Thursday, August 07, 2008
Al Green takes long time fans back to the future with new CD
Al Green, who will be appearing at the Horseshoe Casino on July 4 with the legendary Gladys Knight, has just released his latest CD on Blue Note Records. The album, entitled Lay Down, reminds us that, though he does record the occasional gospel album, when Al Green wants to do a straight ahead soul album, there are few that can match him.
Lay Down, an 11-track collection that hit stores on May 26, 2008, shows the world that Al Green is what he is, a very intelligent artist who knows what he can do and who does it very well while avoiding those things that are not common to his style. Al Green is a singer; a smooth, soulful, heartfelt singer who can get more out of less than any singer in history.
Though Green has just passed his 62nd birthday and his 53rd year as a performer, you cannot hear it in his voice. The falsetto range and clarity are still there, and so is the emotion that lets the listener know that what Al is saying is true and from the heart. The title track, a collaboration with current R&B star Anthony Hamilton (who sounds a touch like the Gap Band’s Charlie Wilson), has very few actual lyrics other than a constant repeating of the title, but the message is clearly there.
On this album, Green works with singers John Legend, Corrine Bailey Rae and Hamilton, but this album is all about Green. For fans of Green’s classic hits, this album is an updated extension of those songs. Produced by Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, drummer for jazz/hip-hop group The Roots and Grammy winning songwriter and producer James Poyser, the album has a more current feel while never straying too far from that classic Al Green sound, the sound that lets you concentrate on what is important in a collection like this; the lyrics and the singing of Green.
It is easy to tell that Thompson and Poyser wanted to create a set that would satisfy past and present Al Green fans, which it does, while creating a vibe, with the inclusion of the horn section from the Dap-Kings, that is true to the classic Al Green sound, while still sounding as fresh and lively as it did years ago.
The most amazing thing about this album is the singing. If you were to listen to For the Good Times, Take Me to the River or Love and Happiness and then listen to any of the tracks on Lay it Down, You would never be able to tell that there is a thirty-year gap between the recordings. Unlike many other singers whose voices seem to fade with age, Al Green sounds like he will still be able to do justice to his older records years from now. Al is singing as strong and clean as he did in his thirties.
