Puneet Varma (Editor)

Let's Stay Together (album)

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Length
  
33:53

Release date
  
31 January 1972

Producer
  
Willie Mitchell

Artist
  
Al Green

Label
  
Hi Records

Genre
  
Soul music

Let's Stay Together (album) httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediaenthumb0

Released
  
January 31, 1972 (1972-01-31)

Recorded
  
1971 Royal Recording Studios (Memphis, Tennessee)

Let's Stay Together (1972)
  
I'm Still in Love With You (1972)

Similar
  
Al Green albums, Soul music albums

Let's Stay Together is a 1972 album by 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 most well known for the title track, which became Green's signature song and 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.

Contents

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." 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?'" and that "[H]is cover of the Bee Gees' [song] took the soul ballad to new levels of artistry and refinement."

List rankings

  • Included in Q Magazine's "Best Soul Albums of All Time" (Q, 10/99, p. 150)
  • Ranked #335 in the Virgin All-Time top 1000 album list, from the 1998 book by Colin Larkin
  • Ranked #608 in the Guinness top 1000 album poll (1994) and #25 in the Top 50 Soul Albums list

    • 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, Willie 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 featured on 2003 reissue

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

    • Rhythm section

  • Howard Grimes - drums
  • Al Jackson, Jr. - drums
  • Leroy Hodges - bass
  • Charles Hodges - organ, piano
  • Teenie Hodges - guitar

    • Horn section

  • Wayne Jackson - trumpet
  • Andrew Love - horn, tenor saxophone
  • Ed Logan - horn, tenor saxophone
  • James Mitchell - bass, baritone saxophone, arrangements
  • Jack Hale, Sr. - trombone

    • Vocals

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

    • Additional personnel

  • Willie Mitchell - producer, engineer
  • Willie Mitchell & Terry Manning - Mixing Engineers
  • Peter Rynston - mastering engineer
  • Jools DeVere - artwork
  • Bud Lee - photography

    • Songs

    1Let's Stay Together3:17
    2La la for You3:31
    3So You're Leaving2:57

    References

    Let's Stay Together (album) Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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