Customer Reviews
The Reverend Green returns & delivers a Grammy winning album! - By: Michaelw89, 28 Aug 2008 
Known for classic soul songs soul music such as `I'm So Tired Of Being Alone' & `Let's Stay Together' amongst many, Al Green returnsin 2008 with a new album, Lay It Down.
11 songs that sound they were releasedin 1972, yet have a 2008 sound. Also featured on this CD is Corrine Bailey Rae, Anthony Hamilton, John Legend & the impressive horn section, the Daptones, members of Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings.
The opening track the ballad `Lay It Down' with Anthony Hamilton has all the standard Al Green trademark sound with Hamilton providing background vocals, the rest of the album follows this classic pattern with the tracks like `Too Much', `Stay With Me' which features John Legend. Green gets funky on the up-tempo tracks `You've Got The Love I Need', `I'm Wild About You' & `Standing In The Rain'. `Take Your Time' is a fine ballad with Corrine Bailey Rae as an excellent partner for Green.
Credit to the producers of this album James Poyser, Ahmir Thompson of the hip-hop band The Roots who along with Green decide to make this CD reflect Al Green's classic sound for which he is renowned. This is an excellent album.
Lay It Down
Al Green Is Love Again (Lay It Down) - By: brentalexis, 06 Aug 2008 "Al Green Is Love" was one of his classic excellent albums released around 1975. However I think he has done it again, this time with "Lay It Down". Isn't it funny how the great artist never loose their touch. In the case of Al its that lovely falsetto voice which seems to work so well with many soulful love songs. Just listen to "Lets Stay Together", "I'm Still In Love With You" & so on.
On Lay It Down the music is fresh yet there are signs of the 70's sound which made him popular. What has been cleverly done is to maintane his own style as we have come to know it but mixedin with an excellent bass line Memphis style horns & modern artist like Corinne Bailey Rae etal. All tracks are enjoyable & there is no excuse to skip any. What this album has donein our houseold, is resurect all his oldies, but this is after we have played Lay It Down a few times.
If you are a Al Green fan like me, then this is a must for your collection. If you are new to Al Green then this will be an enjoyable start especially if you have heard of the modern artist such as Corinne Bailey Rae, John Legend & Athony Hamilton who all featurein the album. So what are you waiting for, just enjoy.
Very similar to the singer's classic 70's releases - By: Reginald D. Garrard, 06 Jul 2008 
As has been mentioned by others, "Lay it Down" is Al Green's latest effort to replicate the sound that kept him a mainstay on radio during the early 70's. Each of the eleven tracks, including his collaborations with the likes of Anthony Hamilton (on two tracks), Corinne Bailey Rae, & John Legend, features Green at his most soulful, backed by musicians/arrangers that truly know how to support such a legendary talent.
The album's highlight is actually one of the duets: the one with Rae, entitled "Take Your Time." The young singer's unique vocals match Green's heartfelt crooning perfectly, making one long to hear the two on some future effort.
The only complaint of the CD, resultingin the loss of a star, is that a couple of the tracks sound TOO much like each other, making them somewhat interchangeable, adding a little confusion to the listening ear.
One might ask, "Didn't I just hear that song?" as the album makes it spins on the CD player.
With that said, however, "Lay it Down" is still a welcome pleasure for fans of Green & real rhythm & blues, not the Usher/Chris Brown/Justin Timberlake type that passes for the genre today.
a real Soul album by the No 1 Soul Man - By: Andy Edwards, 24 Jun 2008 Since the first time I heard Al Green (on "Tired of Being Alone", around 1970) I have regarded him as the paramount Soul man, His partnership with Willie Mitchellin the 70's produced some of the most consistent & superb music of that or any other era, & which came to define Soul for many. Soul went out of fashion around the time Al "retired" to his Memphis church, & he has struggled to reach anything approaching those dizzy heights since his return to secular music.
He is not alonein that. Nor is it unique to hitch up with current star names. There have been many attempts by 60's & 70's artists to recreate their success, & the fact that only a few have pulled it off tells you that it takes more than an up to date who's who. What it does take is that those involved have respect - for both the artist & for the work he did, & the ability to draw on that, bring it up to date & avoid cliche. They have managed it on "Lay It Down".
Here they provide what Al Green hadin the 70's - a framework where his vocal can runin & out as he pleases, where he can swoop & soar & ad lib as the mood takes him & where his voice is, at times, just another instrument. As for individual tracks, the title track has a beautiful chorus across which Al whoops & wails & "Just For Me" could have lifted the rhythm track from "Let's Stay Together" (but it didn't).
Anyway, you get the picture - this is a real Soul album, from the master of the genre, which stands comparison with Al Green's classic 70's albums - yes it is that good. All of those involved on "Lay It Down" deserve enormous credit for creating a truly superb album - if you love Soul, what are you waiting for, just buy it
Al + young guns = marriage made in soul heaven! - By: Uncle Cobbly, 05 Jun 2008 This is superb . It starts brilliantly & ,incredibly, the quality never dips afterwards . If you like old-school soul , you're gonna love this . I just hope he tours this extensivelyin the UK - it's so strong , it deserves a live outing . Proper horns , proper strings , proper soul .
