Gettin’ Next To Al Green

Hi Records producer Willie Mitchell found Al Green two years ago, doing a show, walking on tables, in Midland, Texas. It took a year for the results to be made public but right now, there’s probably not a bigger performer in all of soul music. Green has had three hits: “I Can’t Get Next to You,” a strange, funky, reworking of the Temptations’ number, “Tired of Being Alone,” and “Let’s Stay Together,” his current smash.

This has led Green’s record company to dub him “superstar,” and James Gant, Bill Withers’ drummer, to comment: “They’re grooming him to take Otis Redding’s spot as a star — where Otis would be now, if he hadn’t passed.”