What people search:
 | Title : Don't Give Up on Me
Author : Burke, Solomon
Release Date : 20020723
Binding : Audio CD
Regular Price : $17.98
Amazon.com Price : $13.39
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Editorial Reviews :
Of all the great male '60s soul singers--a short list that includes Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, and James Brown--only Solomon Burke still actively records. More amazing, he's produced his best full-length album with Don't Give Up on Me. It's easy to give some credit to the album's star songwriters, who include Burke fans Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Van Morrison, Brian Wilson, and Bob Dylan. But really it's the quality of the songs and Burke himself, one of the most versatile and charismatic singers around, that make this album so special.
The 11 songs range from the lazy, seductive plea of the title track and the gravelly gospel of 'Diamond in Your Mind' to the country-soul of 'Other Side of the Coin' and the civil-rights-era urgency of 'None of Us Are Free.' Joe Henry's production is suitably subdued, and the instrumentation--generally guitar, bass, drums, organ, and piano--is sympathetic throughout. And if you doubt that Burke is the real star in a room crowded with those folks, consider this: the two slightest tracks here were written by Wilson and Costello, while one of the best, the album-closing 'Sit This One Out,' was written by someone named Pick Purnell. A great album not fixed in the past or fully of this decade, Don't Give Up is a crowning achievement of an R&B pioneer who has returned to reclaim his self-bestowed title from the '60s: 'The King of Rock and Soul.'
Buyer Reviews :
The great Atlantic R n'B producer Jerry Wexler was once asked who he thought was the greatest of all the soul giants he had worked with.He answered 'Solomon Burke, with a good band'. Well Solomon's got a great band working with him here. Under the spare,sympathetic production of Joe Henry,this studio outfit smoulders under the slow burn genius of Solomon Burke. I'm not much given to hyperbole, but I truly believe that this CD can stand with any of the classic Stax or Atlantic masterpieces of the 60's you'd care to name. It's just that good.Right from the git go on Dan Penn's title tune, the Reverend Burke serves notice that he has lost none,none, of his power and charisma as a song stylist. From that first organ chord you are transplanted to a better place.If anything age has improved Solomon Burkes voice.He has lost none of the gospel melisma of his youth and employs it with panache on the two Van Morrison tracks 'Fast Train', and 'Only A Dream'.But time has added a patina of grit and gruffness that enable Solomon to tackle Tom Wait's joyous 'Diamond In Your Mind' with a Louis Armstrong growl and Joe Henry's 'Flesh And Blood' like an uptown bluesman in the Jimmy Witherspoon mold,while still sounding like himself.Many great songsmith's contributed to this CD,so let's blast through with some instant grades for the composers.Solomon gets an A+ for his singing. Okay.... Dan Penn (and friends) get an A for the churchy title tune. Van gets two A's for his gospel songs. Waits gets an A, he's hilarious.Brian Wilson gets a B for his Doo-Woppy 'Soul Searchin'.Elvis Costello gets a C- for 'The Judgement' cuz there's no tune there.The Dylan song is a C but why did the producer pick it in the first place? Nick Lowe 's 'Other Side Of The Coin' is an A+.Just perfect.Mann-Weill's 'None Of Us Are Free rates an A cuz it's like a Staples song you think you've missed.And finally an unknown Pick Purcell gets an A for the soulful 'Sit This One Out'.I'm hoping this CD is a financial success so that others like Wilson Pickett and William Bell might be inspired to come out with something this good. Soul music is alive and well and it's name is Solomon Burke.
(by David L. Kinney)
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