THE GREATEST SOUL SINGER OF ALL TIME.....AL GREEN...Part 7

 After a three year wait (since his previous release) Al Green released his last Album to date (27/05/08), it was called"Lay It Down" it was once again on The Blue Note Record Label.

This was a very different Album for Al Green, gone were all the things you generally associate with AG, for example,Willie Mitchell, Rhodes Chalmers Rhodes, The Hodges Brothers, The Royal Horns, The New Memphis Strings, to name a few!

The New Album was Produced by Al Green, Ahmir Thompson (Questlove) the Drummer with the Band "The Roots" and James Poyser, a Writer and Producer for several R&B Acts.

The Album reached number 9 on the U.S Billboard Charts!

It featured several Big Artistes duetting with Al Green,

Anthony Hamilton on the Tracks, "Lay It Down" and "You've Got The Love I Need"

Corinne Bailey Rae on "Take Your Time"

John Legend on "Stay With Me (By The Sea)"

Unusually for an Al Green Album, there are several different Writer's, for the 11 Track's including the following :

Al Green : Wrote on all Track's 
Questlove : Wrote on all Track's apart from Tr 11
James Poyser : Wrote on all Track's apart from Tr 11
Chalmers"Spanky"Alford : Wrote on all Tr's apart from Tr 6 &11
Adam Blackstone : Wrote on  all Track's apart from Tr 6 & 11
Anthony Hamilton : Wrote on Track's 1,3, & 9
Corrine Bailey Rae : Wrote on Track's 6 & 8


Incidentally Chalmers "Spanky" Alford who also played Guitar and Wrote on "Lay it Down" died on 24/03/08 aged 52, just prior the Album Release!

Also one of the Engineers on "Lay It Down" was Jimmy Douglass, a regular on Slave's Album's a few years back, he was one of the Writers,Vocalist, Producers, Engineers, mixers, arrangers etc etc!

'Lay It Down' also received 4 Grammy Nominations,  including Best R&B Album, Best R&B Performance By a Duo Or Group With Vocals for 'Stay With Me (By The Sea)' featuring John Legend, and Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance for 'You've Got The Love I Need' featuring Anthony Hamilton. 'Lay It Down' was also nominated for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical for the engineering work of Jimmy Douglass, Russell 'The Dragon' Elevado and Jon Smeltz.

To hear Al Green and others featured on "Lay It Down" talking about their involvement in the making of the Album, visit here,
you will have to download i-tunes to view!

Download The Album "Lay It Down"

Download A selection of 18 Al Green's Album's