Take Me To The River
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It's a pretty safe bet that any book published by Mojo is going to be well written, but even by their high standards this one is exceptional. As I read this tome I could not believe that Al Green, who had struggled to complete a secondary education, could be capable of writing with such quality that I wholly credited David Seay with its production. Towards the end however we learn that Al returned to college and completed a degree in divinity, so his contribution may have been more significant than I first assumed. Whoever is responsible has done a first class job. The two facets which make this book outstanding are the imagery, so good than any description of a person or place can easily be visualised by the reader and the personal feel which the book generates. Autobiographies are invariably written in the first person, but in this case it is done so well that I felt Al Green was in the room with me and speaking to me personally. Soul biographies are usually cliched tales of young blacks rising from the ghetto to become superstars before throwing it all away to drug addiction and womanising. This story has so many different and unusual facets however that it cannot be pigeonholed into this category. It begins with his childhood as the son of a much maligned sharecropper and gives an insight into the hard and unprofitable lives they led. The situation became so bad that the family eventually decided to uproot and try their luck in the industrial north. Al's father, who had set his heart on the family becoming gospel singers slowly had to come to terms with the fact it wasn't going to happen. None the less a deeply religious man he forbade his children to listen to the devil's music. When he found Al in his early teens listening to Jackie Wilson he immediately threw him out onto the street. From there Al finished up living with a prostitute. When that relationship fell apart he tried touring alone but was invariably cheated by unscrupulous night-club owners. It was only when he met up with Willie Mitchell that his career took a turn for the better. The rest as they say is history. The more unusual facets of Al's life cannot be passed without mention. These include his meeting with The Holy Ghost and the oft recounted tale of how he was scalded by an imbalanced girlfriend before she shot herself. Many soul singers interpret their lives from a Christian perspective, but you always believe that Al is genuine in his Christianity. There were so many times in Al's life where most would feel he got some extremely lucky breaks, but he always credits God's guiding influence. Something else the reader should be prepared for is a fair amount of religious propaganda, but nonetheless his sincerity is proven by the fact that he eventually turned his back on secular music to become a priest instead. As a soul star there were inevitably many women in Al's life, but he never boasts about his conquests, indeed he seems almost ashamed of them. He mentions them in passing but dismisses them as quickly as possible. At no point in the book does he speak ill of any other human being leaving the impression that he is genuinely a nice man. A very unusual tale about a very unusual life makes the book worth reading. The fact that it is so extremely well told is an added bonus. |
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Why Not visit the Authors other Website, 'The Alternative Blackpool Website' at http://www.localdial.com/users/jsyedu133/bpool This Site Last Updated 18/05/05
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