#427 Al Green, 'Call Me' (1973)

Previously #290

This is why I find Greatest Hits collections contentious. Al Green’s Greatest Hits appeared at #456. I kinda get it when it’s so culturally important that the collection itself could be an album, but when artists like Al Green have albums as good as ‘Call Me,’ it feels like a wasted spot.

Three tracks on this album appeared on that Greatest Hits; ‘Call Me (Come Back Home),’ ‘Here I Am (Come and Take Me)’ and ‘You Ought To Be With Me.’ All charted in the Top 10. Al Green has the ability to take any song, and inject so much soul into it. He does this with his originals but also his covers; on this record he covered to country tracks – ‘I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry’ and ‘Funny How Time Slips Away’ by Hank Williams and Willie Nelson respectively. If you didn’t know they were covers, you’d think they were performed for the first time by Al Green. 

#rs500albums