A tank full of SOUL

Robert Benziker | The New Mexican

8/28/2008 - 8/29/08

It's a cliché to say a whole generation of Americans was conceived to the music of the Rev. Al Green, but it's not a fair one: in fact, two generations — and counting — have been conceived to the man's records . Songs like "Love and Happiness," "Call Me (Come Back Home)," and "Let's Stay Together" sound so much like baby-making music that even if you don't know how babies are made, you could probably puzzle some of it out by listening to them.

Green is back to help perpetuate the species with Lay It Down, a gem of a record. Next-generation artists such as Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson of the Roots, Anthony Hamilton, John Legend, and the Dap-Kings' horns re-create the signature Memphis sound of Al's Willie Mitchell-produced Hi Records era, and Green lays his timeless voice on a pillow of sultry strings and gently swinging grooves. For the good times, naturally.

Green brings those good times to the Santa Fe Opera for the second time in three years on Saturday, Aug. 30. The good reverend talked to Pasatiempo byphone in a conversation punctuated by laughter and spontaneous bursts of singing.

Pasatiempo: What do you remember about your last performance at the Santa Fe Opera?

Al Green: Aw, that was a good show, man. I was rocking, man. ... It's the effect that this music has on people is what is important. I think the effect is a good one, 'cause it evokes family. I want to focus on the family. Not the way they sell it politically. I'm not really given to the political process so much as I am the structure of the family. The way it's laid out and the way it's supposed to go.

It also kind of evokes that kind of genre of music where, let me see, the first thing you want to do is embrace and turn up the fire on the fireplace and open a bottle of white wine — I've got it down pat, man — and then after you do that, you kind of give her a little sip, and then you sit by the fire, and then you go over and put on a little Al Green, know what I mean? And turn it down real low. And you keep on sipping and start stroking her hand a little bit. Before you know it, you'll be in for the good times [laughs]. That's the good times for real, isn't it?

Pasa: What are the challenges in bringing that intimate fireplace vibe to a big concert?

Green: It's a lot of love. I feel what they're sending up there. It's more than I can handle. And I must say, I'm defeated before I start; I can't handle it. ... Everybody sings along with [sings a bar from "Let's Stay Together"]: "I'm so in love with you!" Everybody sends all this love. And I just stopped the show the other night, and I said, "I'm only one little man, y'all are 10,000! Don't kill me!" And everybody was applauding! Everybody was laughing and started applauding, because they know what I'm talking about. Because the emotions go out, and emotions can't change themselves. However way you send them out, that's just the way they are. I'm going to come out there and sing 'em again. I'm going to sing "Tired of Being Alone" this time.

Pasa: It's cool to hear thousands of people singing along to "Tired of Being Alone."

Green: I didn't have to sing that hard in Chicago, because they already know it! But it's amazing to see the little kids. They ride in the car with Momma every day. They're picking it up. ... Well, they're young teenagers now, but they still hear [sings a couple of bars of "Love and Happiness"]: "Love will make you do right/Love will make you do wrong," and they've got to have that: "Please, I got to get me some of that."

Pasa: I got a copy of your new album; it's a good one.

Green: Yeah. I like Lay It Down. "Lay it down, let it go, fall in love."

Pasa: It's got a "first crush" kind of feel to it.

Green: Right. It really does. It's kind of like new, fresh, like you said, the first time. It has that type of emotion too.

Pasa: Did you learn anything from these youngsters on the record, or were you the teacher?

Green: No, I tried to stay out of the way and let the design that we had talked about in the studio come forth, instead of me dictating. I wanted to leave them alone. They just said, "You just sing, Al. Don't change none of that. You just sing, Al, and we're going to work with the music." But the more they worked with the music, [the more] the music began to sound like Al Jackson Jr. and Willie Mitchell and the Hodges Brothers. And it goes straight back to 1973. That's the whole sound right there.

Pasa: Lay It Down made it as high on the pop album charts as Let's Stay Together did 38 years ago. That must be very gratifying.

Green: Man, they told me the album debuted at number 10. I was going like, "I never had an album debut at number 10." And they said, "Well Al, after 30-something years — God bless ya!" I said, "Well, I'll tell you what, I'll take it. Whatever you got."

And we did a few TV shows — Letterman, Leno — and we got a few more to do. ... We don't know what God is doing. We're just going [sings a few bars from "Stay With Me (By the Sea)"]: "Sha la la, la la la, la la la." Yeah, "Stay With Me." Everyone kind of knows that. They don't know the song yet, but they know that part.

I met this lady next to me at the gas station. I'm going, like, "Ma'am, can you just pump your gas over there! Your tank is over there!" And she's leaning over [singing]: "Sha la la, la la la, la la la." And that's kind of nice, you know? At a gas station! 

details
Al Green; Paul Rivers Bailey opens
8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 30
Santa Fe Opera, seven miles north of Santa Fe on U.S. 84/285
$39-$87, $25 standing room, 986-5900