Al Green - Testify - The Best Of The A&M Years '2003

Tracks list

After turning to his ministry full-time in the late '70s, Al Green moved from Hi
Records, where he had scored most of his hits, to the religious Myrrh label. But
in 1985 he moved back to a secular record company, A&M Records, signaling a
renewed interest in the musical mainstream, even if he continued to record
material with inspirational lyrics. He Is the Light, his debut A&M album, marked
a reunion with his Hi producer, Willie Mitchell, and it recreated the Memphis
soul sound of their previous collaborations to the point that if one didn't
listen to the lyrics too closely, one would think it was one of his '70s albums.
Maybe that was the problem. Black pop music had moved on since those days, and
He Is the Light didn't reach the charts, although one of its tracks, "Going
Away," won a gospel Grammy (his sixth in the genre since 1981). For 1987's Soul
Survivor, he took a more contemporary approach, the production sounding like a
Luther Vandross record on occasion, and covered pop songs like "He Ain't Heavy,
He's My Brother" and "You've Got a Friend." (The latter, written by Carole King,
a Jew, wasn't composed with Jesus in mind, of course.) The result was some chart
action, including Top 40 R&B status for the Grammy-winning "Everything's Gonna
Be Alright." In 1988, Green accompanied Annie Lennox on a revival of "Put a
Little Love in Your Heart" for the film Scrooged and they made the pop Top Ten.
I Get Joy, his third and last A&M release, mixed approaches and sold modestly,
though it produced the Top 20 R&B hit and Grammy-winner "As Long as We're
Together." Testify: The Best of the A&M Years traces this history well. Just
don't buy it expecting Al Green's greatest hits.

Tracklist:
1 01. Al Green - Put A Little Love In Your Heart (03:49)
1 02. Al Green - Going Away (03:35)
1 03. Al Green - True Love (04:26)
1 04. Al Green - I Feel Like Going On (03:10)
1 05. Al Green - You Brought The Sunshine (05:07)
1 06. Al Green - Power (05:19)
1 07. Al Green - Building Up (03:05)
1 08. Al Green - Everything's Gonna Be Alright (04:21)
1 09. Al Green - You Know And I Know (03:59)
1 10. Al Green - You've Got A Friend (05:36)
1 11. Al Green - He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother (04:01)
1 12. Al Green - Soul Survivor (04:42)
1 13. Al Green - You're Everything To Me (04:13)
1 14. Al Green - Mighty Clouds Of Joy (04:11)
1 15. Al Green - As Long As We're Together (03:44)
1 16. Al Green - Tryin' To Do The Best I Can (03:03)
1 17. Al Green - I Get Joy (03:53)
1 18. Al Green - So Real To Me (00:53)

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