From Publishers Weekly
Labeled by many as the Last Great Soul Man, Green writes modestly and with great spirit about his career. The bulk of the narrative, written with Seay, concentrates on Green's early life, from his boyhood as a sharecropper's son in Jacknash, Ark., to his family's move to the ghetto in Grand Rapids, Mich., to his desperate pursuit of a singing career. While Green quickly established himself as a neighborhood tough and ladies' man, he never let his reputation as a "badass dude" keep him from singing in the school and church choirs. Choosing between the secular and the sacred proved a constant struggle for Green. In the end, he writes, "I never did develop a preference for one church over the other. To me, shouting at the top of your lungs while hammering on a tambourine or whispering your prayers as the organ softly played were just two different ways of saying the same thing: We're all down here, Lord, doing the best we can." At 29, Green was already an international superstar when he again questioned his path. Ultimately, he opted to "leave behind the glitter and the glamour of the world to seek out a poor and plain existence," buying a church of his own on the outskirts of Memphis and earning a degree as an ordained minister. Not that Green spurned music altogether; he went on to release several gospel records, along with hit singles with the likes of Annie Lennox and country signer Lyle Lovett, and he appeared in a Broadway show. Rather, Green writes, he simply "stopped running after music to give me the meaning and purpose of my life." In the end, Green's is an inspirational story that tells how an "average high school graduate, sometime singer in a hometown soul band, part-time jazz crooner, former car-wash employee and jack of trades" made good. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
In this autobiographical work, Green hardly deals with his famed encounters with women. Rather, he details how a kid from the farmlands of Jacknash, AR, developed one of the first voices in a new generation of black musicians. In order to develop his talent, Green reveals that he had to sort out his perpetual longing for pop music success and the need to fulfill his religious calling. Not surprisingly, then, his narrative alternates between confessions of sin and hedonism (he once shacked up with an over-the-hill prostitute) and moments of spiritual enlightenment. His current lifestyle reflects that polarization: he still performs as Al Green, Soul Man, while acting as pastor of the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Memphis, TN. Green's firsthand accounts of teeth-cutting experiences in an unforgiving music industry and lessons in feminine lore give a new perspective to his music and offer the only insight into his career, as no other biographical work on Green is available. Recommended for public libraries.DRobert Morast, Pro Rodeo Sports News, Colorado Springs
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
