soundtrack to the movie Scrooged, in 1988. Bill Murray is pretty funny in that movie, and "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" is featured memorably, though I'm not sure I ever knew it was Al Green's triumphant return to pop music until now (maybe because the song was originally and more appropriately played by Jackie DeShannon in 1969). Something about the fake snow and smiles makes the music video less than palatable. Afterwards he releases about seven albums between 1989 and 2005. Some of these are good, some are contemporary Christian, and some of them are lost, or at least not available for streaming right now. In some cases that remains a mystery: I'm not sure why I could stream all 10 pointless Christian albums but not his 26th Your Heart's In Good Hands, which was celebrated as an overdue return to form in 1995. I also wanted to hear 2003's secular I Can't Stop, which was released on Blue Note Records (his first for Blue Note and first album after after an eight year break in recording) and produced once again by Willie Mitchell; it doesn't seem fair that I had to go to YouTube for someone's CD rip of the album, but I did. The album is good and it charted: the best he'd done since 1975's Al Green is Love. Mitchell and Green tried to replicate that magic one more time for Blue Note on 2005's Everything's OK, which some say is even better than I Can't Stop. Again I had to listen to somebody's uploaded version, but ultimately I'm glad I did. Both those albums were solid and, while lacking stand-out tracks and slightly suffering from a long-past-peak vibe, are a welcome reprieve from the butchery of the 80s and 90s.
In 2008 Green gets the full revival treatment with a worthy comeback album featuring a bunch of special guest spots from the likes of John Legend and Corinne Bailey Rae. Lay It Down sounds consistently great, with a contemporary-yet-classic groovy sound thanks to production from ?uestlove. It was nominated for a Best R&B Album Grammy, but lost out to Jennifer Hudson's debut.
Then that's it. He hasn't released an album since Lay it Down, and that might be a fitting high-note to go out on. Not much occurs between 2008 and now (2022), an exception being a one-off for Amazon Music: a version of the oft-covered "Before the Next Teardrop Falls"; it actually sounds pretty great! That voice is still golden. He still shows up for awards ceremonies too. In addition to his 11 Grammys (mostly for gospel), Green was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, and he got the Kennedy Center honor in 2014, which is a BFD. Among other honors, he's also in the Gospel Music Hall of Fame and The Songwriters Hall of Fame. All of this is fitting and right, even if a comprehensive listen of his impressive output reveals its unevenness.
Al Green is apparently still an active pastor, after more than 40 years. And he's a 33rd Degree Mason.
