Gets Next To You

HI 1971, CD £1.98 VINYL £33.49 You Say: “More raw-sounding and less polished than his later LPs.” Sander Geerdink, MOJO Facebook Two years after scowling from the cover of 1969’s Hi debut Green Is Blues, Al looks as flamboyant and happy on the front as he sounds on the 10 tracks. Tired Of Being Alone reveals him as a songwriter of exceptional potential, but his covers point to a rare ability to take a song apparently the sole property of an established artist and totally reinvent it, creating a new set of emotions through fresh interpretations of lyric and melody. Motown and Stax (The Temptations’ I Can’t Get Next To You, Johnnie Taylor’s God Is Standing By) are upstaged; his take on Freddie Scott’s Are You Lonely For Me Baby is lovely. Hard-driving originals – I’m A Ram; You Say It; Right Now, Right Now – are slightly less successful, but the Hi template and sound are set.