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Higher Ground: Al Green Blends His Sacred and Secular Instincts When He Steps Onstage

Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 17 July 2002

ALBUMS ARE NOT the only means of making great music any more than movies are the only means of doing great acting. Every time a singer steps on stage, he or she is creating something that may connect with the audience more powerfully than any album. Al Green hasn't released an important record since 1977's The Belle Album, but over the past 20 years he has been responsible for some of the most dizzying moments in American music – in renovated movie palaces, churches, summer pavilions; everywhere but the studio. These performances have been more than showcases for superb singing; they have become psychodramas where Green tries to work out in public the central dilemma in African-American music – the relationship between the secular and sacred, between the body and soul.

Total word count of piece: 1201

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