The 500 - #286 - I'm Still In Love With You - Al Green

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #286

Album Title: I'm Still In Love With You

Artist: Al Green

Genre: Soul

Recorded: Royal Recording Studios, Memphis, Tennessee

Released: October, 1972

My age at release: 7

How familiar was I with it before this week: A couple songs

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, dropping to #320 (33 places) since 2012

Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Love And Happiness

In childhood, it seems that time moves slowly. Some experts suggest this is not merely an illusion. Dr. Clifford Lazarus, in an article in Psychology Today, posits that "children recall more visual data" than their elders" and, as a consequence, generate more "mental frames" or "mental images" that capture significant moments in time.

Consider the cover art to this week's record, I'm Still In Love With You (pictured above). Taken in 1972, it depicts the singer Al Green, seated and dressed almost entirely in white on lacquered rattan furniture, set against a white backdrop. As soon as I saw it, I was transported back to my childhood. More specifically, the early 1970s when I was about seven to nine years old.

My wife and I have talked about how we perceived the "adult world" when we were pre-pubescent. She came of age during the era of   Saturday Night Fever and was convinced she would become a 20-something disco dancer in strappy heels, decked out in a flowing dress while being wooed by a white-suited Tony Manero-type.

My vision of the "adult world" was more like this album cover. A sprawling tropical mansion, accented with the "finest" rattan and bamboo furniture and covered with lush tropical greenery. There may have even been a parrot involved. Perhaps my adolescent fascination with the television program Fantasy Island played into that mental image. Regardless, it doesn't make a lot of sense that a kid growing up in Ontario, Canada, would imagine a future with palm plants and exotic wildlife. However, I do like the fact that I thought my future would be rosy enough to include a mansion -- gaudy wicker furniture aside.

Which brings me back to I'm Still In Love With You, the fifth studio record by soul/R&B/gospel legend Green. I wrote about his history just a few weeks ago when discussing his sixth record, Call Me. Both records are considered part of Green's soul phase, which culminated with his Greatest Hits record in 1975 (#52 on The 500). By then, Green had entered the gospel era of his career, which stemmed from a life-changing event that occurred on October 14, 1974.

Sometimes referenced as the "Grits Incident", Green's ex-girlfriend, Mary Woodson, burst into the bathroom of his Memphis home and poured a pot of scalding hot grits (a Southern food item comprising corn, cheese and cream) on the back of the bathing singer. Woodson then went into a nearby bedroom, found Green's handgun, and took her own life.

Mary Woodson (1970s)

Green required skin grafts and spent months in recovery. He also reported that he spent his convalescence in deep reflection on his life. Raised in an evangelical household he had straddled the line between the devout faith in which he was raised and his philandering lifestyle as a popular soul singer.

Earlier in 1974 he had released Take Me To The River, a song about baptism. At the same time, information about the “Grits Incident” was revealed by investigating officers. They said Woodson, unbeknownst to Green, was married with four children and had a history of mental health issues. She had left two suicide notes, including one proclaiming her love for Green.

Green was cleared of any wrongdoing and began a path to redemption, determined to live a wholesome life and spread the word of God. He became a born-again Christian and, in 1976, was ordained a minister. A theme of the Reverend Al Green’s 1977 release, The Belle Album, espouses devotion to God. Then, in 1980, his first purpose-made gospel record, The Lord Will Make A Way, ushered in a transformational phase in his music career.

The story of Green’s metamorphosis got me thinking about the changes we embrace throughout our lives. I have two good friends who have recently made important lifestyle adjustments to improve their health and, hopefully, longevity. Their “altered lifestyle” has not been lost on me as they are worthy lessons to emulate.

It's times like these when I reflect on a beautiful bit of poetry by Guy Garvey, of the band Elbow, from the song Lunette:

"What can be said of the whiskey and wine.
Random abandon or ballast for joy
That was scuppered with trust, little more than a boy.
And besides I'm in excellent company.

I'm reaching the age when decisions are made
On life and liver and I'm sure, last ditch,
That I'll ask for more time
But mother, forgive me,
I still want a bottle of good Irish whiskey
And a bundle of smokes in my grave."

I’ll have to take good care of myself, I still have a white mansion, tropical plants with plenty of rattan furniture to purchase...and a parrot.

The 500 - #290 - Call Me - Al Green

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #290

Album Title: Call Me

Artist: Al Green

Genre: Soul

Recorded: Royal Recording Studios, Memphis, Tennessee, USA

Released: April, 1973

My age at release: 7

How familiar was I with it before this week: One Song - but it was the UB40 version.

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, dropping to #427 (since 2012)

Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Here I Am (Come And Take Me)

A recent report indicates that the current average tuition in Ontario for a full-time, undergraduate student (not including books or other fees) is about $8,000 a year. Therefore, at minimum wage, a student would need to work full-time for about 15 weeks to afford it. With no spending money left over.

By way of comparison, the cost of my tuition and books at Western University in 1985 was about $1000. I worked full-time during the summer leading up to university as a lifeguard at a city-run pool. I was making $7.50 an hour and, with careful planning, I had enough for university by the last week of July. In fact, my lifeguard chums threw a "Tuition Party" on the long weekend in early August to celebrate having saved enough for the upcoming year's schooling. That gave us most of a month to "live it up" before studies.

Thames Pool - London, Ontario - where I worked for three summers

Granted, I was a stay-at-home baccalaureate student without the cost of paying for rental accommodation. Attending an institution outside my home town would have tripled my cost. My parents gave up the basement, allowing me to fashion my own "bachelor-pad". I'll admit, I took some inspiration from The Brady Bunch episode in which the eldest son, Greg, moved to the attic. I even considered a beaded curtain.

Greg Brady (Barry Williams) entering his groovy 60s attic pad
in Season 4 of The Brady Bunch

“Graduating” to a much larger space than my bedroom, brought a new sense of liberty and independence. I had a place to entertain friends and, on occasion, bring home a date. I could provide a place to sit that wasn't my bed, offer cold or hot beverages and even light a few candles. In retrospect, the transition to “below stairs” seems comical. However, at the time, I was earnest in my efforts to be suave and sophisticated.

It was around this time that my friends and I started adding "mood music" to our record and CD collections. My friend Paul taunted me, in jest, by saying: "What are you going to do, Hodgy, play prog-rock when she comes over? You do know that Rush is like a female-repellant, right? You've got to get some Barry White or maybe some Al Green."

Albert Leornes Greene (spelled with an “e” until his music career took off) was born in 1946 in Arkansas. The sixth of ten children, he began performing gospel music with his sister at the age of ten. He was kicked out of the house as a teenager by his devoutly religious father because Al was listening to rhythm and blues artists, including Jackie Wilson, Elvis Presley and Wilson Pickett. He continued to pursue music with high school friends under the name Al Greene & The Creations and later, Al Greene & The Soul Mates. In 1967, they released the single Back Up Train, using only Al Greene's name in the title.

A move to Memphis and an introduction to musician and producer Willie Mitchell proved a game-changer. Mitchell coached the 23-year-old Greene to find his own voice instead of trying to imitate contemporary singers, such as Pickett, Wilson and James Brown. At Mitchell’s suggestion, Greene dropped the final "e" from his name.

Memphis Soul Pioneer Willie Mitchell (1970)

Green's moderately successful sophomore effort, Green Is Blues, (1969) was followed by three records in a two-year span that solidified his place as a top tier soul singer. All of his albums became certified gold (500,000 copies sold) by 1972. The romance crooner released eight Top 10 singles, including Let's Stay Together, his biggest hit to date.

Green's fourth release, Let's Stay Together (1972)

Call Me, this week's record on my 500 journey, is Green's sixth and is considered by many to be his masterpiece. Music writer Peter Buckley called it "the greatest soul record ever made" in the 2003 music compendium The Rough Guide To Rock.

I agree. This record is eminently listenable and wonderfully smooth. My friend Paul was correct, Al Green knows how to set a romantic mood. Despite Paul's humourous cajoling, I didn't purchase any Al Green back in the mid-eighties -- despite the extra pocket change that came with a $1000 tuition built into my budget.

In hindsight, I'm not sure that music was the deal-breaker for any of my romantic endeavors. It was probably more about that scarcely private, hastily cobbled-together, bachelor pad in the basement of my parents’ house --  despite the candlelight. (Maybe I did need that beaded curtain?)