Myriad real-life troubles shook Al Green and his soulful sound in the mid '70s. There was an incident involving a pot of boiling-hot grits poured on his back by an unhinged lover that sent the man's sensuous (and highly successful) pursuits into a spiritual tailspin. And the still-unsolved shooting death of his drummer Al Jackson permanently deracinated the grounding of Memphis soul/ funk. By 1977, Green had even cut his ties with producer Willie Mitchell and his telltale Hi Rhythm sound. So 1977's The Belle Album might give pause, knowing that the seduction, the infinite funk, and the graceful touch of Mitchell were all missing, replaced instead with songs about his 'other 'love, God.

And yet, the album remains one of Green's highlights, the crafty singer self-producing himself and steadying the proceedings with his acoustic guitar comping to great results. The title track addresses his faith forthright amid a miasma of synthesized washes and again on the buoyant "All 'n 'All." Meanwhile, the steady build of seven-minute long jam "Georgia Boy" is one of the man's finest grooves, as fine an example of backwoods country-disco to ever emerge from the wilds.