Al Green has sold some 20 million records, been named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and been given a Lifetime Achievement Award by BET, among other honors, and most of that has stemmed from his secular pop career and the smooth, soulful Hi Records sound he helped build with producer
Willie Mitchell in the 1970s. But he’s also been elected to the Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame, and if
Green's fame largely rests with pop hits like “Let’s Stay Together” and “Tired of Being Alone,” his perceived personal calling has always been gospel, and as this well-chosen and sequenced selection of some of his best non-secular sides from the 1980s shows, he’s a singer’s singer no matter what the genre -- given that
Green's themes have always been about the need for love and respect, exactly who he addresses the song to starts to feel like a mere detail. There’s a lot to love here, from his reverent version of
Curtis Mayfield's “People Get Ready” to the jaunty and soothing “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright” (which has a backing track that eerily resembles
Marvin Gaye's “Sexual Healing,” another song that has the connection between love and God as its core subject), and when one compares a track like “Higher Plane” here with
Green's peak commercial work with
Mitchell from the '70s, the similarities far outweigh the differences. ~ Steve Leggett