Let's Stay Together (Al Green album)

Last updated

Let's Stay Together
Letsstaytogether cover.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedJanuary 31, 1972 (1972-01-31)
StudioRoyal Recording, Memphis, Tennessee
Genre Soul
Length33:53
Label Hi (SH-32070)
Producer Willie Mitchell
Al Green chronology
Al Green Gets Next to You
(1971)
Let's Stay Together
(1972)
I'm Still in Love With You
(1972)
Singles from Let's Stay Together
  1. "Let's Stay Together"
    Released: December 1971

Let's Stay Together is the fourth studio album by soul singer Al Green. Released on January 31, 1972, as the follow-up to his moderate success, Al Green Gets Next to You , it was recorded at Royal Recording Studio in Memphis, Tennessee. A commercial success, it peaked at number eight on the pop albums chart and became the first of six consecutive Green albums to peak at number one on the soul album chart, where it held the position for ten straight weeks.

Contents

Let's Stay Together is best-known for its title track, "Let's Stay Together", which became Green's signature song and his only number-one pop hit single. The third Green album produced by Willie Mitchell, Let's Stay Together marked the beginning of Green's classic period of critically acclaimed albums.

Critical reaction

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [1]
Blender Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [2]
Christgau's Record Guide A− [3]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [4]
Pitchfork Media 8.7/10 [5]
Rolling Stone (favorable) [6] & Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [7]

The album's appeal was widespread among critics; Rolling Stone noted, "Green's voice is something to marvel at. He can croon, shout, scat, rise to the smoothest falsetto, and throw in the funkiest growls ... Let's Stay Together is, like its predecessor, an indispensable treat." [8]

In 1999, Q wrote that the album "shows him as the authentic voice of love's pain and purity on such wonders as 'How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?'" [9] and that "[H]is cover of the Bee Gees' [song] took the soul ballad to new levels of artistry and refinement." [10]

List rankings

Track listing

All songs written by Al Green, except where noted

Side one

  1. "Let's Stay Together" (Green, Al Jackson, Jr., Willie Mitchell) – 3:18
  2. "La-La for You" (Green, Mitchell) – 3:31
  3. "So You're Leaving" – 2:57
  4. "What Is This Feeling" – 3:42
  5. "Old Time Lovin'" – 3:19

Side two

  1. "I've Never Found a Girl (Who Loves Me Like You Do)" (Eddie Floyd, Alvertis Isbell, Booker T. Jones) – 3:41
  2. "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" (Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb) – 6:22
  3. "Judy" – 3:47
  4. "It Ain't No Fun to Me" – 3:23

Reissue tracks

Bonus tracks on 2003 reissue

Personnel

Rhythm section (the Hi Rhythm Section)

Horn section

Vocals

Additional personnel

See also

References

  1. Let's Stay Together at AllMusic
  2. "Robert Christgau: Al Green: Back Catalogue". Robertchristgau.com. Retrieved October 14, 2018.
  3. Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: G". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies . Ticknor & Fields. ISBN   089919026X . Retrieved February 24, 2019 via robertchristgau.com.
  4. Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0195313734.
  5. "Al Green: Let's Stay Together / I'm Still In Love With You / Greatest Hits Album Review - Pitchfork". Pitchfork.com. April 17, 2009. Retrieved October 14, 2018.
  6. Palmer, Bob (March 30, 1972). "Let's Stay Together". Rollingstone.com. Retrieved October 14, 2018.
  7. Hunter, James (February 11, 2003). "Let's Stay Together (Reissue)". Rollingstone.com. Retrieved October 14, 2018.
  8. "Let's Stay Together". Rolling Stone . March 30, 1972. p. 50.
  9. 1 2 Q , October 1999, p.150
  10. Q, October 1999, p.121
  11. Colin Larkin (1998). "Top 1000 album list". Rocklistmusic.co.uk. Archived from the original on August 10, 2006.
  12. "Guinness Top 50 Soul Albums". Rocklistmusic.xo.uk. Archived from the original on August 11, 2006.

Bibliography