Let's Stay Together is the fourth studio album by soul singer Al Green. Released on January 31, 1972, as the follow-up to his moderate success, Al Green Gets Next to You, it was recorded at Royal Recording Studio in Memphis, Tennessee. A commercial success, it peaked at number eight on the pop albums chart and became the first of six consecutive Green albums to peak at number one on the soul album chart, where it held the position for ten straight weeks.
Let's Stay Together is best-known for its title track, "Let's Stay Together", which became Green's signature song and his only number-one pop hit single. The third Green album produced by Willie Mitchell, Let's Stay Together marked the beginning of Green's classic period of critically acclaimed albums.
Contents
Critical reaction
The album's appeal was widespread among critics; Rolling Stone noted, "Green's voice is something to marvel at. He can croon, shout, scat, rise to the smoothest falsetto, and throw in the funkiest growls ... Let's Stay Together is, like its predecessor, an indispensable treat."
In 1999, Q wrote that the album "shows him as the authentic voice of love's pain and purity on such wonders as 'How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?'" and that "[H]is cover of the Bee Gees' [song] took the soul ballad to new levels of artistry and refinement."
List rankings
Included in Q's "Best Soul Albums of All Time"
Ranked No. 335 in the Virgin All-Time top 1000 album list
Ranked No. 608 in the Guinness top 1000 album poll (1994) and No. 25 in the Top 50 Soul Albums list
Track listing
All songs written by Al Green, except where noted
Side one
"Let's Stay Together" (Green, Al Jackson, Jr., Willie Mitchell) – 3:18
"La-La for You" (Green, Mitchell) – 3:31
"So You're Leaving" – 2:57
"What Is This Feeling" – 3:42
"Old Time Lovin'" – 3:19
Side two
"I've Never Found a Girl (Who Loves Me Like You Do)" (Eddie Floyd, Alvertis Isbell, Booker T. Jones) – 3:41
"How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" (Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb) – 6:22
"Judy" – 3:47
"It Ain't No Fun to Me" – 3:23
Reissue tracks
Bonus tracks on 2003 reissue
"Eli's Game" – 4:55
"Listen to Me" (Traditional) – 2:30
Personnel
Rhythm section (the Hi Rhythm Section)
Howard Grimes – drums
Al Jackson Jr. – drums
Leroy Hodges – bass guitar
Charles Hodges – organ, piano
Teenie Hodges – guitar
Horn section
Wayne Jackson – trumpet
Andrew Love – horn, tenor saxophone
Ed Logan – horn, tenor saxophone
James Mitchell – bass, baritone saxophone, arrangements
Jack Hale, Sr. – trombone
Vocals
Al Green – vocals
Charles Chalmers, Donna Rhodes, Sandra Rhodes – background vocals, arrangements
Additional personnel
Willie Mitchell – producer, engineer
Willie Mitchell & Terry Manning – mixing engineers
Peter Rynston – mastering engineer
Jools DeVere – artwork
Bud Lee – photography