Kicked out of his childhood home by his religious father for the hideous crime of listening to Jackie Wilson, Al Green was hustling in a bordello when he was discovered by the bandleader Willie Mitchell. He went on to be inaccurately described as the Last of The Great Soul Singers, and defined the Memphis soul sound of the early seventies with the ten steamy hot slabs of utilitarian jamming that comprise this Greatest Hits. It’s generally regarded as one of the best ‘best of’ records in the history of recorded music.
It’s also the 456th Greatest Album of All Time, according to Rolling Stone magazine’s 2020 list. This week, Christopher Macarthur-Boyd and Liam Withnail listened to it, and now they’re going to talk about it. Featuring cool comments and white-hot takes on everything from the drumming of Al Jackson Jr., the pavlovian response of all Scottish comedians to ‘Reet Petite’ by Jackie Wilson, porridge-based bath attacks, and the non-goodness of religious music, to the accusation that Al Green once shoved his secretary through a glass door. All that plus Quizzz, Secret Posho, and Tattoo Woohoo/Tattoo Boohoo, on this week’s episode of Enjoy An Album. Enjoy!