Al Green: I Can't Stop

Reviewed by RUSSELL BAILLIE

Herald rating: * * * *

Al Green was the 70s soul singer whose sky-scraping voice touched the parts that Barry White couldn't reach.

He left the soulbiz for the soul-saving business in the middle of the decade, and since becoming the good Reverend Green has divided his time between doing the Lord's work and recording the Lord's songs.

This album, though, pairs him again with his 70s studio partner, Memphis producer Willie Mitchell for a secular set which inevitably resounds with the warm grooves and seductive sway of the Let's Stay Together era.

Green's voice can't quite get way up there the way it used to and there's a few too many songs that are happy to go nowhere much in their own silky way for this to be a great album.

But on the likes of the uptempo numbers like the title track, Play to Win, and I've Been Thinkin' About You, or the slow-burning ballad I've Been Waiting On You, Green sounds very much the soul man exuding a born-again fervour.

(Blue Note)