Master Hits: Al Green CD

Misleading title aside, MASTER HITS is actually the long-overdue CD version of Green's 1967 debut album, featuring "Back Up Train," the ballad that was his first successful single (as a member of the Soulmates). The album, of course, pre-dates Green's move to producer Willie Mitchell's Hi Records, and the long string of hits that resulted from that collaboration. In fact, there are few hints here of what you'd consider the Al Green style--he sounds like a capable (if somewhat faceless) soul singer a la Jackie Wilson. Apart from "Train," the best cut is probably "Stop and Check Myself," a sinuous falsetto vocal workout that's also Green's sole songwriting contribution to the album.

Sometimes genius doesn't reveal itself right off the bat; the first

recordings of artists as monumental as Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, and David Bowie offered little hint of the greatness to come. Al Green's first

album, 1967's BACK UP TRAIN, doesn't hit any of the heights his

subsequent records would achieve either, but for an artist still in the

formative stages, it's pretty damn impressive nonetheless (much more so than the debuts of the aforementioned musical giants).

Green wouldn't find his signature style until moving to Hi Records and working with producer Willie Mitchell and the Hi rhythm section, so the supple, undulating sound that became Green's signature is absent here. Instead, we hear a much more straightforward soul sound influenced by Stax, Motown, and Green's ubiquitous gospel roots. Many of the arrangements hew closer to the punchy Otis Redding style that was all the rage in R&B at the time, and Green's vocal calisthenics sound completely at home in that setting. If Green never made another record, BACK UP TRAIN would probably still be regarded as a minor gem of '60s soul.

Digitally remastered by Chris Athens (Sterling Sound, New York, New York).

This is part of Arista's Heritage series.

Liner Note Author: Anthony Heilbut.

Compilation producers: Steve Bartels, Gary Pacheco.