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Lay It Down
List price: $18.98
Sale price: $9.99
You save: $8.99 (47%)
Artist(s): Al Green
Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0094634844925
Label: Blue Note Records
List Price: $18.98
Manufacturer: Blue Note Records
MPN: 48449
Number Of Discs: 1
Package Dimensions:
Height: 0.54"
Width: 4.97"
Length: 0.54"
Weight: 0.18 lbs.
Product Group: Music
Publisher: Blue Note Records
Release Date: 2008-05-27
Studio: Blue Note Records
UPC: 094634844925
Tracks:
- Lay It Down (feat. Anthony Hamilton)
- Just For Me
- You've Got the Love I Need (feat. Anthony Hamilton)
- No One Like You
- What More Do You Want From Me
- Take Your Time (feat. Corinne Bailey Rae)
- Too Much
- Stay With Me (By the Sea) (feat. John Legend)
- All I Need
- I'm Wild About You
- Standing In the Rain
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.co.uk:
Few performers have ever been so inimitable as the Reverend Al Green, so it's no surprise that the starry young collaborators who join him on the superb Lay It Down simply let the man sing in the way he knows best, and make their own contributions fit around his. Despite the presence of such luminaries as John Legend, Anthony Hamilton and Corinne Bailey Rae and the support of co-producers James Poyser and the Roots' Ahmir '?uestlove' Thompson, this is very much Green's show. But although the smart production attempts to update his classic sound, Lay It Down recognizes and preserves its enduring strengths. ?uestlove's brilliant drumming perfectly recaptures the languid snap the late Al Jackson Jr. brought to Green's legendary seventies hits, Larry Gold's string arrangements are measured and minimal while crack guitarist Chalmers 'Spanky' Alford, on one of his last sessions, demonstrates precisely how to balance rhythm and detail (The album is dedicated to his memory). Songs like the elegant title track, where Green out-emotes the decades-younger Hamilton, "Take Your Time", a lovely deep soul duet with Bailey Rae, and the quietly propulsive closer "Standing In The Rain" are naggingly timeless, though there really isn't a weak track on this excellent record. Lay It Down is a gift from one generation to the man that inspired them.--Steve Jelbert
Album Description:
Lay It Down with 11 tracks by Al Green. Friends laying it down with Al Green are Anthony Hamilton on the opening album title track and on 'You've Got the Love I Need'. Corinne Bailey Rae sings with Al on 'Take Your Time' and John Legend joins in on 'Stay With Me (By The Sea)'.
Customer Reviews Average rating - 4.5
Rating - 5 Date: 2008-10-04
Content: This work is what I consider the only true new rhythm and blues on the airwaves. Neo soul does not work for me. While it is a new album the songs and singing styles are from the 70" which is so great to hear.
In previous work Al seemed to be stuck between gospel and R&B, but he is clear on this album 'cause it is all about R&B. Also there are great duets. I wish I could hear more of it on the airwaves.
Summary: Al is Back
Rating - 5 Date: 2008-09-24
Content: Non-Al Green fans will listen to this CD and say the songs all sound like old Al Green songs and thus, they will be disappointed. Al Green fans will listen to this album and say it sounds like old Al Green and will be very pleased music. Well, let's just say I am an even bigger Al Green fan now.
Summary: Al Green Laid It Down
Rating - 5 Date: 2008-09-18
Content: I am 29 years old and have been listening to Al Green for as long as I can remember! I believe he is one of the greats and my most favorite singer alive! This album is wonderful, he kept it original but new, soft, just beautiful!!! Words can't describe- he can sing mary had a little lamb and it would be wonderful! If you are a fan, u should know what I'm talking about! You should buy this album!!
Summary: Al never seems to amaze me!
Rating - 5 Date: 2008-09-15
Content: I purchased this CD a couple of months ago and I play it on a regular basis. If you love Al Green's music like I do you will not be disappointed!
Summary: Excellent Purchase
Rating - 4 Date: 2008-09-15
Content: First off, forgive the rambling nature of this review. My brain was totally scrambled when I wrote it, and only got unscrambled recently.
Anyway, it took me way too long to get around to this one. I feel like such an idiot for letting the entire summer slip by before I listened to it. Oh, hey, Al Green's got a new album out? Great! After I finish with my seventeenth listen to the entire Radiohead catalog, I'll give it a shot! Oh, wait, I've also got that big pile of obscure Coltrane records to listen to... and all of Al Green's older stuff... and new albums by R.E.M., Counting Crows, Elvis Costello, Weezer, Van Morrison, Coldplay, and Beck... I am terrible with new releases. And I haven't even gotten into all of the albums by artists I like that are coming out sometime during this year's second half. Including a new batch of Van Morrison re-releases! And, hopefully, a Stevie Wonder album! (Though I'm not holding out too much hope - it was due out in January, after all. It'll probably brilliant, though, because it's Stevie Wonder). Given how long it took me to get around to this one (and I've got no clue why, as I was listening to a lot of Al Green this summer), I probably won't even have half of those under my belt until 2009 or whenever. So yeah, I've been a little preoccupied lately. And I really wish I had listened to this one earlier. Because it's good. It's even more retro than Everything's OK (another good album!), but I have no problem with that whatsoever, because Green gave us a great set of songs, and his voice is still in top form after decades. Lush ballads like the title track, "Take Your Time," "You've Got the Love I Need" sit next to ace pop gems such as "What More Do You Want from Me?" (Jazzy guitar licks! You've got me hooked!) and "Just for Me" and funk such as "No One But You," a very welcome return to songs in the style of "Love and Happiness." ?uestlove of the Roots produces, but he doesn't even try to make it modern. He also drums, and his drumming is very sturdy, reliable, and good. A few guests crop up here and there, and they add a lot: Anthony Hamilton adds gritty counterpoint vocals to the title track and "You've Got the Love I Need," Corrine Rae Bailey shows up to make "Take Your Time" a sweet duet, and John Legend (the only one of the three guest vocalists I had heard of beforehand) sings on "Stay With Me (By the Sea)." By the way, John Legend sounds a lot like Al Green, and there is no way that's an accident. The vocal inflections of old come back on the title track and "Too Much," and that is cause for celebration in my eyes. Plus the vocals on "Wild About You" are very, very soulful. And, um... good album! A bit generic, but who cares? Al Green makes generic sound good!
Summary: One of the best releases of 2008!
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