Al Green: I'm Still In Love With You

The context: In 1971, Al Green and producer Willie Mitchell found a successful formula with the smash hit single "Tired Of Being Alone": Silky, sexy music with a rolling groove and sharp horn accents couching Green's remarkably delicate vocals. A far cry from the muscular, energetic '60s soul of Stax and Motown, Green's laid-back, Southern-fried '70s soul was refined and perfected on two masterpieces from 1972, Let's Stay Together and I'm Still In Love With You.

The greatness: Thematically, the most important part of I'm Still In Love With You isn't "love" but "still": Green is out to make long-term relationships sound as exciting, alluring, and downright lusty as a one-night stand. But as his gentlemanly pose on the cover suggests, Green also provides the comfort and security that only comes from a trusted lover. On I'm Still In Love With You, Green presents himself as every heterosexual woman's dream—loyal, attentive, grateful for his woman's love, but still manly enough to take the lead in the bedroom. As Freud might put it, he's the Madonna and the whore. It was a fitting persona for the low-key, warmly funky music Green created with Mitchell, drummer Al Jackson, and brothers Teenie, Charles, and Leroy Hodges on guitar, organ, and bass.

Defining song: Green is one of soul's greatest interpreters, putting his distinctive stamp on seemingly untouchable rock classics like "Light My Fire" and "I Want To Hold Your Hand." I'm Still In Love With You features some of his most ambitious covers: a sensual re-imagining of Roy Orbison's "Oh, Pretty Woman" and an epic take on Kris Kristofferson's "For The Good Times." But the best song here, the top-charting title track, Green wrote with Jackson and Mitchell. Anchored by Jackson's tight, steady drumbeat, Green proves his love is "really real" by laying down the softest, loveliest, most heartrending falsetto ever to grace the outro of a song.