Usually we’ve used our “upcoming releases” tag to highlight albums that have been in eternal limbo, but today is a brighter day. Because today, we’ve found out about a few long-awaited albums that finally have release dates. Alas, none of them have that week-long Raconteurs lead time–the dates mostly fall in the later part of the spring–but hey, any glimmer of hope in the record industry these days is something to cheer, right? After the jump, news on now-really-upcoming-for-sure (we think) releases by Lil Mama, Lil Wayne, and Al Green.
ARTIST: Al Green
TITLE: “Thought It Out”
WEB DEBUT: Jan. 10, 2008
As promised, here’s Al Green. Doing “People Get Ready”! This performance is downright bananas, with the always-ready-for-an-ad-lib Green hamming it up something serious as he wanders right off the stage for a few handshakes and hugs. For the longest time it’s so, uh, off-the-cuff and giggly that if I didn’t know the Rev was the Rev I might think he was tipsy a tad loosened up. (“I need just a little more cord”!) Then in the final 30 seconds the spirit (and not a little James Brown, check the shoulder moves) gets in him and he shakes the rhythm and soul right outta that microphone. After the jump, you can hear a more composed Mr. Green’s take on “A Change Is Gonna Come.” That one made me a little sniffly (unrelated to my flu).
Folks, have I mentioned that I love Al Green? I love Al Green. Al Green is in fact my favorite artist. Al Green was actually sent to us in a magical comet by benevolent spacepeople just to give us a glimpse of the awesome life that awaits us when we can become as serene as Al Green. More »
Thanks to an MTV interview where he dropped a bunch of tantalizing bombs about his production work on the forthcoming Al Green LP that apparently (might) feature(s) contributions from Justin Timberlake (eh), Anthony Hamilton (swoon), and D’Angelo (!). Read on, and if you listen close you can hear the rest of my family shouting for joy somewhere in Pennsylvania:
