The highlight of I Can’t Stop, Al Green’s reunion with producer-arranger Willie Mitchell, the architect of his deathless ’70s hits, is "My Problem is You." Over six and a half minutes, Green roars, wails, and rambles through a midtempo exploration of a seemingly unsolvable riddle--the love of a woman and its hold on him. In great voice, his high-end barely touched by time, he makes every moment count over these dozen originals; often lacking the layer of eccentricity that colored tracks as diverse as "I Can’t Get Next to You" and "Belle," the songs still ring with the Reverend’s authority. Mitchell’s grooves add to the ecstatic mood, especially when the thumping bottom-end syncopation of a track like "Million to One" suggests that of, oh, "Look What You Done for Me." The first time this pair has worked together since a 1985 gospel album, I Can’t Stop blows away the dust and finds more life and gutbucket flash in a seemingly inexhaustible vein. --Rickey Wright