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Let's Stay Together (Al Green album)

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Untitled
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Blender[2]
Robert ChristgauA-[3]
Pitchfork Media(8.7/10)[4]
Rolling Stone(favorable)[5] & [6]
"Let's Stay Together"
Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" from Let's Stay Together
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Let's Stay Together is a 1972 album by soul singer Al Green, and is the follow-up to his moderate success Al Green Gets Next to You. It was recorded at Royal Recording Studio, 1320 S. Lauderdale, in Memphis and was a success, peaking at number eight on the pop albums chart and became the first of six albums to peak at number-one on the soul album chart (where it claimed the position for ten weeks). It is most well known for the title track, which became Green's signature song and only number-one pop hit single. The album was the third Willie Mitchell produced Al Green album and marked the beginning of Green's classic period of critically acclaimed albums. Let's Stay Together was reissued in 2003 by The Right Stuff.

Critical reaction

The album's appeal was widespread among critics. At the time, Rolling Stone noted "Green's voice is something to marvel at. He can croon, shout, scat, rise to the smoothest falsetto, and throw in the funkiest growls...Let's Stay Together is, like its predecessor, an indispensable treat."[7] In 1999, Q magazine wrote that the album "shows him as the authentic voice of love's pain and purity on such wonders as 'How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?'"[8] and that "[H]is cover of the Bee Gees' [song] took the soul ballad to new levels of artistry and refinement."[9]

List rankings

  • Included in Q Magazine's "Best Soul Albums of All Time" (Q, 10/99, p. 150)
  • Ranked #335 in the Virgin All-Time top 1000 album list, from the 1998 book by Colin Larkin[10]
  • Ranked #608 in the Guinness top 1000 album poll (1994) and #25 in the Top 50 Soul Albums list[11]

Track listing

All songs written by Al Green, except where noted

Side One

  1. "Let's Stay Together" (Green, Al Jackson, Jr., Willie Mitchell) – 3:18
  2. "La-La for You" (Green, Willie Mitchell) – 3:31
  3. "So You're Leaving" – 2:57
  4. "What Is This Feeling?" – 3:42
  5. "Old Time Lovin'" – 3:19

Side Two

  1. "I've Never Found a Girl (Who Loves Me Like You Do)" (Eddie Floyd, Alvertis Isbell, Booker T. Jones) – 3:41
  2. "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?" (Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb) – 6:22
  3. "Judy" – 3:47
  4. "It Ain't No Fun to Me" – 3:23

Reissue Tracks

Bonus tracks featured on 2003 reissue

  • "Eli's Game" - 4:55
  • "Listen To me" (Traditional) - 2:30

Personnel

Rhythm section

Horn section

Vocals

Additional personnel

See also

References

  1. ^ Let's Stay Together at AllMusic
  2. ^ Blender
  3. ^ Robert Christgau
  4. ^ Pitchfork Media
  5. ^ Rolling Stone 1972
  6. ^ Rolling Stone 2003
  7. ^ Rolling Stone (3/30/72, p.50)
  8. ^ Q (10/99, p.150)
  9. ^ Q (p.121)
  10. ^ "Top 1000 album list".
  11. ^ "Guinness Top 50 Soul Albums".

Bibliography

  • Let's Stay Together album liner notes by Colin Escott. Cream / Hi Records, Inc.
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