Al Green

Latest Articles

Soul training

Suddenly, Mayer Hawthorne is running retro-pop
Mayer Hawthorne rose to instant retro-pop acclaim the same way that everyone from Al Green to Michael Jackson moved on up — work and luck.
By CHRIS FARAONE | September 22, 2009

Taking care of business

Digging for gold in the roots and world-music scene
Boston is one of the healthiest markets for live roots music in the country. Here are the 10 roots shows we don't want to miss this fall.
By TED DROZDOWSKI | September 14, 2009

Michael Jackson and his fears

Solo contendere
At the dead end of a decade when everyone was too discouraged to wonder if pop had a center, Michael Jackson's Off the Wall (1979) gathered up disillusioned factions of fans as confidently as it punted four singles into the Top 10.
By MARK MOSES | June 26, 2009

Michael Jackson and his fears

Come on home

Lyle Divinsky croons his way back into town
What's that about the apple and the tree? With college degree in hand, Lyle Divinsky returns to his Portland stomping grounds with a debut CD, Traveling Man , that not only features dad Phil Divinsky's drummer (Marty Joyce), bassist (Peter Masterson), and guitarist (Andy Argondizza) from the ToneKings, but plays in a Motown/R&B sandbox.
By SAM PFEIFLE | June 03, 2009

Something for everyone

Hands and Knees' vintage-to-Fraggle rock
In the last three years Hands and Knees have been signed to the Beatings' Midriff Records and racked up ample gold stars from critics; late last month they also dropped their splendid sophomore record, Et tu, Fluffy?
By BARRY THOMPSON | May 12, 2009

Vital overtones

Five essential Byrne-Eno collaborations
By MICHAEL ATCHISON | November 25, 2008

Lucky, beautiful, and, now, holy

Rev Run runs straight
He was the king of rock, there was no higher . The sucker MCs, they should call him sire .
By JIM SULLIVAN | August 20, 2008

Three in one(1)

Discs to get you through the late summer
As this most prolific summer of local album releases stretches into August, it’s getting hard to keep up.
By SAM PFEIFLE | August 05, 2008

Dance, Monkey: J.J. Leslie

We put a comic on the hot seat. This week’s victim . . .
Kool-Aid is the ultimate energy drink, and it smashes through walls with its character, so it makes transportation easier.
By MARC HIRSH | July 08, 2008

Al Green

Lay It Down | Blue Note
The Reverend Green gets his sexy groove back after the three uneven releases that followed his 2003 secular comeback.
By TED DROZDOWSKI | June 03, 2008

Crescent City health report

The New Orleans Jazz + Heritage Festival buoys a wounded community
“Is much better! The tourists is coming back !” That was our cab driver from Louis Armstrong Airport into New Orleans — a transplanted Haitian from Jefferson Parish.
By JON GARELICK | May 06, 2008

New bottle

Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed’s vintage sounds
“A lot of today’s music is a little bit ironic," says Reed, and I don’t have any of that. It’s not about irony.”
By JIM SULLIVAN | April 07, 2008

Cover girls

Cat Power and Shelby Lynne
On Cat Power’s second album of covers, she might be traveling the same territory Elvis did in “Kentucky Rain” — a country road with low clouds on a chill, gray afternoon.
By CHARLES TAYLOR | February 04, 2008

Primed

Lee Genesis at Johnny D's, January 9, 2008
Even among the greatest soul singers, there are probably few who can work a sermon about the evils of the sub-prime-mortgage fiasco into a song and make it hip.
By JON GARELICK | January 15, 2008

A Bridge to the past

Citadelle build a tower that spans the decades
Anybody out there old enough to remember Burt Sugarman’s Midnight Special ?
By SAM PFEIFLE | September 19, 2007

Birds of a feather

The jazz flocks gather at Newport
What continues to make the JVC Jazz Festival at Newport so vital these days isn’t just the variety but the depth of the variety.
By JON GARELICK | August 15, 2007

The late show

Boston, from 2 am to 6 am
Boston lives after 2 am. It’s just a different city, more of a landscape than a community. Audio Slideshow: Allston, 2 to 6 am Audio Slideshow: Cambridge, 2 to 6 am Audio Slideshow: Downtown Boston, 2 to 6 am
By CAMILLE DODERO, MIKE MILIARD, AND WILL SPITZ | January 31, 2007

James Brown

1933-2006
Brown was arguably the only rock and roll era performer to equal Elvis Presley in vocal authority, charisma, stage presence, song interpretation, and sexual magnetism.
By TED DROZDOWSKI | December 28, 2006

Angels in America

Tony McNaboe leads an all-star cast for a holiday single
It’s been 21 years since “We Are the World,” and maybe it’s surprising we haven’t seen much like it since.
By SAM PFEIFLE | December 13, 2006

Making book on rock 'n' rool

The dean's list
Everybody knows that the first rock critics were those sweaty adolescents who got dragged up to American Bandstand’s Rate-a-Record display by Dick Clark.
By MARK MOSES | November 06, 2006

Aaron Neville

Bring It On Home . . . The Soul Classics | Burgundy
Post-Katrina, we all could use some comfort, and Aaron Neville, who lost his home in the flooding, knows how to provide it.
By CLEA SIMON | October 02, 2006

Sax machines

Local luminaries Deric Dyer and Paul Ahlstrand
In our guitar-centric culture it’s easy to forget that the first rock-and-roll instrument was the saxophone. Deric Dyer, "I've Got to Use My Imagination" (mp3) Paul Ahlstrand, "Sunday Hang" (mp3)
By TED DROZDOWSKI | August 29, 2006

Solo shots

Sia, Mozez, and Tina Dico minus Zero 7
Since neither Henry Binns nor Sam Hardaker is a singer anyone cares much to hear, the duo’s ascent has also produced a small fleet of Zero 7–branded vocalists.
By MIKAEL WOOD | March 02, 2006