''I Get Joy'' is a studio album by

Al Green Albert Leornes Greene (born April 13, 1946), better known as Al Green, is an American singer, songwriter, pastor and record producer best known for recording a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s, including " Take Me to the River", ...

, released in 1989 on

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

. Green included many secular songs on the album, the first time he had done so since the 1970s.

Production

Green wrote the majority of the songs. "As Long As We're Together" features

Al B. Sure! Albert Joseph Brown III (born June 4, 1968), known professionally as Al B. Sure!, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, radio host and former record executive. He was born in Boston and raised in Mount Vernon, New York. During the ...

singing backup. Former Tempree Jasper "Jabbo" Phillips sings backup on "Tryin' to Do the Best I Can" and "Tryin' to Get Over You".

Critical reception

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

wrote: "What distinguishes this exercise is unflinching formal exposition--no Supremes or James Taylor ringers. Even the electrofunk belongs." The ''

Deseret News The ''Deseret News'' () is the oldest continuously operating publication in the American west. Its multi-platform products feature journalism and commentary across the fields of politics, culture, family life, faith, sports, and entertainment. Th ...

'' thought that Green "has a knack for writing songs that are subtle enough to work on both romantic and religious levels." The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' opined that "Green should stick to what he does best, which, these days, is religious music." ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' called Green's voice "the sound of a lone supplicant, gently testifying to the comforts of faith."

Track listing

#"You're Everything to Me" (Al Green, Denise Flippen) - 4:13 #"All My Praise" (Green, Flippen) - 4:10 #"The End Is Near" (Green, Flippen) - 4:06 #"Mighty Clouds of Joy" (

Buddy Buie Perry Carlton "Buddy" Buie (January 23, 1941 – July 18, 2015) was an American songwriter, producer and publisher. He is most commonly associated with Roy Orbison, the Classics IV and the Atlanta Rhythm Section. Career Buie was born in Marian ...

, Robert Nix) - 4:16 #"I Get Joy" (Green, Flippen) - 3:53 #"As Long as We're Together" (Green)- 3:44 #"Praise Him" (Green) - 3:06 #"Blessed" (Eban Kelly, Jimi Randolph) - 4:06 #"Tryin' to Do the Best I Can" (Green) - 3:03 #"Tryin' to Get Over You" (Green) - 2:04

Personnel

* Al Green – lead vocals, arrangements (1-7, 9, 10), backing vocals (6, 8) * Lester Snell – keyboards (1, 2, 3, 5, 7) *

Wayne Perkins David Wayne Perkins (born 1951) is an American rock and R&B guitarist, singer, songwriter and session musician. According to a 2017 feature about him on the Alabama website AL.com, he is "arguably the greatest guitarist Alabama ever produced." ...

– acoustic piano (4), lead guitar (4) * Lawrence Mitchell – keyboards (6), horns (6) * Jimi Randolph – all instruments (8), arrangements (8) * Johnny Brown – acoustic piano (9),

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

(10) * Angelo Earl – guitars (1, 2, 3, 5, 7) * Gregory McIntosh – lead guitar (9, 10) * Jimi Kinnard – bass (1, 2, 3, 5, 7) * George Jouringan – bass (4, 9, 10) * Archie Mitchell – drums (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7), bass (6) * Tim Dancy – drums (10) * Dennis Bates – horns (9) * Berton Brown – backing vocals (1, 2, 3, 5, 7) * William Brown III – backing vocals (1, 2, 3, 5, 7) * Gloria Robinson – backing vocals (1, 2, 3, 5, 7) * Harvey Jones – backing vocals (4, 9, 10) * Linda Jones – backing vocals (4, 9, 10) * Monique Monan – backing vocals (4) * Reba Russell – backing vocals (4) * Michael Allen – backing vocals (6) * Denise Flippen – backing vocals (6) * John Benton – backing vocals (8) * Berkley Buckley – backing vocals (8) * Eban Kelly – backing vocals (8), arrangements (8) * P. Leon Thomas – backing vocals (8) * Jasper "Jabbo" Phillips – backing vocals (9, 10)

Production

* Al Green – executive producer, producer, engineer * Paul Zeleski – producer * Eban Kelly – producer (8), assistant engineer (8) * Jimi Randolph – producer (8), engineer (8) * William Brown III – engineer * Willie Mitchell – engineer * Robert Nix – engineer (4) * Kim Venable – engineer (4) * John Eberle – mastering * Chuck Beeson – art direction, design * Jeff Gold – art direction * Howard Rosenberg – photography

References

Al Green albums 1989 albums A&M Records albums Albums recorded at Royal Studios {{gospel-album-stub