Gets Next To You - AL GREEN***

I Can't Get Next To You/Are You Lonely For Me Baby/God Is Standing By/Tired Of Being Alone/I'm A Ram/Drivin' Wheel/Light My Fire/You Say It/Right Now Right Now/All Because

Gets Next To You was the third album from top seventies soul artist Al Green. He would shortly achieve enormous popularity with his next few releases. Includes the US No. 11 and UK No. 4 hit single Tired Of Being Alone. (US:58)

“Before Al Green accelerated his rise to soul superstardom by mixing southern aesthetics with a more sophisticated and blander sound, he pumped out one album that made no such compromise. Gets Next To You is Green's funkiest waxing, and his only all-out southern soul outing.”

“Notice how Green knows when to let his voice simmer at the most opportune moments, a technique that is characteristically his own. He has one of my favourite soulful voices, because he always has this good sense of dynamic with the music.”

“This release is a little more hard hitting than the typical Al record you'd get later on and you can kind of tell with some of the songs they were choosing to cover (stuff from Norman Whitfield and The Doors). It really sounds a lot like a Memphis kind of record with the guitar and a bluesy, rock-like quality instrumentation overall.”

“For those who might be coming to Al Green from a harder, rougher soul perspective, this is the album for you. If you've never heard how down and dirty the sinister minister from Memphis could get, this record will change your mind.”

"Tired Of Being Alone is just so smooth and among my favourite Green tracks. The title track cover tries to be grittier and dirtier than the Temptations original but loses in power. God Is Standing By is nice though, but there are too many semi-funky jams that don't go anywhere for this to hold up to the great following albums.”

“If you like Al Green's brand of funky soul, Gets Next To You is one of his best. For me, it doesn't get any better than the great AM radio hit Tired Of Being Alone. But this album is full of great tracks, with hardly a dud in the bunch.”

“Not a bad album really, but its nothing to get too excited about. I don't love his cover of the Temptations Can't Get Next To You, its just a bit plodding and missing the exciting original dynamic of having the Temp's different voices on it. Are You Lonely For Me Baby is a very typically sounding Al Green track, lots of ad-libbing and the usual laid back arrangements. I'm particularly keen on the track Drivin’ Wheel, the rhythm is so insistent and groovy.”