This Week, Nick Would Buy ... #25

Al Green, Lay it Down (Blue Note)

James Poyser and fellow Soulqarian Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson head into the lab with Al Green to help pump some life into the soul legend's third album for Blue Note.

The consensus on Green's first two offerings for Blue Note, a label which relies mostly on jazz, is best summed up by the latter's title: "Everything's OK." Not awful, not great, sorta like Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

We know ?uest is going to bring a percussive quality to things because that's what he does as a producer and a member of his full-time group, The Roots. Anthony Hamilton, John Legend, and Corinne Bailey Rae also drop by for guest performances. No matter how much he mines modern R&B and hip hop for help, Green and his gritty larynx have to do the heavy lifting.

If I Were Really Rich ...
— Heaven And, Sweeter as the Years Roll By (Indigo) — German quartet delivers its post-rock debut.

Others
— Ellen Allien, Sool (Bpitch Control)
— Horace Andy, On Tour (Trojan)
— David Benoit, Heroes (Peak)
— The Browns, The Complete Hits (Collectors' Choice Music)
— Communic, Payment of Existence [Import] (Nuclear Blast)
— Bill Cosby, Bill Cosby Presents Badfoot Brown and the Bunions Bradford Funeral & Marching Band (Universal)
— Sean Garrett, Turbo 919 (Interscope)
— Eliza Gilkyson, Beautiful World (Red House)
— Andy Griggs, The Good Life (Montage)
— Buddy Guy, Breaking Out (JSP)
— John Hiatt, Same Old Man (New West)
— H20, Nothing to Prove (Bridge 9)
— Cyndi Lauper, Bring Ya to the Brink (Epic)
— Steve Miller Band, Live From Chicago [DVD set] (Koch)
— moe., Warts and All, Vol. 6 [Box set] (Fat Boy)
— Sam Phillips, Don't Do Anything (Nonesuch)
— Return to Forever, The Anthology (Concord)
— The Smithereens, Live in Concert — Greatest Hits and More (Koch)
— Twista and the Speedknot Mobstaz, Mobstability II: Nation Business (Koch)
— Usher, Here I Stand (LaFace)
— Various Artists, Sex and the City soundtrack (New Line)

Unconfirmed
— Various Artists, Big Blue Ball (Geffen) — Long-awaited, multi-artist Peter Gabriel project was announced with May 27 release date, but all indications are that it's due later in June.