Soul Brothers: Al Green, Sly Stone, Van Morrison

IS THE REVIEWER supposed to come to each record as an objective analyst? Or, if he isn’t one, must he pretend he is? Impossible for me, so I’d better state the frame of mind in which I came to these records: I expected to find Al Green’s garishly-sleeved record dull and predictable — and was surprised by its depth; I hoped I could like Sly and the Family Stone but expected indulgence — and was won over by the way each apparently incomplete track combined with the others to present a strange but complete frame of mind; I had the highest hopes of all for Van Morrison, but only after listening on and off for three weeks has the record come through. Three records to make an R&B fan happy. (If you can’t deal with Van Morrison as an R&B singer yet — well it took me three years to get used to the idea too.)