Al Green appears on our “Top 500 of the Top 40” list four times, and yet I wonder if that’s enough. His influence on soul music in the ‘70s was so profound that it’s almost impossible to overrate his work.

“Call Me” is seen as his masterpiece, but if you listen to “I’m Still in Love with You” or “Al Green Is Love” in succession, you’ll see that picking a ‘best’ Al Green album is not an easy task. “Call Me” rates because it features three hit singles (“Call Me”, “Here I Am (Come and Take Me)”, and the glorious “You Ought to Be with Me.”), and few others that should have been.

The album’s stature is strengthened by the predictably great songwriting, but also his choice of covers. Green’s versions of Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” and Willie Nelson’s rueful “Funny How Time Slips Away” prove that Ray Charles did not corner the market on soulful interpretations of country music. Add to this the album’s closer “Jesus Is Waiting”, which is Green’s first outright Gospel recording, and you get a glimpse of what lies ahead. Pardon the old school vinyl reference, but you could drop the needle anywhere on any of Green’s eleven ‘70s albums and find yourself lulled into submission, but if most critics point to “Call Me” as his best work, who am I to argue?

Feature Tracks include:

Call Me

Have You Been Making Out OK?

Stand Up

I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry

Your Love Is Like The Morning Sun

Here I Am (Come And Take Me)

Funny How Time Slips Away

You Ought To Be With Me

Jesus is Waiting

April 1073 - Billboard Charted #10