Let's Stay Together (album)

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Let's Stay Together
Let's Stay Together cover
Studio album by Al Green
Released January 31, 1972
Recorded Fall 1971
Royal Recording Studios
Memphis, Tennessee
Genre Soul
Length 33:53
Label Hi
SH-32070
Producer Willie Mitchell
Professional reviews
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

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 number-one on the soul album chart. 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 Willie Mitchell produced Al Green album 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

[edit] 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."[1] 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?'"[2] and that "[H]is cover of the Bee Gees' 'How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?' took the soul ballad to new levels of artistry and refinement."[3]

[edit] 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[4]
  • Ranked #608 in the Guiness top 1000 album poll (1994) and #25 in the Top 50 Soul Albums list[5]

[edit] Track listing

All songs written by Al Green, except where noted

[edit] Side One

  1. "Let's Stay Together" (Green, Jackson, 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

[edit] Side Two

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

[edit] Reissue Tracks

Bonus tracks featured on 2003 reissue

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

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Rhythm Section

[edit] Horn Section

[edit] Vocals

[edit] Additional personnel

[edit] References

  • Let's Stay Together album liner notes by Colin Escott. Cream / Hi Records, Inc.. 
  1. ^ Rolling Stone (3/30/72, p.50)
  2. ^ Q (10/99, p.150)
  3. ^ Q (p.121)
  4. ^ http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/virgin_1000.htm top 1000 album list
  5. ^ http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/larkin1000_94.htm Guinness Top 50 Soul Albums
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