Capitol
2004
The Absolute Best
About This Album
Colin Escott's informative, quote-filled liner essay for this two-disc compilation is called Al Green at Hi Records, and that may well have been a better title for the set than The Absolute Best. While it would be foolish to argue that Green's brilliant sides for Hi -- superbly produced by Willie Mitchell and featuring the impassioned and idiosyncratic vocal performances that were Green's hallmark -- are not his best work, there's still enough great music to be found in Green's later gospel recordings and occasional post-Hi secular sessions that a comprehensive collection of the man's music (especially one of this length) ought to at least acknowledge the full breadth of his legacy. But that grumbling aside, this is a fine and deeply pleasurable overview of the commercial peak of Green's career, which covers his biggest hits along with plenty of worthy lesser-known cuts. Green's records didn't sound quite like anyone else's during his 1970-1978 heyday, thanks to the uncluttered snap of Al Jackson's drums, Teenie Hodges' spidery guitar lines, the sweet-and-sour horn charts, and string sections that softened the edges without robbing the sessions of their funky power, and Green's vocals, which blended a love man's pleadings with a melismatic fervor that came straight from the church, were even more compelling than their backdrops.
Track List

Disc 1 (try tracks 4,6,9,13 and 14)

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Disc 2 (try tracks 1,12,13 and 16)

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