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Lay It Down | 
 enlarge | Artist: Al Green
Label: EMI
Category: Music
Buy New: £11.99
New (2) from £11.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 27945
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
UPC: 094634844925
EAN: 0094634844925
ASIN: B0016A2FFG
Release Date: May 26, 2008 (In 10 Days)
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Not yet released
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| Tracks:
| » | Lay It Down | | » | Just For Me | | » | You've Got The Love I Need | | » | No One Like You | | » | What More Do You Want From Me | | » | Take Your Time | | » | Too Much | | » | Stay With Me (By The Sea) | | » | All I Need | | » | I'm Wild About You | | » | Standing In The Rain |
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| Customer Reviews:
Simply Classic Soul May 4, 2008
Wow, I don't write many reviews but had to write one here as this album deserves to be a massive hit. Al has had help from the younger generation of soul artists in the form of Anthony Hamilton, Corinne Bailey Rae, John Legend and even the Dap Kings horn section. Each make lovely somewhat understated contributions, but make no mistake Al Green is the star of this is a classic set !! The set flows smoothly through each delicious slice of southern soul. Eleven tracks and they all hit the mark with Al on top form vocally. I'm not even tempted to skip any tracks, this really is music for your soul. I hope that this gets the Grammy recognition it so richly deserves !!
Lay It Down - Al Green April 28, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Soul legend Al Green is rightly feted as music deity, his soul kissed gospel tinged vocals eclipsing a seemingly impossible marriage of the sensuous and the spiritual. In an era which brought us some of the best singers and musicians ever, Marvin (Gaye), Stevie (Wonder), Curtis (Mayfield) as well as James (Brown) and Sly, Al Green stood as an equal with these musical geniuses.
I haven't bought an Al Green record in aeons, my perception rightly or wrongly being of a faded star doing the rounds. Sure he can still reach the high notes and the right notes but back to his best? Come on.
?uestlove, drummer for the band The Roots has seemingly found a new life as the producer du jour, now that his band only occasionally reaches the golden heights of earlier years. His production duties with the new era of Black music geniuses, Common, Erkyah Badu and above all D'Angelo heralds a solid and often spectacular body of work. If there is a common denominator it is a trademark, analogue dull thump of a drum. I cannot think of a better way of describing the sound but it is prevalent in work by all the aforementioned musicians. And this is no bad thing as this deliberate, warm, low key analogue sound perfectly frames the music - where lyrics, song structure and good musicianship rise above the new 'music culture' of instant (free) downloads, celebrity over being an artist and branding over a long-term career. And all this perfectly illustrates the new album by Al Green.
Album opener and title track "Lay It Down" sets a gritty, low to the floor - dare I say it - 'rootsical' sound (pun intended). Second track "Just For Me" takes this a tad further with bright, sparky horns and those delicious high notes of Mr Al Green. The album slowly unfolds over eleven (relatively) short tracks following a theme of fuzzy keyboards (by ace player James Poyser), gently plucked guitar, touching bass and background vocal harmonies. This is an old fashioned soul album, in the mould of all the greats, and it is no worse for that. The common thread of sweet, Seventies soul which runs through the album could be mistaken for sameness but repeated plays bring unexpected delights - a deep, aquarius organ riff in "Stay With Me" or some beautiful strings orchestrated by Larry Gold in "All I Need". Simply this album is stunning and the best straight forward, back to the bone soul album, well, since Amy (Back to Black's The Dap Kings also feature here). Brilliant.
Sanjiv Ahluwalia
Still Fabulous April 28, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Only artists as great as Al Green can make a deliberate move back to their "sound" after 30 years and make it fresh and a joy to listen to.
This album is a delight and recaptures the mood of his great days and even without the guest appearances by todays sweet soul stars Corrine Bailey Rae, John Legend and Andrew Hamilton this is a memorable album that will bring great pleasure to those who fell in love with - and to - Al Greens distinctive songs of love in days gone by.
The guest slots are excellent and if they bring new fans to the music of one of the great stars of Soul music then more of the younger generation will appreciate how far much of todays "soul" and "r'n'b" has strayed from its roots and rarely for the better.
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