BEST OF '08: AL GREEN'S LAY IT DOWN

One of the disappointments of 2008 was that more people didn't notice the new Al Green album, Lay It Down, which was produced by ?uestlove from The Roots. It is a really great album, and the best R&B record of the year in my opinion (edging out Raphael Saadiq's The Way I See It). ?uest really did an amazing job with this one. With The Roots moving from being a constantly touring band to being a New York based group (since they are going to be Jimmy Fallon's band on his upcoming late-night show), I wonder if ?uest will be doing more work as a producer.

I wish this album got more mainstream Grammy nods. I think the Grammys got a lot right this year: particularly all the nods for Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, and also exposing artists like M.I.A. and Adele to bigger audiences via high profile nominations: but the dissing of Bruce Springsteen's "Girls In Their Summer Clothes" and Reverend Al's Lay It Down from the big categories was a big bummer. Anyway, you should check out this album.

Al's last two albums which reunited him with producer Willie Mitchell, were good, but this one is great, you should check it out.