Al Green - Call Me

Call Me is the masterpiece from America's last great soul singer, a vulnerable, sensual, spiritual, and sexy album. Sent soaring by the bluesy accents of the Memphis Horns and held to Earth by the rock-solid, wide-open groove of drummer Al Jackson, the subject here is nothing less than Green's soul, a battle expressed beautifully in his otherworldly voice--crying and praying on the title track, despairing on his cover of "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," both bitter and resigned on his version of "Funny How Time Slips Away"--a voice as true as anything short of heaven. And on the closing "Jesus Is Waiting," we even get to hear that. --David Cantwell Amazon.com

(4.5 stars) Slightly monotonous but still first-rate

Another great album, though it might not be able to match its predecessor. The songs are all good and fine - the hit title track, another one of Al's smooth orchestrated soul songs; the mildly funky "Stand Up," the wonderful "Have You Been Making Out O.K.?," which has Al's voice in top form, the slightly menacing sexual energy of "Here I Am (Come and Take Me)," and "You Oughta Be with Me," which has one of Al's best melodies and a fine performance from guitarist Mabon Hodges; there are some interesting string arrangements in places ("Your Love is Like the Morning Sun"), and I even like the two country covers ("Funny How Time Slips Away," "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry") because they don't sound a thing like country songs - instead, they're done in Al's typical style. That is, slow, yearning soul. He even makes the closing sermon "Jesus is Waiting" work. I don't have a problem at all with the individual songs on this album. Here, I have two issues. One, the repetitiveness. Basically, if you don't like Al's signature sound, you won't like this album. Because every song sounds exactly the same, and it's all Al doing what he does best. From the soul fan's perspective, that's probably a good thing, but if you're not a soul fan (or an Al Green fan, for that matter), this probably won't convert you. You'll probably just be bored. For another, something about Green's vocals here doesn't quite work for me. He's still at his peak as a singer, but I miss all the weird vocal inflections that he added to previous albums. He does a bit of it on "Here I Am (Come and Take Me)" and "You Oughta Be With Me," but on a whole there's not as much as there used to be. Yeah, that's a small thing to complain about, but hey. It's still a great album, after all. July 24, 2008

Al Green's greatest album and a true masterpiece of '70s Soul.

"Call Me" was undoubtedly Al Green's best album. "Have You Been Making Out OK", "Funny How Time Slips Away", "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" and "Jesus Is Waiting" are all ageless Soul masterpieces which helped strengthen Mr. Green's position as one of the premier R&B singers of his time. Even today, this CD provides a heartwarming, refreshing and soul-soothing listening experience. An all-time "Soul essential". July 18, 2008

Review of Al green cd

Call me is good smooth r&B cd from the mid 70's and I enjoy it. February 23, 2008

Pure Soul Bliss

Once in a while you hear records that are great form start to finish. This one is a great example. There is a calmness on this recording that exudes from Al's voice and the backing band, while at the same time Al's voice has never been more passionate. I've always been a fan of his previous 'I'm still in love with you' for the same reason, but he takes it a few notches higher on this one. Beautiful Soul; if only the young heads out here now would do their homework, maybe soul music would be in a better place than it is today. September 12, 2007

just a fine "Masterpiece of Soul"

it's the original,
it's remastered,
it's Al Green's best.

I count it to the "Masterpieces of Soul" May 23, 2007

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