[Today: Al Green testifies...]
In hindsight, it makes sense that Al Green became an ordained minister and left soul music to devote himself to gospel – his soul hits of the early 70’s see him feverishly testifying to the almighty power and glory of L-O-V-E and every one of the 10 songs on his Greatest Hits touches on that topic. In Green’s songs, loneliness is an unforgivable sin, a good woman is worthy of worship, and love – not sex – provides the biggest kicks. It sounds nice and wholesome, but Green sings it all like a panty-dropping force of nature. ”I’ve never met a man with more of a basic animal appeal to women,” said author Davin Seay, who collaborated with Green on his recent autobiography.
After his debut album Back Up Train flopped in 1967, Green joined forces with Hi Records impresario Willie Mitchell, who became his producer, arranger, and biggest champion. Mitchell’s production of Green set a high-water mark for soul, with lush strings, sharp horns, and a highly polished veneer. In Green, Mitchell had unearthed a vocal stylist of the highest order – a singer who bent notes through a slalom course of emotions, and sang with angelic fervor about the satisfactions of true love.
But Green’s own love life went terribly wrong in October of 1974, when an ex-girlfriend broke into his Memphis home and splashed him with a pot of boiling grits, causing third degree burns across his back and arms, before she fled to a bedroom and killed herself with two shots from a .38 pistol. Green spent several months in the hospital recuperating from his wounds – down time that no doubt influenced the April 1975 release of this Greatest Hits LP. He would release just two more soul albums before leaving secular music to concentrate on preaching and singing gospel. Al Green was physically scarred by one of his relationships, but his music remains a towering tribute to everything that’s good about love.
Listen: Let’s Get Married
Listen: Let’s Stay Together
Tags: Al Green, Davin Seay, Greatest Hits, Hi Records, Willie Mitchell
17 October 2009 at 8:47 pm |
the expanded reissue of this gem is even more dazzling — making this particular greatest hits compilation the musical equivalent of billy dee williams’s colt 45: it works every time.