Track Listing

1. I Need Your Love In My Life
2. What Good Am I?
3. It Makes No Difference
4. Let Somebody Love Me
5. After All Of These Years
6. Fading Footsteps
7. At The Crossroads
8. I Got The Blues
9. Make Do With What You Got
10. Wealth Won't Save Your Soul

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #143336 in Music
• Released on: 2005-02-28
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
The self-proclaimed "King of Rock 'n' Soul" upholds his title on this follow-up to his 2002 Grammy-winning comeback, Don't Give Up on Me. At 64, Solomon Burke's voice still has an electric crackle. Every low purr and keening near-falsetto that he applied to a string of hits between 1961 and 1968 that helped build Atlantic Records remains intact. In fact, if anything, he's more persuasive and versatile today. Burke breathes zestful life into material as diverse as the opening stomp, "I Need Your Love in My Life," the testifying "Let Somebody Love Me," a sweet reading of the Band's "It Makes No Difference," and Hank Williams Sr's country-gospel "Wealth Won't Save Your Soul"--the latter of which Burke, who's an ordained bishop, takes to church with a soaring organ-driven arrangement.

Producer Don Was draws on the classic Stax and Muscle Shoals sounds, using keyboards and guitars--the latter played by Ray Parker Jr and Shoals veteran Reggie Young--to underscore Burke's powerful vocal melodies. And the bloodlines of classic Memphis propulsion run through drummer James Gadson's veins. With such superb accomplices Burke doesn't just make do... he makes great music. --Ted Drozdowski

CD Description
Though soul giant Solomon Burke's 2002 album DON'T GIVE UP ON ME was hailed as a comeback, in fact he had never gone away. Occupied by songs from the pens of famed rockers such asBob Dylan, Elvis Costello, and Joe Henry, the record alerted the mainstream to Burke's continued magnificence, but it was just a continuation of his long journey.
The next stopon the trip, 2005's MAKE DO WITH WHAT YOU GOT, seems less geared toward crossover appeal. Burke does tackle a couple oftunes from the pop/rock pantheon, including the Band's sorrowful "It Makes No Difference" and Bob Dylan's reflective "What Good Am I?", but these seem even more naturally suited to his style than the songs that were tailor-made for him on his previous outing. His magisterial voice commands the arrangements in the same way a great Shakespearian actor commands a stage with a dramatic soliloquy. The production remains close to Burke's 1960s-soul roots, but adds a gritty edge that bespeaks the filter of a contemporary, rock-informed sensibility. It all adds up to a set of masterful performances from one of the greatest soul singers ever.

Customer Reviews

How do you review this?!
This is a really hard one. On the one hand it doesn't come anywhere near as close to 2002's Don't Give Up On Me, but on the other hand, how can you expect to?

It is extremely well produced and engineered, with wonderful musicianship, great vocals and good material, but something is definitely missing. It doesn't grab me at all. A few of the tracks stick out and shine, but is that just by comparison to the rest?

I just got the feeling that Sony (was it?) saw the sucess of the previous CD, dragged him into a top studio, with top musicians and a top producer and threw the baby out with the bath water. Corporate creativity at its mediocre best.