It's Easy Being Green

In an age of pre-packaged, pre-pubescent flop idols, it’s a rare occurrence to find any sort of genuine legends these days. However, it’s not all doom and gloom, as there are still a few true blue originals left in the world, and 62-year-old superstar of soul Al Green is most certainly one of them. At the moment, the good Reverend is enjoying something of a resurgence in his career, and that’s mostly down to the Stateside success of the ?uestlove produced album Lay it Down. It seems that this new-found spike in popularity isn’t lost on the singer of classic singles such as ‘Tired Of Being Alone’ and ‘Let’s Stay Together’, and when we caught up with him, Mr Green was, shall we say, a bit Oliver Twist.

“They sent me free champagne, baby,” bellows Green down the blower. “CHAM-PAGNE! Why aren’t you sitting here drinking it with me Mr. McFee?”
As we humbly explain that it would take a while to get from Ireland to his home in Memphis, Tennessee, the sheer mention of our country seems to get the pissed-up preacher man quite excited.
“Oh I love Ireland, baby,” he roars. “I’m playing there soon man, and I’ve got to say that Vicarstreetroyalaberthall is one of my favourite places to play.”
Now the eagle-eyed readers among you will notice that there is no such venue as “Vicarstreetroyalalberthall” and they are in fact two different places in two different countries, but his heart is in the right place, so we let him off.
“All you need to know for this interview man is that the Reverend Love is playing in New Orleans next week,” he interjects. “That’s me. L.O.V.E. baby.”
Before I made the phone-call to Al’s palatial pad in the good ol’ USA, I had originally planned to quiz him about the impending American elections, the apparent rampant sexism in hip-hop and why soul music is as popular as ever, but quite frankly after speaking with him for a few minutes, I decided to abandon all my previous strategies and opt for comedy instead, by asking him why all his songs seem to be about (ahem) “ridin’.”
“My wife asks me that all the time too actually,” guffaws Green. “Making love makes the world go round and I’m just singing about real life and real things that people do. Songs on the new album like ‘I’m Wild About You’ are about making it with my special lady friend. Sometimes she gets embarrassed and asks me why I feel the need to make our private life public, but I always tell her that if I don’t sing about it, how will everyone know I love her?”
He’s a charmer, we’ll give him that and it’s not just Hot Press who have become smitten with his soulful singles, it’s his home country too, as earlier this summer his comeback album Lay It Down crashed into the Billboard top ten amid a flurry of flattering reviews.

“I feel blessed that people listen to it,” he reflects. “I walked into the bank the other day and the teller behind the counter was listening to it and she told me that she’s been playing it all day, so I figure it must be good if regular working Joes are getting into it.”
While Al’s silky voice is as salacious as ever, much of the success can be attributed to the album’s producer, Roots’ member ?uestlove who, rather cannily, roped in some big name guest-stars such as Corinne Bailey-Rae, John Legend and Anthony Hamilton to help out on some tracks.
“Corinne’s such a sweetheart, man,” offers Al as he sips some more CHAM-PAGNE. “John and Anthony are all great too. It’s fun working with the newer guys. I keep up on modern music too you know. Some of those hip-hop guys have such fantastic names. I can’t remember any of them now, but they’re cool.”
And just as it seemed like we caught Al’s attention, he’s back to enjoying his bubbly again. As a final parting, we try asking him about his impending date with Ireland once again. Thankfully this time around he’s a little more prepared.
“I’ve played in Ireland many, many times,” he concludes. “Y’all are beautiful people and I feel very grateful to sing for you. There are times when I’m sick of travelling but I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Vicarstreetroyalalberthall and when I play there I’ll make sure to keep a bottle of champagne for you.”