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I Can't Stop is the 27th studio album by American soul singer Al Green. It was released by Blue Note Records on November 17, 2003, in the United Kingdom and on November 18 in the United States.[1] I Can't Stop was produced by Willie Mitchell. The album was Green's first since 1995, his first for Blue Note, and his first collaboration with Mitchell since 1985's He Is the Light; it was also Green's first entirely secular recording since the 1970s.

I Can't Stop
Studio album by Al Green
Released	November 17, 2003
Recorded	March - April 2003 at Royal Studios, Memphis, Tennessee
Genre	Soul[1]
Length	53:11
Label	Blue Note
Producer	Willie Mitchell
Al Green chronology
Your Heart's in Good Hands (1995) I Can't Stop (2003) Everything's OK (2005)
Singles from I Can't Stop
"I Can't Stop" Released: 2003

The reunion between Green and Mitchell was highly anticipated, and I Can't Stop was a commercial success, peaking at number 53 on the US Billboard 200 and number 9 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. It was Green's highest placing on both charts since his 1975 album Al Green Is Love. The album was nominated for the 2004 Grammy Award for Best R&B Album, while its title track also received a nod in the Best Traditional R&B Performance category.[2]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[3]
The Austin Chronicle	[4]
Blender	[5]
Robert Christgau	A−[6]
Entertainment Weekly	A−[7]
The Guardian	[8]
Mojo	[9]
Q	[10]
Rolling Stone	[11]
Uncut	[12]

I Can't Stop received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, it received an average score of 75 out of 100, based on 18 reviews.[13] Mojo opined "(Green) is, if anything, singing better than ever".[9] In The Guardian, Alexis Petridis stated "The songwriting is largely superb, which keeps the album from sounding like a clever pastiche".[8] Robert Christgau, writing in The Village Voice, said that the album is not a sophisticated modernization or comeback to "a form he never lost", but instead shows that Green has "retained plenty of voice and the guile to know what to do with it."[6] In a mixed review, Tom Smucker of The Village Voice felt that Green gets "tied down when production's slathered on a bit too thick".[14] Blender magazine dismissed it as "a weak echo of those gloriously clean and spacious [1970s] LPs".[5]

In a retrospective review for the magazine, Christgau gave the album four stars and called it Green's "finest late pop album". He felt that, although Green "can no longer shade with sprightly delicacy," his singing is louder and strengthened by "two decades in the pulpit at his own Memphis church."[15]

Track listing

• All tracks written by Al Green and Willie Mitchell except where noted.

1. "I Can't Stop" - 3:48
2. "Play to Win" - 4:38
3. "Rainin' in My Heart" - 4:45*
4. "I've Been Waitin' on You" (Green) - 3:43
5. "You" - 4:29
6. "Not Tonight" - 4:25
7. "Million to One" - 4:52
8. "My Problem Is You" - 6:28
9. "I'd Still Choose You" - 4:05
10. "I've Been Thinkin' 'Bout You" (Green) - 4:04
11. "I'd Write a Letter" (Green) - 3:53
12. "Too Many" (Green) - 4:01

• "Rainin' in My Heart" is a new song written by Green & Mitchell for this album. Certain song databases have mistakenly classified Green's song as a cover of Slim Harpo's "Rainin' in My Heart", written by James Moore (aka Slim Harpo) and Jerry West (aka J.D. Miller). The lyrics to the two songs are completely unrelated except for the title.[16]

Personnel and credits

Musicians

Production

Charts

Chart (2003)	Peak position
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[17]	72
French Albums (SNEP)[18]	130
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[19]	60
US Billboard 200[20]	53
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[21]	9

References

External links

• I Can't Stop at Discogs (list of releases)

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