Al Ciaola

The Lord Will Make A Way (1980). This 1980 album was released after Green received a wake-up call by way of tumble off a stage in Cincinnati. No doubt Green planned a straight-laced, devotional work with The Lord Will Make a Way, but his charisma and sex appeal was also part of the package. The title track is powerful, reverent, and sensual, with Green's voice possessing the intensity and tone of his earlier secular tracks. Like many of his best albums, this one has an immediacy that makes it a joy to listen to. Although Green's clear switch in his lyrical manner – changing she/her for love of the Lord, Jesus, and God - should be striking, the transition is seamless. The gospel standard "Pass Me Not" gets the Al Green treatment with his acoustic-guitar strums and strong call-and-response vocals…

Trust In God (1984). Released in 1984, Trust in God finds Green distracted throughout. Around the same time of this, a brilliant documentary, The Gospel According to Al Green, was being worked on. The film's subtext of Green shunning yet still loving R&B worked its way into the studio, too. This is gospel all right, but often of the perfunctory, barely awake variant. As pure gospel was causing Green's mind to wander, he attempted to solve the problem by covering early-'70s pop songs. Joe South's "Don't It Make You Wanta Go Home" gets a great and involved vocal from Green. The best song, the Jean Terrell-era Supremes "Up the Ladder to the Roof," turns into a prime Al Green song, with its sly drums and all of Green's attention…

The first album linking the soul-singing greatness of Al Green with the production brilliance and expertise of Willie Mitchell. The results were mutually beneficial; Green got the great production, arrangements, and backing from the Hi Rhythm section that often turned good songs into classics, and he sang with the conviction and talent that provided the final component in an artistically and commercially satisfying union.

This is a two-album-on-one-CD release from the U.K.'s branch of Hi Records. Out of the two albums here, Precious Lord is the more staid and religious. Recorded in Nashville and engineered by country producer Billy Sherrill, it's Green's most traditional gospel statement. Standards are abound, with the title track, "How Great Thou Art," "Rock of Ages," and a warm "In the Garden." Although the performances are felt, the country-style production and lack of veering from the script made the effort come off not as moving as one might think. The contemporary original "Morningstar" displayed more of what Green is capable of doing. The blend of Al Green's style and his inherent charm seemed to inform the majority of I'll Rise Again…

Nearly forgotten by all but serious soul fans, Back Up Train is Al Green's debut. Released in 1967, when he was still billed as "Al Greene" and before he worked with producer Willie Mitchell, the record is a perfectly serviceable slice of slightly sweet period soul - perhaps a little generic, but never less than pleasant. Much of the record was either written or co-written by the album's producers, Palmer E. James and Curtis Rodgers, who were not just part of Hot Line Records, but in the Creations, Green's previous backing band. Though they're fine as producers, they didn't have strong material as songwriters, never producing something as limber and memorable as Green's lone songwriting credit, "Stop and Check Myself." Musically, this number, along with a few other cuts, suggest the tight, sexy sound of his seminal Hi albums, but they're nowhere near as seductive as those slow grooves, nor are they as effortless…

Al Green's second record for Blue Note reunites the same cast of characters who made his comeback disc, 2003's I Can't Stop, such a success. Willie Mitchell is behind the boards, the cream of old-school Hi musicians is here, and Green hasn't lost a step vocally. In fact, it sounds like he has gained a step somehow; his crazed screams, hollered interjections, and whoops of joy seem more assured and his falsetto is clear and strong. The songs are here, too, with a good mix of uptempo movers (the rollicking "Build Me Up," the high-energy title track, and "Nobody But You") and sweet, string-laden ballads ("Perfect to Me," "Real Love," and "All the Time"). Green sounds on fire most of the time, really letting loose on "Everything's OK," testifying on "Be My Baby," and ripping it up like a kid everywhere else…

Al Green suffered a slight lull in his gospel career with 1984's Trust in God. As a response, he reunited with producer Willie Mitchell, who admittedly preferred the secular to the gospel. At this point, Green was unwavering in his faith and presents a challenge for He Is the Light. "Going Away" and "True Love" are great updates of the classic 1971-1976 sound with Green's dulcet, anxious vocals above an updated version of the sound that made him famous. The cover of "Be With Me Jesus" has Green in a playful mood despite the dire lyrics, and shows how Mitchell could coax vocals from Green no one else could. To Mitchell's credit, this album not only embraced Green's pop/gospel but also the newer sounds and styles Green had been working on in the '80s…

Veteran trombonist Al Grey leads an unusual quintet on this set from 1988 that, in addition to drummer Bobby Durham, features the sons of Al Cohn (guitarist Joe Cohn), Gerald Wiggins (bassist J.J. Wiggins), and his own Mike Grey on second trombone. The two trombonists have similar sounds, with the elder Grey getting the bulk of the solos. The repertoire mixes together swing standards with lesser-known jazz tunes by Thad Jones, Sonny Stitt, Hank Mobley, Al Cohn, Johnny Griffin, Art Farmer, and Al Grey himself. The relaxed straight-ahead music flows nicely and all of the musicians (other than Durham) have their opportunities to be featured. Worth searching for.

Naked Songs represents the other end of Al Kooper's early career from I Stand Alone. Where that first album was recorded very gradually at the outset of his solo career, soon after exiting Blood, Sweat & Tears, Naked Songs was a much more cohesive work (cut in New York and Georgia) from the end of his stay at Columbia Records. Ironically, it was a contractually obligated album, but never one to throw away an opportunity, Kooper embraced soul, gospel, blues, pop, and even country music in the course of filling its two sides. Playing his usual array of instruments, including loud, note-bending blues guitar and gospel-tinged organ on "As the Years Go Passing By," he effortlessly switches gears to the smoother pop-soul sound of "Jolie," then straight country with a blues tinge on "Blind Baby." John Prine's grim and uncompromising "Sam Stone" gets an extraordinary performance, but the real surprise is the presence of Sam Cooke's Soul Stirrers-era gospel classic "Touch the Hem of His Garment".