The Essential Al Green (Collectables)

Performer: Al Green (Vocals)
Distributor: Gotham Distributing Corp.

Notes: The Essential Al Green offers only a partial version of Green's 1967 album, Back Up Train. The disc includes ten of the 11 songs on the original album (other reissues of the same material have had 13 songs). The music itself is very good, not up to his Hi standards, but smooth and silky soul with some strong cuts like "Back Up Train," "Stop and Check Myself," and "I'll Be Good to You." You can certainly see what Willie Mitchell saw in him and you can see what Mitchell did for him, too. The packaging is minimal for this abridged version: suffice to say there are much better ways of getting Back Up Train. ~ Tim Sendra

Uncut (5/03, p.115) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...[The] set's 35 tracks sound self-enclosed, yet their subtle force remains evident..."

Al Green's passionately regal voice, flying over the supple grooves of the Willie Mitchell-led Hi Records house band, was the very definition of both Memphis soul and early-1970s R&B. Green was a virtual hit machine for the first half of that decade, but after a personal revelation he turned to gospel music, bought his own church, and became a practicing minister. Nevertheless, the spiritual recordings he subsequently released find him no less riveting a presence.

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Shipping or Dimension weight in pounds: 0.3

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