Tracks 1 and 14 from Al Green Gets Next To You (1971)

Tracks 7 and 15 from Let's Stay Together (1972)

Track 21 from Full Of Fire (1976)

Track 6 from Have A Good Time (1976)

When I started to really get into classic soul music as a teenager, I started buying Marvin Gaye albums and also loved my dad's best-of compilations of Stevie Wonder, Barry White, and especially Al Green. The double platinum Al Green's Greatest Hits is his best-selling release, my dad had the 1995 CD reissue that added and swapped out several tracks from the original 1975 sequence, and that's really a musical bible for me, although I eventually started exploring Green's proper albums. I don't think he's the reason I started going by Al instead of Alex, in person and in bylines, but he might have been an influence. 

In 1976, Green was ordained as a Baptist minister and established a church in Memphis, and in 1980 he began exclusively recording gospel for many years. I focused on his years as a secular soul star in the '60s and '70s, his remarkable run with Hi Records (his debut Back Up Train was released with a different label, although it doesn't sound that different from the signature sound he'd develop at Hi with Willie Mitchell). There are some pretty dark stories and allegations about Green in the '70s, which were always pretty disappointing and disillusioning to learn about, because his music radiates so much joy and warmth and he's written some of the greatest love songs. Hopefully he found his way after that. 

Livin' For You's 8-minute closer "Beware" is the only time he really stretched out a song like that in the studio, it's fun to hear the Hi Rhythm Section really cut loose. I'd never seen or heard about Green playing any instruments, so I was surprised to realize just recently that he started playing guitar on his records from The Belle Album onwards, so you can hear his guitar on "Feels Like Summer" and "Truth n' Time." Green hasn't released an album since 2008, but he's released occasional tracks and this year's To Love Somebody EP, which had covers of the Bee Gees, R.E.M., the Velvet Underground, and a duet of Lou Reed's "Perfect Day" with Raye. Raye also featured Green on her great recent album This Music May Contain Hope, and I just love the way she sounds awed and humbled to be on a song with him. 

Of course, Al Green is one of the most sampled artists in the soul canon, just tons of great hip-hop made from his records. "I'm Glad You're Mine" has a legendary drum break sampled on lots of tracks, including "I Got A Story To Tell," which is on my Notorious B.I.G. deep album cuts playlist. "I Wish You Were Here" was sampled on "Eye For A Eye (Your Beef Is Mines)," which is on my Mobb Deep playlist. "Tomorrow's Dream" was sampled on "I Remember," which is on my Coolio playlist. "What A Wonderful Thing Love Is" was sampled on Kendrick Lamar's "6:16 in LA." "Simply Beautiful" was sampled on Talib Kweli's "Good To You" and Maxwell's cover was a hit a couple years ago. And "Your Love is Like the Morning Sun" was sampled on KRS-One's "The French Connection."