Al Green, Love Ritual
Who wouldn't want to bask in these leftovers?
Before there were box sets, there were rarities discs, and as CDs took hold in the late '80s, label vaults began to be scoured for extras that might enhance sales of reissued titles. And of course, there was the never-to-be-underestimated offer of extra money for little extra work, as well; labels could capitalize on artists no longer in their employ, and fans could be sated yet again.
Lots of times, this stuff appeals only to the diehard. But Al Green dominated his corner of '70s R&B as surely as anyone from Philadelphia International to P-Funk. He carried the flame for southern soul as a unique style with broad outreach and contours anyone could access. He was also the sexiest singer who ever lived. Every album Green made between 1970 and 1975 is a classic. Chances were always good that his outtakes might have something going for them.
In 1989, MCA issued Love Ritual: Rare and Previously Unreleased 1968-1976. The opening track wasn't a new discovery: "Love Ritual" had led off side two of 1975's Al Green Is Love. There were congas and Green's delivery was pitched nicely against a dramatic string arrangement. The version on this collection didn't have strings — and all of a sudden it sounded the most seething polyrhythmic funk workout imaginable. (Or, to be more precise, Fela Kuti.) Green no longer sounds like he's dueting with violins but slithering and weaving between the percussion, the organ, and the blaxploitation horn hits. Pushing the congas to the front, as producer Colin Escott did, didn't hurt one bit. If he'd cut it four years earlier and released it minus the local symphony players' overdub, Green might have become a different kind of star.
What-might-have-been is a fun game to play with this set. The straight-soul blast through the Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" from a 45 in 1968 isn't quite the right fit — especially considering the magic Green would eventually work with equally well-known songs — but everyone on it sounds game; it's the definition of a minor rarity that nevertheless tones up our sense of the artist. "Ride Sally Ride" could have been on 1970's Al Green Gets Next to You, his one real funk album. "Strong as Death (Sweet as Love)" is a straightforward plea for succor draped in mystery, its somber tone signaled by the fact that a piano replaces the usual organ. (The drum fill at 1:22 is pure smoke.) It is highly recommended to Bryan Ferry, should he be scouring for covers. "So Good to Be Here" is similarly recommended to She & Him — but only because the Carpenters are no more.
The CD version of Love Ritual featured a bonus track — back then CDs had "bonus tracks" that are now, of course, relegated to vinyl — that defined the package as much as the title track did. It's another well-known album track: "Beware," which spun out for eight-and-a-half minutes at the end of 1973's Livin' For You. Here it spins for more than 15 — it's the entire take, and it's revelatory primarily for how many times you realize it had to be cut down for the LP. Then it's revelatory because, really — who'd want to cut any of it? Better question: Who wouldn't want to bask in these leftovers?
