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| Lay It Down | 
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| Artist: Al Green
Label: Blue Note Records
Category: Music
List Price: $18.98
Buy New: $7.48
You Save: $11.50 (61%)
New (63) Used (12) from $7.48
Avg. Customer Rating:  68 reviews
Sales Rank: 571
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 48449
UPC: 094634844925
EAN: 0094634844925
ASIN: B0016A2FFG
Release Date: May 27, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Hot Diggity... May 27, 2008
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
I'm a 19 year old fan of Mr. Green's work...
Just really started getting into his collection last year after getting addicted to his greatest hits album.
This effort doesn't disappoint...and is better than 99% of the crap currently on "urban" radio. Real soul right here...
Everything sounds so organic...keys, bass, organ, and guitar, w/ Al's voice (as well as some great guest spots from Corinne Bailey Rae, John Legend, and Anthony Hamilton) "laying it down" on top...
Music like this makes life worth living...
Sit back and enjoy the groove.
The Best since... June 4, 2008
6 out of 8 found this review helpful
Man, I am 28 and have been buying Al since I was 13. This is my fave cd of his since Your Hearts In Good Hands. Collaborations work very well with him, and I was really excited to hear Anthony on there. You have got to get this cd. It has such a smooth flow to it. If you have anything else of Al's, you have to add this to your collection. Lay it down reminds me of Simply Beautiful, and I love the song with Corrine. I just love Al and I feel that after seeing him in concert, the only thing else I have to do is go to Full Baptist Tabernacle. I'm Memphis Bound People.... Lay it Down!
 Hmmmm........... June 26, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Is he really laying it down? Uh,,,,,I'm not sure actually. Sure this has the trademark Al Green sound and isms that did the business back in the day, and it's good to hear all that again, but to be fair, the strength and quality of many songs isn't really what I'd prefer to have Al wrap his tonsils around. Is there a monster track on offer? Hardly. It's a pleasant enough album, but then I go, wait a minute, this is Al Green, cmon dude. Is there a Let's Stay Together, a I'm Still In Love With You, a Back Up Train, a Love And Happiness, a Have You Been Making Out O.K., even a Judy on offer? (I could go on obviously, I mean this IS Al Green) Well they are nowhere to be found. Again, it's all riiiiiight, but Lay It Down is not a playlist staple on my ponderosa. Having said all that, I do like the title track, and love the groove of both I'm Wild About You, and Standing In The Rain, and upon reflection, feel this trio may indeed have sat well with the aforementioned tracks on those great albums he was making. However, I'll go back to his earlier stuff when I've got to get my Al on, or I need to remind the young uns what real music is all about.
Al's Best Album in Years - 4 Stars May 29, 2008
4 out of 10 found this review helpful
Al Green has definitely been on a row in recent years, returning to his soulful roots. I CAN'T STOP was widely anticipated by Green fans who were happy just to hear Al Green return to his R&B roots after a long stint singing merely gospel music. I CAN'T STOP wasn't a complete triumph, but it was good starting place. What might've been even more surprising was the fact that after 2003's Grammy-nominated I CAN'T STOP, Rev. Green went on to release 2005's EVERYTHING'S OK, again reunited with producer Willie Mitchell. While EVERYTHING'S OK felt a bit more authentic than I CAN'T STOP, hardcore Green fans couldn't help but feel that Green needed something more to make an authentic return to soul. While the contemporary R&B stylings by such modern producers as Bryan-Michael Cox or even the old school songwriting by Tank or Shaffer "Ne-Yo" Smith would've corrupted Green's authenticity, it was certainly agreed that Green should try something new to give him back his seamless southern-soul sound. That person turned out to surprisingly be Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson from the Roots.
?uestlove could've styled Green in Roots laden production with samples and ultimately perplexing production work, but rather than be self-indulgent, ?uestlove produces perhaps the best soul album of the decade, and certainly Green's best album of his trio of modern albums. LAY IT DOWN is perfect in nearly every way. Not only is Green top-notch, so is the production, as well as collaborators Anthony Hamilton, Corinne Bailey Rae, and John Legend. And don't think that the "sound" of classic Al Green albums are replaced - they aren't. ?uestlove merely updates Green and still utilizes the live settings that made him so popular on tracks such as "Love and Happiness" or the ubiquitous "Let's Stay Together".
I won't bore you praising every track, as every track here is nearly 100%, honestly, But I'll leave you with a top five, something I usually don't do.
1. Lay It Down (feat. Anthony Hamilton)
2. Take Your Time (feat. Corinne Bailey Rae)
3. Just Me
4. Too Much
5. You Got That Luv I Need (feat. Anthony Hamilton)
4 stars Al.
Green, along with great musicians, lay down some classic soul June 1, 2008
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
I guess I'm not all that surprised that not everybody loved 2003's "I Can't Stop", even though I loved it. Stylistically, "I Can't Stop"'s bluesier sometimes funkier approach along with some tracks with a surprising amount of lyrical bite (sometimes angry, other times very emotionally tearful), was not strictly classic Al Green. However, Green teaming up with Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson of the Roots along with other talented musicians and singers finally does recreate that seventies magic of sound and loving lyrics perfectly with "Lay It Down".
The album stands up with his classic seventies soul hits in sound and theme. Nearly every track is romantic and sung sweetly by Green along with some quest vocalists. Corinne Bailey Rae's accompying Green on "Take Your Time" is nice but her voice is only pleasant and not very soulful. Frankly, I would rather one of the female background vocalists, Jaguar Wright or Mercedes Martinez, would have been the female vocal and Rae would have only contributed as a songwriter. It's the only very minor issue with the album, though. Anthony Hamilton is more present in the backgrounds of the title track but is not distracting in the duet "You've Got What I Need". What is most surprising about the album that unlike "I Can't Stop", it has no tracks that really stick out because the album is really tight. It does not go off on wild style tangents or sharp turns in songwriting. There are no huge surprises, but only a smooth soulful, blissful journey that is a reminder of a past when real musicians and real singers....laid it down. Green's songwriting is great but you'll notice in the liner notes that nearly every track has most of the musicacians aiding in the songwriting process, too. This album seems to be written by Thompson along with the other musicians on the album because the music is that important that every instrument is and should be acknowledged by its performer. Thompson as a drummer is a very talented performer (as his history has shown) and James Poyser on keys helps in recreating the classic great sound along with the guitar works of Chalmers "Spanky" Alford, but it is the bass by Adam Blackstone that really catches my ear on the soft, soulfilled tracks. If there is one standout track, it is the slightly funkier "I'm Wild About You" since the volume and tempo goes slightly up from the softer tracks. The album ends with another slight twist; "Standing In the Rain" is Green's short, self penned funky stomper with bursting horns and lyrics about being a hard working man. I can't point out many tracks as exceptional, yet that is actually a good thing. This is what an album really should be in that it can be listened to from beginning to end and experienced as a whole. I don't doubt that well known record lover Thompson wanted that to be the case of not having "singles" (which is sensible since, sadly, even diverse satelite radio really doesn't have a solid format that would play Al's new tracks) but in making an album that is very even and excellent throughout. If you love Al Green, you'll find no weak spots. The art form of the full album is not dead after all!
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