Let's Stay Together (Al Green album)

Let's Stay Together is a 1972 album by the soul singer Al Green, and is the follow-up to his moderate success Al Green Gets Next to You. It was recorded at Royal Recording Studio, 1320 S. Lauderdale, in Memphis and was a success, peaking at number eight on the pop albums chart and became the first of six albums to peak at number-one on the soul album chart (where it claimed the position for ten weeks). It is best known for the title track "Let's Stay Together", which became Green's signature song and his only number-one pop hit single. The album was the third produced by Willie Mitchell and marked the beginning of Green's classic period of critically acclaimed albums. Let's Stay Together was reissued in 2003 by The Right Stuff.

Let's Stay Together
Studio album by
Al Green
ReleasedJanuary 31, 1972 (1972-01-31)
Recorded1971
StudioRoyal Recording Studios, Memphis, Tennessee
GenreSoul
Length33:53
LabelHi (SH-32070)
ProducerWillie Mitchell
Al Green chronology
Al Green Gets Next to You
(1971)		 Let's Stay Together
(1972)		 I'm Still in Love With You
(1972)
Singles from
Let's Stay Together
  1. "Let's Stay Together"
    Released: December 1971
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Blender[2]
Christgau's Record GuideA–[3]
Pitchfork Media(8.7/10)[4]
Rolling Stone(favorable)[5] & [6]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[7]

Critical reaction

The album's appeal was widespread among critics. At the time, Rolling Stone noted "Green's voice is something to marvel at. He can croon, shout, scat, rise to the smoothest falsetto, and throw in the funkiest growls...Let's Stay Together is, like its predecessor, an indispensable treat."[8] In 1999, Q magazine wrote that the album "shows him as the authentic voice of love's pain and purity on such wonders as 'How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?'"[9] and that "[H]is cover of the Bee Gees' [song] took the soul ballad to new levels of artistry and refinement."[10]

List rankings
  • Included in Q magazine's "Best Soul Albums of All Time"[9]
  • Ranked #335 in the Virgin All-Time top 1000 album list[11]
  • Ranked #608 in the Guinness top 1000 album poll (1994) and #25 in the Top 50 Soul Albums list[12]

Track listing

All songs written by Al Green, except where noted

Side one
  1. "Let's Stay Together" (Green, Al Jackson, Jr., Willie Mitchell) – 3:18
  2. "La-La for You" (Green, Mitchell) – 3:31
  3. "So You're Leaving" – 2:57
  4. "What Is This Feeling?" – 3:42
  5. "Old Time Lovin'" – 3:19

Side two
  1. "I've Never Found a Girl (Who Loves Me Like You Do)" (Eddie Floyd, Alvertis Isbell, Booker T. Jones) – 3:41
  2. "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?" (Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb) – 6:22
  3. "Judy" – 3:47
  4. "It Ain't No Fun to Me" – 3:23

Reissue tracks

Bonus tracks on 2003 reissue

  • "Eli's Game" - 4:55
  • "Listen To Me" (Traditional) - 2:30

Personnel

Rhythm section

Horn section

Vocals
  • Al Green - vocals
  • Charles Chalmers, Donna Rhodes, Sandra Rhodes - background vocals, arrangements

Additional personnel
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See also
  • List of number-one R&B albums of 1972 (U.S.)

References
  1. Let's Stay Together at AllMusic
  2. "Robert Christgau: Al Green: Back Catalogue"". Robertchristgau.com. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  3. Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: G". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved February 24, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  4. "Al Green: Let's Stay Together / I'm Still In Love With You / Greatest Hits Album Review - Pitchfork". Pitchfork.com. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  5. Palmer, Bob (30 March 1972). "Let's Stay Together". Rollingstone.com. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  6. Hunter, James (11 February 2003). "Let's Stay Together (Reissue)". Rollingstone.com. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  7. Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
  8. Rolling Stone March 30, 1972, p.50
  9. Q, October 1999, p.150
  10. Q, October 1999, p.121
  11. Colin Larkin (1998). "Top 1000 album list". Rocklistmusic.co.uk.
  12. "Guinness Top 50 Soul Albums". Rocklistmusic.xo.uk.

Bibliography
  • Let's Stay Together album liner notes by Colin Escott. Cream / Hi Records, Inc.
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