Solomon Burke Albums (19)
What The Critics Say
Four years after the stellar and eclectic Don't Give Up on Me from 2002, which won a Grammy, Solomon Burke returns with another surprise. Nashville was recorded in Music City with producer Buddy Miller and a slew of guests who include duet partners Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, Patty Griffin, and Gillian Welch, as well instrumental talent that features Brady Blade, Byron House, Miller, Al Perkins, Garry Tallent, Mickey Raphael, David Rawlings, Sam Bush, Phil Madeira, and many others. The set opens with a stripped to the bone version of Tom T. Hall's "That's How I Got to Memphis," accompanied only by Miller's acoustic guitar. Burke's big, crackling throaty baritone makes the song, which has been covered by everyone from Bobby Bare, Bill Haley, and Rosanne Cash to Scott Walker, Lee Hazlewood, and Ben Vaughn. Miller lets the slow, earthy cracks in Burke's voice resonate deeply. The duet with Parton on her "Tomorrow Is Forever" is deep, soulful country music at its best. Al Perkins' pedal steel floats around the pair as they trade lines and harmonize. With excellent backing vocals from Ann McCrary and Gale West, this is a true melding of the country and soul traditions. Bruce Springsteen's "Ain't Got You" is utterly transformed from a country blues shouter into a roiling, tough, backwoods hard country and near-bluegrass meld. Perkins' dobro, the slippery brushed drums that shuffle in overdrive and fiddle, and Tallent's standup bass take the thing back into the woods and never let it out. And it just goes from here. Welch's "Valley of Tears" is another stripped to the bone ballad with Rawlings and Welch singing and playing and Miller backing on vocals as well. But that backing is a bit stiff; it would have worked better without any, but it's Burke's killer voice that brings the real sadness in the tune to bear at the listener's door. Burke can really do the weepers, as further evidenced by his reading of Don Williams' "Atta Way to Go" with strings and a full countrypolitan band behind him. Here again, Burke proves that he can do the tradition without schmaltz. There is great power in his voice as he allows the lyrics to penetrate him and then projects them as his own. This song, too, becomes so rooted in the blues and Memphis soul that it might shock Williams to hear it. "Up the Mountain" a Griffin song, proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Griffin and Burke were made to sing together. This is a duets record that should happen. She can sing anything, and her manner of countering Burke's throaty R&B moan brings out the depths of gospel. The pairing with Harris on George Jones' "We're Gonna Hold On" works less well. Harris does the same thing on every single recording she's appeared on for the last decade. In addition, the instrumentation feels ragged and out of balance. The set ends with Larry Henley and Red Lane's "Til I Get It Right," where Burke's vocal comes off every bit as haunted and heart-rending as Johnny Cash's and he gets it right form the first note. Burke is at a place in his long career where he has nothing to lose. His restlessness and willingness to stretch himself is far different than say Rod Stewart attempting all those horrifying volumes of the Great American songbook. Burke fully inhabits what he sings. His performances are precise in that they bring out every single lyrical nuance as an extension of soul. This is a keeper, one of those records that you'll still be listening to in ten years. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
'Make Do with What You Got'
Release Date 2/28/2005
Tracks 10
Label Epic
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What The Critics Say
One of the great pleasures of Solomon Burke's 2002 "comeback" album, Don't Give Up on Me (Burke never really went away, but this time around folks were paying attention), was the fact it was so unexpected -- instead of trying to replicate the sound and feeling of the records Burke made in the 1960s, producer Joe Henry conjured up a warm but skeletal backdrop which allowed the once and future King of Rock 'n' Soul to dig into the heart of the songs (contributed by the likes of Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, and Brian Wilson) in a manner unlike anything he'd done before. Conversely, the greatest disappointment of Burke's next "big-league" album, 2005's Make Do With What You Got, is that it sounds almost exactly the way you'd expect it to. The spare approach of Don't Give Up on Me has been abandoned in favor of a high-gloss production from Don Was, and Was has set up a bombastic soul session replete with horns, massed keyboards, and big vocal choruses, but while the accompaniment is strong, professional, and occasionally even enthusiastic (where has Ray Parker, Jr. been hiding his razor-sharp guitar skills for the past two decades?), Make Do With What You Got sounds like an overly anxious attempt to re-create the sound of vintage R&B sides that gets the surfaces right but never quite captures the heart and soul of the music. Of course, Was' overly slick production and the less impressive set list does nothing to hold back Solomon Burke -- his performances are typically superb, and he gives this album enough soul power to fuel a small city for a month, even bringing chestnuts like "It Makes No Difference" and "I've Got the Blues" to vivid and passionate life that's thrilling to hear. No one can sing a song quite Solomon Burke, and that's what makes Make Do With What You Got worth a listen; unfortunately, lots of people could have produced these sessions as well if not better than Don Was, and that's this album's Achilles' heel. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
'The Incredible Solomon Burke at His Best'
Release Date 9/27/2002
Tracks 13
Label Amherst
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'Don't Give Up on Me'
Release Date 7/22/2002
Tracks 11
Label Fat Possum
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What The Critics Say
It's a sad irony that in the 1980s and '90s, many of the great artists of soul and R&B suffered musically at the hands of those who professed to love them the most. After soul had dropped off the major-label radar in favor of hip-hop and new jack sounds, a number of smaller companies stepped forward to record veteran artists who were still giving their all on the road, but for every truly inspired release from labels such as Malaco, Bullseye, or Alligator, there were a dozen others which featured rote, generic production and arrangements which attempted to recapture the thrilling sound of soul's glory days without coming within driving distance of conjuring their ineffable magic. Solomon Burke was one of the greatest talents of '60s soul, whose strong, burnished voice resonated with a churchy fervor that could speak volumes about either triumph or hurt, but while he continued to record regularly through the '70s, '80s and '90s and always sounded splendid, the records themselves often weren't much to write home about, with Burke using his gifts to prop up second-rate material or re-record tunes he'd performed definitively in the past. So it's good news indeed to report that Burke's new album, Don't Give Up on Me, is nothing short of revelatory, a superb set which presents "the King of Rock and Soul" at the very top of his form. Singer and songwriter Joe Henry produced the set, and rather than trying to replicate the sound of a vintage Jerry Wexler session, he's taken a very different approach, going for a spare and open sound, with nothing but a subdued rhythm section, a guitar, and an organ (the latter played by Rudy Copeland, who performs the same honors at the church where Burke preaches) accompanying Burke on most of these 11 songs. Henry also put out a call for material worthy of Burke's gifts, and a number of his better-known fans responded, including Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Van Morrison, Elvis Costello, Brian Wilson, and Nick Lowe, all of whom contributed songs to the project. But for all the songwriting starpower on deck, the focus is squarely on Solomon Burke throughout, and he proves he's lost none of the power, force, or dramatic intensity of his glory days. Henry's low-key production captures the nooks and crannies of Burke's voice, and he delivers a performance worthy of a great actor on each cut, from the deep soul of "Don't Give Up on Me" and the blues-based swagger of "Stepchild" to the inspired tall tales of "Diamond in Your Mind" and the near-operatic passion of "The Judgement." His voice is in superb shape, too, sounding no less powerful at age 66 than he did in his glory days, and with a depth of emotion and gift for phrasing that's only grown with the passage of time. In many ways, Don't Give Up on Me most closely resembles Johnny Cash's superb American Recordings, in that the spare simplicity of the album's presentation reveals the rich complexities of the singer's gifts as they've rarely been allowed in the past; while it's a very different kettle of fish from his classic sides for Atlantic in the 1960s, Don't Give up on Me leaves no doubt that Solomon Burke is still one of the finest voices of his time, and anyone who has ever been moved by the power of soul music needs to hear this album. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Although he never came close to having a Top 20 pop hit, soul pioneer Solomon Burke has had a steady and pervasive influence on every subsequent soul singer one can think of, from Otis Redding to Al Green and beyond. In the late '70s Burke recorded eight tracks with cult soul producer Swamp Dogg, including the impressive "The More," and those eight tracks have been released several times under different titles and sequences, including as King of Rock 'n' Soul from Black Top in 1981, as From the Heart from Charly in 1980, as Let Your Love Flow from Shanachie in 1993, as King of Soul, again from Charly, in 1995, and in this configuration as Soulman from Fruit Tree. Truthfully, it's a rather minor set, but "The More," which shows clearly where Green learned a thing or two, is definitely worth seeking out for a listen. ~ Steve Leggett, All Music Guide
'Not by Water But Fire This Time'
Release Date 9/14/1999
Tracks 14
Label CGP
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'The Definition of Soul'
Release Date 2/11/1997
Tracks 11
Label Virgin
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'Live at House of Blues'
Release Date 10/25/1994
Tracks 12
Label Black Top
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What The Critics Say
The big, brassy band that backs Solomon Burke on this live set enhances, but never overshadows, his powerful vocals and God-given charisma. Opening with "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love," he gets the crowd in a festive mood before slinking into a strong three-song medley comprising "If You Need Me"/"Tonight's the Night"/"I Almost Lost My Mind." He displays his preaching skills on "Cruel World," and you can almost see the collection plate being passed. "Candy/Candy Rap" begins with a big band arrangement, the sound is bold and brassy, but then lightens with Burke's "Candy Rap." He excels on "Got to Get You Off My Mind," another one of his hits from back-in-the-day. In fact, the only glaring omission from his King Solomon era is the bewitching "Somebody's Watching You." On the three or so blues tunes he does, if you close your eyes, you'll think it was a female singing, as he sings in a higher key on blues tunes. Burke, a true character, closes this enjoyable performance with Roy Brown's classic "Good Rockin' Tonight." ~ Andrew Hamilton, All Music Guide
