TITLE: LAY IT DOWN

ARTIST: AL GREEN

STARS: 3 OUT OF 5 STARS

SOUNDS LIKE: Refreshingly old school sounding R & B from the one of the great soul singers.

When the album “Let’s Stay Together” came out in 1972 it was on everybody’s turntable and car 8-track player. And the title tune seemed to play continuously on every juke box in town.

Al Green’s unique, gospel-inflected tenor, enhanced by testifying shouts and mournful whispers, ushered in a new sound of soul music. It was called southern soul, a raw and earthy vocal concoction that was yet refined and urbane. That was and is Al Green.

His new CD “Lay it Down “ sounds like a step back to the 1970s. Even with the likes of John Legend, Anthony Hamilton and Corinne Bailey Rae helping out on vocals each of the 11 tracks has a stripped down vintage southern soul feel.

Roots drummer ?uestlove, who produced the album, took it upon himself along with his Roots band mates, to not update the classic Al Green sound but instead recreate it for a new audience.

What you get in the classic Al Green sound that famed producer Willie Miltchell created in the Hi Records studio during Green’s 1970s heyday.

“They didn’t want me to get too far out from the foundation that (Hi Records producer) Willie Mitchell and I built_ 'Call Me,’ 'I’m Still In Love with You.’ 'Let’s Stay Together,’” Green said from a press release. “'That’s all good’ they said, 'but we want to play what we hear you being about in 2008. We want to keep all the aura, but we would like to have freedom enough to spread our wings and express ourselves.”

And “Lay it Down” works in that regard. And that can be good or bad depending on your mood.

It’s truly refreshing to hear that classic sound again but it also sounds like you heard it before for those of us who have. Only to those youngsters who haven’t gotten into their parents old school record stash will it sound new. That doesn’t make the CD necessarily bad but not necessarily great either.

Nevertheless there are some stand-out cuts.

There’s Anthony Hamilton, a contemporary soul singer whose voice sounds old school, trading vocal licks with Green on the title tune and the danceable “You Got The Love I Need.”

And there’s “Take Your Time” with Corinne Bailey Rae, a nightclub mellow tune with Rae’s sultry voice adding additional sweetness.

Green’s voice has lost little over the years. And his music sounds simplistically refreshing in these musically cluttered times where loudness ofttimes take precedence over creativity.

But times moves on and so does music.