Album: Solomon Burke, Nothing's Impossible (Ear Music)

What's really scary about this collaboration with Al Green's producer, Willie Mitchell (who died in January), is how much it sounds like Van Morrison: Burke's voice, the arrangements, lyrics, everything, as in the transcendent opener of "Oh What a Feeling", one of three or four total standing ovations here.

Recorded at Mitchell's Royal Studios in Memphis, with the old Hi Records trademark of soulful strings adding distinction, the best songs tend to be by Willie, while Sol emotes with bruised nobility.