Advertisement

Album reviews Music

Reverend Al Green

Rating: NN



buy this at amazon.ca!

Reverend Al Green’s 2003 Blue Note debut, I Can’t Stop, was such a successful comeback recording not simply because it reunited the superstar soul crooner with producer Willie Mitchell, as has been suggested. Equally important was the participation of Hi Rhythm, specifically key songwriting partner/guitarist Teenie Hodges, who serves as a creative sounding board and a moderating force between Poppa Willie and the equally strong-willed Green. The title of Everything’s OK is misleading, since Hodges isn’t involved and he’s sorely missed. The co-writing job now falls to Mitchell, always better at arranging than composing, while his guitar parts are played by the competent but unexpressive Bobby Manuel and Skip Pitts. They all come up with a reasonable facsimile of how an Al Green album should sound – but only in the most superficial ways. The schlocky cover of You Are So Beautiful shows just how far off the mark they are here.

Advertisement

Exclusive content and events straight to your inbox

Subscribe to our Newsletter

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

By signing up, I agree to receive emails from Now Toronto and to the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.