Track Listing
1. I Can't Stop
2. Play to Win
3. Rainin' in My Heart
4. I've Been Waitin' on You
5. You
6. Not Tonight
7. Million to One
8. My Problem Is You
9. I'd Still Choose You
10. I've Been Thinkin' About You
11. I'd Write a Letter
12. Too Many
| Details | | Producer: | Willie Mitchell | | Distributor: | EMI Music Distribution | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
Album Notes
Personnel: Al Green (vocals); Mabon "Teenie" Hodges, Charles "Skip" Pitts (guitar); Lester Snell (piano); Robert Clayborne (organ); Leroy Hodges (bass); Steve Potts (drums, congas, percussion); Donna Rhodes, Charlie Chalmers, Sandra Rhodes (background vocals).
The Royal Horns: Andrew Love, Lannie McMillan (tenor saxophone); Jim Spake (baritone saxophone); Scott Thompson (trumpet); Jack Hale (trombone).
The New Memphis Strings: Joan Gilbert, Daniel Gilbert, Gregory Morris, Liza Zurlinden (violin); Anthony Gilbert, Beth Luscombe (viola); Peter Spurbeck, Jonathan Kirkscey (cello).
The big news on Al Green's first proper album of the 21st century is that he finally reunited with producer/arranger Willie Mitchell, the man behind Green's classic '70s albums. Accordingly, Mitchell brought in some of the key musicians from those albums, such as "Teenie" and Leroy Hodges (guitar and bass, respectively), Memphis Horns saxman Andrew Love, and the distinctive vocal trio Rhodes, Chalmers, and Rhodes. Together with Green, they conspire to create a welcome return to the glory days of Memphis soul, full of fire and elegant arrangements in equal measure. As the horns blast out and Green wails, moans, and croons like a man half of his 57 years, the recording missteps of the previous decade seem to vanish into thin air. It seems that Green intends the title of this undeniable comeback album to be quite literal, and we should all be grateful for that.
Editorial Reviews
Included in Rolling Stone's 50 Best Albums of 2003
Rolling Stone (12/25/2003)
4 stars out of 5 - [I]t's great. Green's voice still does insanely beautiful things, and he knows it, and so does them often.
Uncut (01/01/2004)
4 stars out of 5 - [I]t's a terrific return with two sublime ballads that raise the goosebumps like it's 1972.
Mojo (12/01/2003)
4 stars out of 5 - I CAN'T STOP is almost classic Green: lush, watertight and sexily understated, with that goosepimply falsetto.
Q (01/01/2004)
...[Features] a rhythm section that could make Lazarus get up and grind....the interplay is faultless: Horns bob and weave with the reverend's feathery falsetto. Green doesn't just straddle the sacred/secular divide, he joyfully demolishes it. - Rating: A-
Entertainment Weekly (11/21/2003)
3.5 stars out of 5 - ...A true landmark: the first secular collaboration between [Green and producer Willie Mitchell] in 27 years....A deep groove, jazzy keyboards, smooth backing vocals, syrupy strings and hard-driving horns frame Green's lustrous voice...
Rolling Stone (11/27/2003)
Ranked #71 in Mojo's 100 Modern Classics -- [I]t's green's expressive phrasing that really makes this so special.
Mojo
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