Al Green - Lay It Down

Al Green was (and is) often considered to be one of the best soul singers to date. With his newest record "Lay it Down", he goes back into the studio with hip-hop producer ?Questlove.




On the opening (and title) track "Lay it Down", it's a soft, mellow, relaxing song- but you can feel Al Green's intensity as a singer throughout the song, and it makes an impressive opening track for any album.

When the song "You've Got The Love I Need" chimes in, the beat itself sound VERY much like that of an actual hip-hop song, but Al Green's voice shines through any beat and tune as being one of those voices that are designed to be listened to, and talked of.

Some of the songs feel like they directly fell out of the 60's and 70's Soul movement, "No One Like You" is a direct example of that point. Listening to those songs make you feel like you were listening to one of his earlier records like "Call Me", or "Let's Stay Together".

It's interesting to hear the various duets on "Lay it Down" that Al Green participates in. He has several songs where he his accompanied by Anthony Hamilton, and he has one song with "John Legend", and one with "Corinne Bailey Rae", all of which are VERY impressive on both sides.

While the album continues, you can hear ?Questlove's influence deeply in this record, simply by listening to the way the drums are played, the way they use the organ, and the manner in which the music is orchestrated in general are a direct influence from ?Questlove.

Possibly the best song on the record is "I'm Wild About You", which takes a very soul-bluesy turn, with a choir doing the "HOO" during the chorus, which mixes it up quite a bit from what you would be hearing on the album previously.

The end track "Standing in the Rain" is a wonderful close to the album, full of life and wonder- the song let's you know that Al Green is still alive and kicking.

One of the few problems with the record is the lack of experimentation. While the instruments used throughout are used heartily, and are played by experienced musicians... you get the sense that the music is SO on-key and been perfected so much that the improvisation of the actually band is at a minimal.

All in all the record is solid all the way through. It's an amazing feat to see such a great soul singer like Al Green to come back with impressive and professional producers who love music.


Final Score: 8.5 Giraffes Out Of 10.