The Best of the Gospel Sessions

by Al Green

Overview

Al Green has sold some 20 million records, been named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and been given a Lifetime Achievement Award by BET, among other honors, and most of that has stemmed from his secular pop career and the smooth, soulful Hi Records sound he helped build with producer Willie Mitchell in the 1970s. But he's also been elected to the Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame, and if Green's fame largely rests with pop hits like "Let's Stay Together" and "Tired of Being Alone," his perceived personal calling has always been gospel, and as this well-chosen and sequenced selection of some of his best non-secular sides from the 1980s shows, he's a singer's singer no matter what the genre -- given that Green's themes have always been about the need for love and respect, exactly who he addresses the song to starts to feel like a mere detail. There's a lot to love here, from his reverent version of Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready" to the jaunty and soothing "Everything's Gonna Be Alright" (which has a backing track that eerily resembles Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing," another song that has the connection between love and God as its core subject), and when one compares a track like "Higher Plane" here with Green's peak commercial work with Mitchell from the '70s, the similarities far outweigh the differences. ~ Steve Leggett

Product Details

Release Date:	03/15/2011
Label:	New Haven / Provident Music
UPC:	0027072809225

Tracks

1. The Lord Will Make a Way
2. None But the Righteous
3. Higher Plane
4. People Get Ready
5. His Name Is Jesus
6. Morningstar
7. Hallelujah (I Just Want to Praise the Lord)
8. Straighten Out Your Life
9. No Not One
10. All We Need Is a Little More Love
11. Everything's Gonna Be Alright
12. Jesus Will Fix It
13. Power

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Al Green   Primary Artist,Guitar,Percussion,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric),Vocals (Background)
Mabon "Teenie" Hodges   Guitar (Electric),Guitar
Johnny Brown   Organ,Fender Rhodes
Jessie Butler   Organ,Piano,Keyboards,Synthesizer,Fender Rhodes
Kenny Bell   Guitar
Michael Toles   Guitar (Electric)
The Memphis Symphony Orchestra   Strings
Reuben Fairfax, Jr.   Bass,Guitar (Bass)
Tim Dancy   Drums,Percussion
Temple Riser   Vocals (Background)
Moses Dillard   Guitar,Guitar (Electric)
Ray Griffin   Bass
David Cousar   Guitar
Willie Hall   Drums
Gerry Peters   Synthesizer
Edgar Matthews   Horn
Francine Belcher   Vocals (Background)
Tony Brown   Keyboards
Berkley Buckles   Vocals (Background)
Kelli Bruce   Vocals (Background)
Nashville Horn Works   Horn
Angelo Earl   Guitar
William Brown   Vocals (Background)
Steve Cobb   Bass,Bass (Electric)
David Briggs   Keyboards
Jimmy Kinnard   Bass (Electric)
Perry Michael Allen   Keyboards,Percussion,Synthesizer
Debra Carter   Vocals (Background)
Gary Topper   Horn
Eban Kelly   Vocals (Background)
Andrea Blackwood   Vocals (Background)
Michael Baker   Guitar,Vocals (Background)
Kimberly Fleming   Vocals (Background)
Karen Taylor   Vocals (Background)
Steve Potts   Drums
Bobby Jones   Vocals (Background)
Bountiful Blessings Choir   Vocals (Background)
Candi Grant   Vocals (Background)
Gerard Minnies   Guitar (Electric)
Andrew Love   Horn
The A-Strings   Strings
Bobby Jones & the New Life Singers   Vocals (Background)
Larry Lee   Guitar
Larrie Londin   Drums
Jack Hale   Horn
Ben Cauley   Horn
Vicki Hampton   Vocals (Background)
Charles Miller   Vocals (Background)
Jeanie Grant   Vocals (Background)
Michelle Omata   Vocals (Background)
P. Leon Thomas   Keyboards
Donna McElroy   Vocals (Background)
Andrew Jackson   Keyboards
Paul Zaleski   Bass,Percussion,Synthesizer
Bob Wray   Bass
The Memphis Strings   Strings
Leroy Hodges   Bass (Electric)
Linda Jones   Vocals (Background)
Jerry Peters   Keyboards,Synthesizer
Lea Jane Berinati   Vocals (Background)
John Toney   Drums
Anita Ball   Vocals (Background)
Debbie Jamison   Vocals (Background)

Technical Credits

Debbie Harding   Production Coordination
Jimi Randolph   Composer,Engineer,Producer,Instrumentation
Quinton Claunch   Associate Producer
Moses Dillard   Composer
Al Green   Arranger,Composer,Engineer,Producer,Executive Producer,String Arrangements
Willie Mitchell   Composer,Engineer,Producer
Bill Cantrell   Engineer,Associate Producer
Sharon Michalsky   Composer
William C. Brown III   Engineer
Keith Burke   Composer
Ron Dickerson   Engineer
Alan Messer   Photography
Eban Kelly   Composer,Engineer,Producer
Jean Burleson   Composer
Chris Keegan   Design
Fred Jordan   Engineer,String Arrangements
Errol Thomas   Engineer,Producer
Ken Harding   Liner Notes,Executive Producer
Laura Lee   Composer
Curtis Mayfield   Composer
Vince Wilcox   A&R
Jennifer Quagliano   A&R
Julia Daily   A&R
Lawrence H. Lee Jr.   Composer
Paul Zaleski   Engineer,Producer
Randy LeRoy   Mastering
Rev. Thomas A. Dorsey   Composer
Billy Sherill   Engineer