The Belle Album

It can be hard, at times, to reconcile the grit and gust of Al Green’s 1977 album, The Belle Album, with the sensual slickness of his earlier material. Green had been facing down plenty in the years previous, from lost loves to his recent conversion to faith, and he’d also let go of his long-time producer, Willie Mitchell, and his Hi Rhythm Section. But Green smelts, from doubt, grief and belief, a soul masterpiece as blissful as it is rough-hewn. “Feels Like Summer” peels its layers back beautifully, its rhythms as watertight as the song is drifty, Green’s voice an unending swoon. “Belle” glistens, its yearning as pure as it is perplexing; the closing “Dream” somehow manages to be both lush and pared-back, Green’s sighing observations cast adrift. This was one of his last secular albums before his gospel period, but the devotion here echoes what’s to come.