HI NEWS

Blue Note Records has inked a deal with Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Al Green and is set to release his new album, I Can't Stop on November 18, 2003.

12 all new songs recorded at Royal Studios in Memphis, TN find Al Green reunited with legendary Producer/ Arranger Willie Mitchell for their first secular recordings together in 27 years. I Can't Stop features many of Al Green's classic backing musicians including Teenie Hodges (Guitar), Leroy Hodges (Bass), Rhodes, Chalmers & Rhodes (BackingVocals), and The Royal Horns (Scott Thompson, Andrew Love, Lannie McMillan, Jack Hale and Jim Spake).

I Can't Stop marks both a new chapter and an historic homecoming for Al Green. The album was produced and arranged by Willie Mitchell, who oversaw all of Green's classic 1970s recordings. Mitchell also co-wrote eight of the album's twelve original tracks with Green (the other four tracks were written by Green alone).

I Can't Stop is the first secular album that Al Green has recorded with Willie Mitchell since 1976's Have A Good Time. That album came on the arc of several recordings that to this day, remain among the most beloved in soul music, including: Tired of Being Alone (1971), Let's Stay Together (1971), I'm Still In Love With You (1972), Love and Happiness (1972), Call Me (1973), Here I Am (1973) and many others.

The set is being recorded at the pair's old stomping grounds, Memphis' Royal Studio. Green is even recording with the same microphone he used in the '70s.

Green and Mitchell combined to produce some of the most enduring soul albums ever, including 1972's "Let's Stay Together" and "I'm Still in Love With You" and the following year's "Call Me." The pair has not made an album together since 1985's inspirational-themed "He is the Light."

The impending arrival of "I Can't Stop" has pushed the release of the four-CD EMI package "Al Green: The Immortal Soul Of . . ." from this week to early 2004. As previously reported, the set features 75 tracks recorded between 1967-1978 for Hi Records. Each track has been remastered from the original analog tapes.

Listen to some of the tracks in streaming audio at http://www.bluenote.com/detail.asp?SelectionID=10280