Ropeadope

Let’s face it, you’re either down with the good Reverend or you’re not. If you’re already there, Al takes his Greeenness to the next level on his latest Blue Note release Lay It Down.

Even if you don't like Big Al, you have to love brother QuestLove who took the reigns behind the console and produced this labor of love and enlisted some of his favorite vocalists including Anthony Hamilton, Corinne Bailey Rae and John Legend. Green isn’t trying anything fancy here and sticks to his "roots" (so to speak) - old school R&B and soul with romantic grooves and sultry production swooshes.

If I was forced to pick a flaw with this recording, it would be that the traditional arrangements seem to run together at times in a blurb of faded nostalgia. But that’s kind of like saying you find a flaw with your grandpa’s old stories that he tells over and over. Sure maybe you’ve heard this stuff before, but it won’t kill you to hear it again…in fact you’ll more than likely miss it when he’s gone.