Tracks
- Let's Stay Together
- La-La for You
- So You're Leaving
- What Is This Feeling?
- Old Time Lovin'
- I've Never Found a Girl (Who Loves Me Like You Do)
- How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?
- Judy
- It Ain't No Fun to Me
Let's Stay Together is a handsome album. The music is soul with a little funk thrown in. The music is mellow, even on the songs with horns, and works from a slow groove. Al Green's voice is the key instrument on this album, of course, and it's wonderful and complements the music quite well. If this had been done in the contemporary R&B style emerging in the '70s it would have been a failure.
Al Green seems like the natural successor to Sam Cooke. The other great soul singers don't ooze sex appeal and as much as those two. (Otis Redding might fit in there somewhere, though). Al Green is more intimate while Sam Cooke is more of a lady-killer.
I think this is a enjoyable album. Romantic music isn't my cup of tea. Fortunately, soul music is listenable. Despite being soul rather than being R&B, this album is a preview to disco. It seems that funk songs that are tame are nothing more than proto-disco songs. So, Al Green is heading into dangerous territory. It's not that disco itself is bad; rather it's the deluge of talentless musicians and vapid songs that is unleashed that's the problem. No matter, this album is worth listening to and it deserves to be on the 1001 Albums list.
All the songs are excellent. The stand-outs are: Let's Stay Together, La-La for You, So You're Leaving, Old Time Lovin', How Can You Mend a Broken Heart and It Ain't No Fun to Me.
★★★★★★★★★☆
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