Al Green: Explores Your Mind [FAT POSSUM]

Why you'll love it

Fat Possum's reissue of the Hi Records album comes with a download card. It was Al Green's fifth straight No. 1 on the soul albums chart, and "Sha-La-La (Make Me Happy)" reached No. 7 on the Hot 100.

This edition

• Download card included

About the album

Most songwriters would be delighted to have a song covered by Talking Heads. Al Green just carried on: "Take Me to the River," written with guitarist Teenie Hodges, sits second on side A here, four years before Talking Heads got hold of it, and it's every bit as sultry as you'd hope.

Producer Willie Mitchell and the Hi Records house band are in peak form. The Hodges brothers, Teenie on guitar, Leroy on bass and Charles on Hammond, lock in with Howard Grimes' drums, while Andrew Love and Ed Logan add warm tenor saxophone. "Sha-La-La (Make Me Happy)" is pure sunshine, "God Blessed Our Love" and "I'm Hooked on You" melt, "The City" broods, and "School Days" closes with a smile. Green and Mitchell produced it together, and backing singers Charles Chalmers and Donna and Sandra Rhodes add a gospel glow.

Rolling Stone later named "Take Me to the River" one of the 500 greatest songs of all time. Several people have recorded it since, but this is where the river starts.

Also at Kops: more Al Green on vinyl · browse Classic Soul

Tracklist

Listen

On Hi Records / Fat Possum (cat# FPH1145-1), a reissue of the 1974 album.