SOLOMON BURKE
King of Blues ’n’ Soul
Fuel 2000
· Self-proclaimed "King of Rock and Soul" fails to deliver.
Actually, Solomon Burke isn’t really the king of blues or soul – there are plenty of others with as good or better claim to either title. Then again, modesty has never been Burke’s strong suit. In 1996, for instance, he released an album called The Definition of Soul.
That album, in fact, was pretty good. This one isn’t.
What we have is largely a collection of old standards purged of whatever soul they might once have possessed, and quickly forgettable new songs. Burke trots through "Good Rocking Tonight," "My Babe" and a live version of his own "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" without breaking much of a sweat, which is not easy to do. But it’s on the slower numbers – notably "Letter From My Darling" and the truly horrible "Candy" – that Burke’s lack of any blues or soul sensitivity comes to the fore. It just never really sounds like he’s investing anything of himself in the songs, or that he’s bothered one way or another what his baby does.
Maybe it’s unfair to expect gems from an aging soul star, but things don’t have to be this bad. After all, Wilson Pickett delivered a return-to-form CD just a couple of years back. Now there’s a king of soul. As for Solomon Burke, he sounds more like he’d be at home playing Caesar’s Palace.
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