At 63, Al Green's soul is as good as new
At the tender age of 63, Al Green is in the midst of a remarkable artistic renaissance, with a recent string of albums strong enough to stand up against his classic 1970s material without seeming like feeble echoes. None of that was on display at the House Of Blues on Thursday. Instead, Green’s performance was more typical of someone with little to offer beyond the usual oldies-but-goodies.
Of course, Green would probably have to work harder to put on a bad show than a good one. And he was working plenty hard. The singer tossed roses into the audience by the fistful and danced with enough fervor to end up on the floor at one point, with a leg raised in the air for no apparent reason beyond being moved by the spirit.
Then there was his voice, still a remarkable instrument capable of astonishing things for a singer of any age. “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?’’ was low-key and sinuous, while he put a gospel-funk grit (albeit with a decidedly secular focus by the end) into “Let’s Get Married.’’ Most thrilling of all was the falsetto shriek he brought out early, in the opening “L-O-V-E (Love),’’ and slipped into time and again. When he’d simply hold it, it sent ripples through the nervous system.
Much of the time, though, his 13-piece band didn’t quite match up. “Let’s Stay Together’’ and “So Tired of Being Alone’’ all sounded a hair too bright, and “Lay It Down’’ lost much of its suppleness. And the man has greatest-hits albums with more songs than he fit into his 70 minutes.
But even Al-Green-by-the-numbers was something to behold, and he’d occasionally push well past it. He ended powerfully with “Love and Happiness,’’ which transformed ever so subtly into a sharply funky outgroove. Green locked tightly into that one and proved just how much vitality he still has inside, waiting to be unleashed.
With a tough-but-tender voice and hair like a deflated beefeater, Jesse Dee opened energetically with retro Muscle Shoals-style R&B that remained frustratingly earthbound.
