Gospel Concert - Al Green

Advantages: a wonderful return of an american master
Disadvantages: lyrics

..., the frightfully gifted prodigal son who, throughout mountains of PCP and cocaine, never came home. Stevie Wonder, the golden child who, through the power of his moog and his imagination, took the frenetic joy of the revival to Neptune. I Can't Stop, Green's first full-length secular album in 26 years, succeeds in both showing how powerful and real the myth of Al Green is and in showing how the myth can differ from the artist as well. It not only shows why he is considered as, arguably, the greatest soul artist of all time, but also the full range of the gifts that made him mythic in nature, as well as the deeply human element of his art that has compelled people to it for over three decades. Those looking for the master of controlled sensuality and nearly unbearable sexual tension that created hit after breathtaking hit in the '70s will leave... Read review

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Advantages: Smoo-ooth, romantic tunes
Disadvantages: NoTake Me To The River

...Al Green puts everything into his music. He's now a Reverend, back to performing occasionally, but any recordings he makes nowadays are more likely to be gospel music than the smooth, sexy soul on this album. On some songs he even sounds persuasively raunchy - in "Let's get married" when the song slows down and he starts pleading it turns into what must be the best love song ever. He's very emotional - his hesitant vocal on "I'm so tired of being alone" makes you believe he means every word he's singing. He was involved in writing most of the songs, so it could all be based on his own experience. And yet, at times he manages to sound very laidback and understated. It's not only when Green sings, either: a seductive brass section is a very important feature in his music, along with divine backing vocals, some of which remind you... Read review

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Advantages: Elvis Presley singing some wonderful music
Disadvantages: The tracks have been released and re-released many times over the years

...People often recall Elvis Presley as the early rock 'n' roller in the mid-1950s, or the less rocking star of some (sometimes) decidedly dodgy movies from the 1960s, or as the Las Vegas singer of the 1970s. One style of music which straddles all of these time periods though is gospel. Elvis was always a great lover of gospel music, and often spent hours singing this type of music with his backing singers in his own private time. Elvis' record company, BMG, have spent the last 29 years (since his death) repackaging his recorded material, and still release many CDs each year, collecting together already released material and unreleased material from the archives (this unreleased music is often distributed through their specialist Elvis label FTD - short for 'Follow That Dream' which was the title of one of Elvis' movies from the 1960s... Read review

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