Watched that one, too. Why was Al's right arm in a sling?
This was before the grits thing. During the interview Don asked him about this injury, and Al replied something along the lines of "After a show, me and some of my fans had a disageement on whether or not I should have gotten into my car." (IIRC, I think his hand got smashed by a car door after a gig).
― C. Grisso/McCain, Wednesday, 23 July 2008 20:21 (fifteen years ago) link
GEORGIA BOY FOR ALL TIME, OM FUCKING G
― strgn, Wednesday, July 23, 2008 5:19 AM (2 years ago) Bookmark
― Euler, Sunday, 29 August 2010 21:32 (thirteen years ago) link
"Beware"
― Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 29 August 2010 21:33 (thirteen years ago) link
He is good drinking music.
― , Monday, 5 March 2001 01:00 (11 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
oh guys Belle so incredible wrassling with yr better instincts and yr proper instincts
― thread lock holiday (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 16 October 2012 12:02 (eleven years ago) link
Almost scuppered by Mr Mouthy:
http://devonrecordclub.com/2013/11/23/al-green-im-still-in-love-with-you-round-58-toms-selection/
What's the next Al Green album to get?
― yugi ex, Saturday, 23 November 2013 21:35 (ten years ago) link
there are weak spots, but i'll love the belle album forever.
― Daniel, Esq 2, Saturday, 23 November 2013 21:39 (ten years ago) link
no weak spots, just slightly-less-excellent spots. yeah Belle for sure.
― uk cheese board (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 23 November 2013 21:41 (ten years ago) link
i mean just get everything ffs
Back in the mid '90s when I lived in North Carolina I went on a road trip to see the New York Giants play against Tennessee. It was in 1997 the first year after they moved from Houston so they were playing in Memphis and still known as the Oilers.
In an era that saw the internet not quite as expansive as it is now, I planned my trip using SPIN Underground U.S.A.: The Best of Rock Culture Coast to Coast. The book grabbed an indie-rock dignitary from a couple dozen cities/scenes and had them list the places to go when in those cities.
I forget who did Memphis but I followed his instructions: The Sunday of the game I went to Miss. Ellen's soul food. The place was in the middle of possible the worst neighborhood, me and one friend from my group were the only white folk in the place; everyone was so nice to us and they were amazed that the place was in a book. To this day the best fried chicken I have ever had.
But before the soul food and after the game, I went to the church that the guy in the book suggested: The place that the Reverend Al Green preached. We were ushered in, a motley trio (me, Giants fan and metalhead; a friend from Scrabble club who didn't know much about football but went along for the experience; a black dude from Harlem from my Giants fan club in Raleigh), but it was cool since there were a bunch of tourists among the locals who understood the deal with us interlopers.
After some supporting acts, suddenly Al Green made his way to the mic.
"Some people come here to hear me preach," he said. "Some people came to hear me sing. Today... I'm gonna sing."
And sing he did. And it was amazing, seeing this master of Motown give it his all for a 3/4 empty church. We weren't there for a spiritual lift but hearing him sing up close and personal, we got it anyway.
So, yeah. Total classic.
― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Saturday, 23 November 2013 22:05 (ten years ago) link
I love that gritty r'n'b thing he does to perfection on I Can't Get Next To You but I think that is the only place, the lp that is, where he uses that exact style. Great voice and he is interesting elsewhere but that sound is one of my favourite styles.
Lydia Lunch once described the sound of 8 Eyed Spy as a cross between Al Green and somebody, possibly CCR. I always wondered what part of Al Green it was and assume it must be that particular thing I love.
― Stevolende, Saturday, 23 November 2013 22:50 (ten years ago) link
master of Motown
???
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Sunday, 24 November 2013 21:12 (ten years ago) link
Not directly, but there was a connection.
― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Monday, 25 November 2013 01:44 (ten years ago) link
http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=3089852
― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Monday, 25 November 2013 01:46 (ten years ago) link
http://s.pixogs.com/image/R-3089852-1315236256.jpeg
― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Monday, 25 November 2013 01:47 (ten years ago) link
http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc462/aztreasures/7-10-13%20lpbox18/100_9018.jpg
when worlds collide
― tɹi.ʃɪp (Treeship), Monday, 25 November 2013 02:25 (ten years ago) link
My copy of "The Belle Album" is on Motown
― Thomas K Amphong (Tom D.), Monday, 25 November 2013 13:36 (ten years ago) link
I wouldn't call him a Motown master unless I wanted to confuse people
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Monday, 25 November 2013 21:58 (ten years ago) link
al green is just about the most consistent artist ever. not every album is great, but every album is better than good-- even the ones critics like to say are "bad" just to set up some "comeback."
of course his run of LPs in the 1970s is the equal or better of any run of LPs by anyone, ever. stunning. and don't sleep on his gospel records. if i am put on the spot and asked for a favorite singer or musician, this is who i name.
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Tuesday, 26 November 2013 19:10 (ten years ago) link
also there are people (like my mom, if I don't correct her) who hear any soul music and assume it's motown.
if you can distinguish motown from stax/volt you are already in a small minority. alas.
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Tuesday, 26 November 2013 19:11 (ten years ago) link
if you can distinguish hi records from stax/volt, you are one in a million.
Fat Possum now distributes Hi Records for the world. We begin with the European re-release of Al Green's Greatest Hits, Let's Stay Together & I'm Still In Love With You. Those titles are In Stores Now!
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 27 November 2013 21:53 (ten years ago) link
the great Teenie Hodges
RIP Teenie Hodges
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2014/jun/23/songwriter-guitarist-and-anchor-hi-rhythm-mabon-te/
During Hi Records' glory years starting in the late '60s, Mr. Hodges wrote or co-wrote many classics of the R&B genre, including a succession of hits with and for Al Green: "Here I Am," "Full of Fire," "Take Me to the River" and "Love and Happiness"
Mr. Hodges was also the cornerstone of the famed Hi Rhythm band
― curmudgeon, Monday, 23 June 2014 14:17 (nine years ago) link
damn, RIP
― some dude, Monday, 23 June 2014 14:18 (nine years ago) link
RIP Teenie
― Tommy McTommy (Tom D.), Tuesday, 24 June 2014 11:26 (nine years ago) link
More recently, Mr. Hodges recorded in support of his nephew, the hip-hop star Drake.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/2014/06/25/4a5d0192-fbd4-11e3-b1f4-8e77c632c07b_story.html
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 26 June 2014 21:02 (nine years ago) link
Sam Moore and Mavis Staples sing "Take Me to the River" for Al Green at the Kennedy Center Honors
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc3BqMl1NII
― curmudgeon, Friday, 2 January 2015 17:39 (nine years ago) link
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/al-green-the-soul-legend-and-kennedy-center-honoree-is-still-tired-of-being-alone/2014/12/05/457f2c3e-75b6-11e4-a755-e32227229e7b_story.html
During our 45-minute window, Green is energetic, quick to laugh, even quicker to break into song. But his left foot won’t stop tapping anxious 16th notes into the carpet.
One-on-one conversation seems difficult for him. He answers most questions with forthright brevity, then darts off on scattered digressions.
Ask about his relationship with his church, he laments the rise of the drug trade in Memphis. Ask whether stardom made him a better preacher, he volunteers the fact that his first love was a prostitute who introduced him to a dangerous social circle. Ask about his mentor, producer Willie Mitchell, Green reminisces about an unrelated bar fight that required him to neutralize an opponent carrying a switchblade. “Always hold the hand with the knife!” he shouts, offering hard-knock-life tips with a belly laugh.
Perhaps these broken strands of communication are Green’s way of explaining that he has seen life on the other side and that instead of examining his current struggles, he’d rather purge up memories of traumas conquered long ago.
― curmudgeon, Friday, 2 January 2015 17:42 (nine years ago) link
please tell me some al green songs that are long and jammy like this onehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pupeAPWStR4
― vigetable (La Lechera), Friday, 9 January 2015 23:33 (nine years ago) link
i have his whole discog and can find greatness up through at least the belle album, but yeah, i'm still in love with you is the best soul album i've ever heard
― soyrev, Friday, 9 January 2015 23:37 (nine years ago) link
there is greatness long after the belle album imo
― I dunno. (amateurist), Friday, 9 January 2015 23:46 (nine years ago) link
Yo did anyone see this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCHP7hYZZTk
― The Reverend, Saturday, 10 January 2015 03:54 (nine years ago) link
Lechera! "Beware" is often my favorite Green song. It's dangerous!
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 10 January 2015 03:56 (nine years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT99vMay_pU
― languagelessness (mattresslessness), Saturday, 10 January 2015 04:15 (nine years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q-hONahmU0
I have this on the Love Ritual odds n end comp!
A few other long ones:
"I Didn't Know" 7:49 (1975)"Dream" 7:28 (1977)"Georgia Boy" 7:00 (1977)"For The Good Times" 6:27 (1972)
― Fastnbulbous, Saturday, 10 January 2015 04:24 (nine years ago) link
anyone with the slightest interest in al green needs the see the movie "gospel according to al green"
green has an incredible amount of charisma, but he's an eccentric through and through. his speech patterns are hypnotizing.
it doesn't surprise me in the least that he lives alone in the woods.
― I dunno. (amateurist), Saturday, 10 January 2015 06:00 (nine years ago) link
agggggh georgia boy is killing me
i love beware so much i usually listen to it 3x in a row because i never want it to end. i need to make an al green mix for my car so thank you all for your input.
― vigetable (La Lechera), Saturday, 10 January 2015 17:25 (nine years ago) link
love sermon is my new favorite al green longjam
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmGJFU9_h7w&list=RDkmGJFU9_h7w#t=398
― groundless round (La Lechera), Tuesday, 27 January 2015 19:24 (nine years ago) link
Went to Reverend Al's church yesterday and heard him sing, preach, read scripture, tell jokes, and offer condolences. So classic.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 28 August 2017 15:21 (six years ago) link
Gets next to you is fantastic. Seems to hit a version of r'n'b that should be archetypal.Next couple change focus a bit and I wish there was more like this.
― Stevolende, Monday, 28 August 2017 15:53 (six years ago) link
The new biography that's out, Soul Survivor, is quite good. McDonough definitely has his quirks but he conveys honest appreciation and love of the work versus some of Al's sketchier sides. But it's also a great overview of Hi Records in general, the first I've ever seen myself.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 28 August 2017 15:59 (six years ago) link
So Memphis has banners hanging with Al Green song titles on Main Street--"Love and Happiness" and "Let's Stay Together"
http://esotolson.com/my-work/downtown-mempht-pole-banners/
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 29 August 2017 17:28 (six years ago) link
have been listening to Al Green is Love today. Love Ritual = reet choon!
― calzino, Tuesday, 29 August 2017 17:31 (six years ago) link
I've been diving deep into Green's discography lately. I'm convinced his 70s' output was one of the most consistent runs ever, comparable to the Beatles and Dylan in the 60s, Sinatra in the 50s, Louis Armstrong in the 20s and early 30s, etc.
― Jazzbo, Wednesday, 24 January 2018 16:19 (six years ago) link
Here’s Xgau’s ratings for Green’s ’70s albums — 13 non-comp records and only a couple of "stinkers."
Al Green Gets Next to You [Hi, 1970] ALet's Stay Together [Hi, 1972] A-Al Green [Bell, 1972] B-I'm Still in Love With You [Hi, 1972] A-Call Me [Hi, 1973] A+Livin' for You [Hi, 1973] AAl Green Explores Your Mind [Hi, 1974] B+Al Green's Greatest Hits [Hi, 1975] AAl Green Is Love [Hi/The Right Stuff, 1975] AFull of Fire [Hi, 1976] A-Have a Good Time [Hi, 1976] B+Al Green's Greatest Hits Volume II [Hi, 1977] A-The Belle Album [Hi, 1977] ALove Ritual [Hi, 1978] B-Truth n' Time [Hi, 1979] B+
― Jazzbo, Wednesday, 24 January 2018 16:25 (six years ago) link
Yeah even his lesser albums from the late 70s have some fantastic songs on them. And although the narrative is that he went gospel and fell off, that isn't really the case. They're less consistently fantastic than his peak 70s stuff, but a lot of those 80s albums are excellent in their own right.
― Evan R, Wednesday, 24 January 2018 16:32 (six years ago) link
Agree with xgau on Full of Fire and The Belle Album
― Heez, Wednesday, 24 January 2018 17:23 (six years ago) link
Yep. This guy made albums – like, with album tracks as good or superior to singles.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 24 January 2018 17:47 (six years ago) link
Lot of well-deserved love upthread for The Belle Album. That's the one I listen to the most at this point.
― that's not my post, Wednesday, 24 January 2018 18:46 (six years ago) link