Album: Solomon Burke

Make Do with What You Got, SHOUT! FACTORY

R&B singers are, as a rule, only as good as their material: having fantastic technique and emotive power is all well and good, but ultimately no use without a great song to apply it to. A case in point is Solomon Burke, reckoned by many to be the greatest soul singer of all, whose Grammy-winning 2002 album Don't Give up on Me hoisted him back into the public eye courtesy of a batch of previously unrecorded songs by the likes of Dylan, Van Morrison, Tom Waits and Elvis Costello. This follow-up extends the formula, with more well-known songs from Dylan, Hank Williams and others. It's a more varied collection than its predecessor, ranging from the Stonesy raunch of "I Need Your Love In My Life" and the title-track's New Orleans funk groove, custom-built for Burke by Dr John, to the more sedate country-soul settings accorded Hank Williams' "Wealth Won't Save Your Soul". Dylan's "What Good Am I?" is done Memphis funk style, in the manner of the Cate Brothers or the Staple Singers' Stax work, and

R&B singers are, as a rule, only as good as their material: having fantastic technique and emotive power is all well and good, but ultimately no use without a great song to apply it to. A case in point is Solomon Burke, reckoned by many to be the greatest soul singer of all, whose Grammy-winning 2002 album Don't Give up on Me hoisted him back into the public eye courtesy of a batch of previously unrecorded songs by the likes of Dylan, Van Morrison, Tom Waits and Elvis Costello. This follow-up extends the formula, with more well-known songs from Dylan, Hank Williams and others. It's a more varied collection than its predecessor, ranging from the Stonesy raunch of "I Need Your Love In My Life" and the title-track's New Orleans funk groove, custom-built for Burke by Dr John, to the more sedate country-soul settings accorded Hank Williams' "Wealth Won't Save Your Soul". Dylan's "What Good Am I?" is done Memphis funk style, in the manner of the Cate Brothers or the Staple Singers' Stax work, and there's a version of The Band's "It Makes No Difference"; but the standout track is a tremendous version of the Stones' "I Got The Blues", a powerful performance that goes some way to repaying their cover of his "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love".