Al Green - Lay It Down

[trane_fanatic]

First secular album wi/o the late Willie Mitchell. Thoughts? Opinions?

http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&s...jxfixzujld0e~T1

[Stefan Wood]

Picked it up last week, and listened to is a couple of times. Overall I think this is the best of the Blue Note releases -- there are some stunning tracks that fit well with his classic 70's material. There are a couple of tracks, however, that suffer from too much over polished sound and annoying neo soul vocals (not Al's) and some bad lyrics. They don't detract from a very fine album.

[captainwrong]

Personally, I feel the material is weakest of the Blue Notes and the guest spots are totally unnecessary. I've listened to this a couple of times, but I can't find much reason to go back to it. Not bad, mind you, but just nothing special.

[Alexander]

I think it's excellent. ?uestlove actually does Willie Mitchell better than Willie Mitchell did on the last two Green releases!

[Harold_Z]

Personally, I feel the material is weakest of the Blue Notes and the guest spots are totally unnecessary. I've listened to this a couple of times, but I can't find much reason to go back to it. Not bad, mind you, but just nothing special.

Haven't heard this, but that is pretty much how I feel about all the recordings by "Soul Survivors" that have come out over the past few years. They don't do it for me. One of the reasons is stilted rhythm sections for which I don't blame the singers or players - I blame the producers.

[John L]

Of the Blue Note Al Green releases, I didn't like the first one. It really took Al Green out of his element (IMO).

I have listened to the new one once so far. I like the title track quite a bit. The rest strikes me as very uneven. Nevertheless, this is a worthwhile release. Al Green still has it, and is able to get it done on the best tracks on this CD.

For my money, the very best modern day Al Green performance is his duet with Ann Nesby: "Put it On Paper." Now that is a modern day soul masterpiece for the ages.

[Kari S]

I don't know, I think it sounds great. I'm glad to see a revival of sorts in R&B and soul music, going old school and to the "real" soul. Artists like Sharon Jones, Duffy etc. And I find myself enjoying the tasty title track ("Lay It Down") again and again ...

[Jim Alfredson]

Just picked this up via Amazon mp3 (better bitrates than iTunes). I like it; it's very retro, but I dig the production. ?uestlove's drums sound bad-ass. Al Green sounds better than I've heard him in a long time.

Nice!

[trane_fanatic]

The Rev. rocked the BET Awards the other night w/ a great set.

[Big Al]

Willie Mitchell died???

[Shawn]

I saw this one hit the Billboard album charts at #9, looks like good news for Al and Blue Note. Haven't heard it yet but definitely interested.

[HolyStitt]

Just started spinning this for the first time. So far it has seemed pretty solid but I wouldn't call it better or worse than the other two Blue Note CDs. I am on track nine ("All I Need") and I finally found a song I would rank somewhere near the peak era from the 1970s.

Though nothing as moving as Jesus Is Waiting...

[BruceH]

An Al Green Covers Brian Eno record might be interesting too.

Now THERE'S a thought...

Al Green singing "Burning Airlines Give You So Much More"---the time may have come.

[captainwrong]

As I'm old enough to have followed Al from the beginning, I have to say, while this doesn't sound like crap... it is just that, high gloss crap. While the albums actually by the Roots are inconsistent themselves, at least there's some obvious reason(s) for being; with a couple dozen OTHER Al Green albums, there's no reason for this one to exist. Sad to say too, it was a good idea for Blue Note to try but let's face simple facts: Al is bankrupt as a songwriter and isn't picking great songs either. Granted, he's been busy with The Word but someone should have been scouring the Malaco catalog for the last 30+ years. On a scale of 1-10, compared to other Al Green records, this rates a 4; whether that's enough to bother with is up to the listener but the truth is, none of the Blue Notes add anything to the legacy; it's too bad, because he still has more than enough chops. Beg, borrow or steal O.V. Wright + Willie Mitchell and just how bankrupt the 21st century Al is becomes all too apparent. Don't give this 64 year old the ageist bunk either: while singers have it rough, Merle, Willie and the best George Jones shit all over this. Why? Because they got the songs. In fact, an Al Green country album wouldn't be remiss right about now; too bad it will never exist-- this is mere bin clogging... even more than the recent Roots records, which all have some peak moments, even if lyrics aren't their strong point either.

Dumpy Mama is a big Sharon Jones fan, especially of her band.

An Al Green Covers Brian Eno record might be interesting too.

I'm glad people like this album, but I'm also glad I'm not alone in my assessment of it, which is pretty much same as yours.

[jasonguthartz]

I am on track nine ("All I Need") and I finally found a song I would rank somewhere near the peak era from the 1970s.

"All I Need" is the track I like least on this album (runner up being the Bailey Rae duet, and the ending of "No One Like You" was a mistake).

But otherwise, after two dozen listens, I think the album is a flat-out masterpiece, a huge leap beyond his previous Blue Note efforts.

Lay It Down has great tunes (while the lyrics can be simplistic, they almost need to be in order to maintain that wonderful ambivalence between secular and sacred love/desire/need), exceptional musicians (esp. the bass & drums -- that style of slinky bass playing is deceptively difficult to pull off, but Adam Blackstone nails it), and the wonder that is the voice of Al Green, no worse for aging than a fine wine. The production style might be a little too clean and polished for some tastes, but it's not much more "polished" than any of Green's classic recordings - and in some ways the sonic clarity is an improvement. If you're looking for new ground to be broken, look elsewhere. If you love Al, you need this record.

This review by Claudrena Harold seems on-target:

Well, it’s highly unlikely that diehard fans (those folk who ride extremely hard for at least eight Green albums, and by ride I mean can’t live without em’) will alter their top five Al Green albums list. But it’s also unlikely that future Al Green Greatest Hits compilations—and the capitalist gods will surely inundate us with more—will exclude songs from Lay It Down.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Al Green's OK, but I was never really into him in his heyday. He never stacked up against O V Wright, for me - or Tyrome Davis at his best, for that matter. And frankly, in the seventies, there was so much more interesting stuff about than Al - Clinton, Kool, JB and JBs, Fatbacks, Rick James, even Barry White was interesting in a different way. And I could afford hardly any of it

"Green is blue" is a great album, though.

MG

[John L]

What the fuck does anyone need this near-insipid retread for, although I'll grant again, it sounds OK. That's not enough, it's mere product. Does Al need the money? Maybe so.

No retread here. This sounds different than anything that Al Green has done before. That is why I think that it is a worthwhile addition to his discography, even if it is highly uneven and does not come close to reaching the heights of his previous masterpieces. The title track alone would have made the whole endeavor worthwhile. It is not just "product." Some of it is quite good music that can stand by itself without any obligatory comparisons to O.V. Wright, Al Green of the 1970s, or anybody else.

You seem to imply that it would be better for Al Green to record nothing than to make albums like this. I strongly disagree.

Edited June 29, 2008 by John L

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Yeah, I dug out a few Malaco albums and loked for the great songs. And I found some that Al could have done with profit maybe. And they weren't all written by George Jackson

Strugglin' lady - Little Milton (George Jackson)

Walkin' on thin ice - Little Milton (Tommy Tate)

I'm jealous of her husband - Little Milton (Little Milton)

His old lady and my old lady - Little Milton (Larry Addison)

This is your night - Johnnie Taylor (George Jackson)

Still called the blues - Johnnie Taylor (George Jackson)

Sweet surrender - Bobby Bland (George Jackson)

Get your money where you spend your time - Bobby Bland (Tommy Tate)

Angel - Bobby Bland (Larry Addison)

Sunday morning love - Bobby Bland (Sam Mosely)

MG

[Jim Alfredson]

Perhaps the reason this album exists is because those involved in making it had fun. And that's a completely worthy justification. Growth? Sometimes it's nice to work within a theme and stay there for awhile. Or return to it.

I probably have 40 Jimmy Smith albums. Why? Because I love Jimmy Smith. After you've heard 5, is there really any reason to have the other 35? Is he breaking ground with each release? No. But they are fun to listen to.

So there.

[Shawn]

Perhaps the reason this album exists is because those involved in making it had fun. And that's a completely worthy justification. Growth? Sometimes it's nice to work within a theme and stay there for awhile. Or return to it.

I probably have 40 Jimmy Smith albums. Why? Because I love Jimmy Smith. After you've heard 5, is there really any reason to have the other 35? Is he breaking ground with each release? No. But they are fun to listen to.

So there.

Same reason I own more Turrentine records than anyone would ever need.

[Shawn]

This is a simple ethnographic fact and when Shawn stops whining long enough to tell us about Gerald Levert (don't worry, Organauts, I'm not waiting) he might even realize it himself.

Fuck you.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I actually meant Gerald Alston, mea culpa, but the taking Gerald Levert into consideration makes it even more interesting, even if neither are Southern, which is actually my strong preference.

A last word, for now, about "fun": if that's all there was, fine, enjoy yourselves but when there's that and so much more in the world, from so many weird, disparate sources, why fucking settle? Al already made his bones and has another job to boot. Granted, Gerald Levert gets way more panties and thongs thrown his way-- mine included at the York County Coliseum a couple years back-- but both Gs have way more street cred in the black community today than Al Green and neither is sold at Starbucks. That's a simple fact I don't see many people here even acknowledging, if we want to talk about truth and soul.

Yeah!

MG

[John L]

Al Green has no "street cred" in the black community? That is a new one to me. And O.V. Wright does?

James Brown and Bobby Bland are also potential Starbucks material. They also drew majority-white crowds in more recent years. Yet I never thought that their credibility in the black community was in question. Is the case of Al Green any different? Why?

Edited June 30, 2008 by John L

[John L]

This is indeed a very interesting discussion, and I would like to continue it.

Certainly, it is possible to name quite a number of fine singers whose popularity never crossed over into white America. But some of them did. So how is that related to "street cred?" OK, crossing over in the 1950s and early 1960s usually meant artistic compromises that could alienate you from core chitlin' circuit audiences. But that has not really been the case since the mid-1960s. People like JB, Aretha, Marvin, and Al Green crossed over on their own terms without artistic compromise. (Actually, the case of Marvin Gaye is interesting. When he entered his most creative phase, he actually alientated his white audiences at first. I saw Marvin Gaye live at the Oakland Colosseum when Let's Get it On had just been released and hadn't received action on the pop charts yet. I was virtually the only white person in the whole Colosseum. I saw him again in the same venue one year later, and it must have been about 1/4 white.)

Back in the early 70s, Al was the man, along with Marvin, JB, Phillipe Wynne, Curtis Mayfield, Ann Peebles, Gerald Levert's old man, and a few others. Now you are saying that he has lost his "street cred" in the black community. I was serious when I wrote "that is a new one to me." Maybe you are right, but I would be interested to know what evidence you base that conclusion on.

As far as comparing Al Green with Gerald Alston and Gerald Levert, the generation factor is working against Al. For today's under-45 crowd, Al had already gone to Jesus before they became pop music fans and started hearing the Geralds on quiet storm FM. Yet, is the generation that came up on Al Green really rejecting him in favor or Alston and Levert? That would be surprising to me.

Edited June 30, 2008 by John L

[Big Al]

I don't know about y'all, but I couldn't get past the third track. Green's voice has always been an acquired taste for me anyway, and without the beat, well..... this album takes FOREVER to get going, IMO, and by then I've lost interest.