RIP Brother Solomon Burke
The Mighty Brother Solomon Burke 1940 – 2010
Listen/Download – Solomon Burke – Keep Looking
Listen/Download – The Soul Clan – Soul Meeting
Listen/Download – Solomon Burke – Proud Mary
Listen/Download – Solomon Burke – Uptight Good Woman
Listen/Download – Solomon Burke – These Arms of Mine
Listen/Download – Solomon Burke – Generation of Revelations
Listen/Download – Betty Harris – Cry To Me
Listen/Download – Wilson Pickett – Everybody Needs Somebody To Love
NOTE: Though a few of these tracks have appeared on the blog in the , these were all freshly recorded this morning, so hopefully the sound is a little better.
Greetings all.
I come to you this fine, crisp fall day with a suddenly heavy heart.
I rolled out of bed this morning, and as I usually do, grabbed the old smart phone and checked my e-mail.
There, hanging in my inbox was a message that one of the greatest soul singers of the classic era had passed on into the great hearafter.
I’m talking about Brother Solomon Burke, you all know him dontcha???
Man, what a kick in the ass.
Burke was still recording and performing at the age of 70, and since he was a presence on Facebook, I got to see his comings and goings, and sadly this morning, word of his death.
No matter what I had planned for this week, as soon as the news sunk in, I did exactly what I did when I heard about Wilson Pickett’s passing, I dove directly into the crates to pull out some examples of Burke’s greatness that I might pass on to you all in commemoration of his life and music.
But then I was faced with a huge problem, that being thousands of largely unsorted 45s.
I knew exactly what I was looking for, but no idea where it was.
I was certain that the records in question were in the Funky16Corners Record Vault….somewhere. Some of them are among my all-time favorites, and I was sure that I wouldn’t have parted ways with them, but they were buried deep, deep in the vinyl cavern of my record room.
I went through box, after box, and it was almost as if the spirit of Brother Solomon was standing over my shoulder, nodding with a raised eyebrow as if to say,
“You haven’t given me the respect I deserve, son.”
And he’d be right.
I first heard Solomon Burke by virtue of the aforementioned Wicked Pickett, who’s anthemic version of ‘Everybody Needs Somebody To Love’ led me to the source.
When I picked up a budget Atlantic Records Best of LP, probably at the old Tower Records in NYC, sometime in the early 80s, I was a bit taken aback by what I heard.
Where Pickett took ‘Everybody…’ and laid into it like a house on fire, there was Burke, with a voice like the worn velvet seat of a church pew, mixing gospel, R&B and country in a sound that I was not yet accustomed to hearing.
It was the country that surprised me the most. My ears were still young and unseasoned, and I had yet to discover for myself the cross pollination between country and soul that was one of the great musical innovations of the 60s.
‘Just Out of Reach (Of My Empty Arms)’, one of Burkes first hits, was in fact a popular country song, having been recorded by Patsy Cline and Faron Young among others. Burke’s stylistic crossover was every bit as vital, if not as well known as Ray Charles’ efforts from around the same time.
Not long after that, I filed Solomon Burke away on the shelf with other artists acknowledged as seminal, yet not a big part of my listening.
That was until a few years later when, in the midst of the garage/mod revival I encountered a recording by a UK R&B group called the Artwoods called ‘Keep Looking’. I fell in love with this record (as did most of my contemporaries, with the Artwoods reissue comp being required listening), and was blown away when I found out that it was a cover of a record by none other than Solomon Burke.
When I finally tracked down a copy of the original 45 I was blown away.
Where the gospel influence on soul music is a given, with many of the greats having started out in the amen corner, Solomon Burke was the real thing times ten.
He was a child preacher in his family’s church in Philadelphia, as well as hosting his own gospel radio show.
‘Keep Looking’, in addition to being one of the greatest of all mod soul 45s, is also a brilliant flip of the sacred to the secular, with Burke quite literally preaching, delivering a message that wasn’t that far removed from something he might have done in church.
Burke’s intro…
I’m so happy to be here today
And for all of you who are searching for the answers to your problems in life
If you’re ready right now, we’re gonna solve’em
And this is alllllll you got to do….
Burke’s original version of ‘Keep Looking’ was no less than a revelation. It was a remarkable, life affirming, soul storming, dance floor bit of genius and while treasured by the soulies, ought to be much better known, i.e. an accepted 60s soul classic.
Another big fave of mine is the 1966 45 by the Soul Clan, i.e. Burke, Don Covay, Joe Tex, Arthur Conley and Ben E. King. The song ‘Soul Meeting’ is three and a half minutes of soul brilliance, with every member of the esteemed group delivering as if their lives depended on it.
In the late 60s Burke left Atlantic and moved on to the Bell label where he went down to Muscle Shoals and recorded one of the greatest albums of his career, ‘Proud Mary’. Backed by the famed Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, Burke settled into a deep soul groove, scoring a hit with the title tune, as well as covering a couple of Dan Penn classics (including ‘Uptight Good Woman’), and a deeply felt reading of Otis Redding’s ‘These Arms of Mine’. It’s a great album, and I recommend it highly.
The 1969 single ‘Generation of Revelations’ is another great one from the same period with Burke once again building a timely statement on a gospel foundation.
I’ve also included two covers of Burke classics that are worth hearing on their own, as well as an indicator of his influence.
The first is Betty Harris’ first hit, her 1963 cover of Burke’s classic ‘Cry To Me’, taken at a slow, sultry pace. It’s a great showcase for Harris’ mighty voice, and recasts the song with a slightly deeper R&B edge. While it was not written by Burke, it is most certainly “his” song.
The second is probably one of the five or ten greatest soul records ever made, that being the aforementioned Wilson Pickett recording of ‘Everybody Needs Somebody To Love’. That this record is positively epic in every possible sense of the word almost goes without saying.
So why am I saying it?
Because one cannot approach a record like this without paying due tribute.
‘Everybody Needs Somebody To Love’ is soul music gone to church, left church to go to a party and back again. It’s lyrics are beautiful, simple and above all true, and when Pickett stepped onto the launching pad and lit up his rockets (taking the song at a pace about five times as fast) the very first thing he did was give props to brother Solomon Burke.
I have it playing in the background while I write this and I’ve already had to stop twice to wipe the tears from my eyes, but what I have to tell you brothers and sisters is that these are not tears of sadness because Brother Burke is not with us anymore, but tears of joy that come to me almost every time I hear this song because it is without question, and in every way, perfect.
In the years before I met my wife, and we had our kids, and I was all but alone in the wilderness of life it was records like this that kept my spirit lifted, and filled me with the passion that is always there with me whenever I post to the blog, or more importantly enter a DJ booth with my records to spread the love.
Without Solomon Burke, and Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett, and Howard Tate, and James Carr, and Sam and Dave and Eldridge Holmes and Diamond Joe and any number of brilliant soul singers none of this would be possible.
I leave you today with the thought that while I am not a religious man, whenever I put on a soul record I am filled with the spirit, and Solomon Burke is a part of that.
Everybody does need somebody to love.
Go in peace Solomon.
Peace
Larry
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Themocracy
Larry, So well said, I think it would be hard to top your personal tribute. I have to admit, when I heard the news, I knew that you would have something heartfelt and special to say. Thank you for delivering.
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by secondperiod, David Rawson. David Rawson said: "a voice like the worn velvet seat of a church pew" – top tribute to Solomon Burke: https://j.mp/9pEAVG […]
Thanks Larry a truly fitting tribute to one of the greatest voices of all time.
R.I.P Solomon.
Beautifully written, Larry!
Well said. Seems like we are losing a lot of these legendary voices all the time now.
Heard his work on the recent “Nashville” album? Some of it is quite extraordinary, working in a countrified vein. “Valley of Tears” and “That’s How I Got to Memphis” are just amazing.
Great comments, Larry. Solomon was truly a great singer. I was lucky to hear him perform at the 2003 concert in Memphis to celebrate the opening of the Stax Museum of American Soul Music. He sang “Try A Little Tenderness”, just great, and a moving tribute to Otis Redding. Your readers really should have the 1992 Rhino compilation “Home In Your Heart” in the heart of their collections. As a bonus, get Peter Guralnick’s classic book “Sweet Soul Music” and enjoy Solomon’s improbable and hilarious stories. Solomon, we’ll miss you.
Very sad news, indeed. I tried to get tickets for his show tomorrow evening in Amsterdam, but it had already sold out, and now there won’t be any show at all. I just want to share with you Solomons latest project with dutch soul/rockband De Dijk in which he sings English translations of their songs with De Dijk as backing band https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSllh8O6Z2I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVwKawBbcno&feature=related https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvCL3wYBvac&feature=channel
There was only one.
R.I.P. Solomon Burke
Great tribute Larry, Good work!
the Velvet TUG Rip
What a fantastic post, thanks so much for the music, but mostly for the part where you talked about what soul music meant to you when you were most alone. Very moving, thanks for sharing!