Don't Give Up on Me in Bloomington, MN

It's a sad irony that in the 1980s and '90s, many of the great artists of
soul
and
R&B
suffered musically at the hands of those who professed to love them the most. After
had dropped off the major-label radar in favor of
hip-hop
new jack
sounds, a number of smaller companies stepped forward to record veteran artists who were still giving their all on the road, but for every truly inspired release from labels such as
Malaco
,
Bullseye
, or
Alligator
, there were a dozen others which featured rote, generic production and arrangements which attempted to recapture the thrilling sound of
's glory days without coming within driving distance of conjuring their ineffable magic.
Solomon Burke
was one of the greatest talents of '60s
, whose strong, burnished voice resonated with a churchy fervor that could speak volumes about either triumph or hurt, but while he continued to record regularly through the '70s, '80s and '90s and always sounded splendid, the records themselves often weren't much to write home about, with
Burke
using his gifts to prop up second-rate material or re-record tunes he'd performed definitively in the past. So it's good news indeed to report that
's new album,
Don't Give Up on Me
, is nothing short of revelatory, a superb set which presents "the King of
Rock
Soul
" at the very top of his form. Singer and songwriter
Joe Henry
produced the set, and rather than trying to replicate the sound of a vintage
Jerry Wexler
session, he's taken a very different approach, going for a spare and open sound, with nothing but a subdued rhythm section, a guitar, and an organ (the latter played by
Rudy Copeland
, who performs the same honors at the church where
preaches) accompanying
on most of these 11 songs.
Henry
also put out a call for material worthy of
's gifts, and a number of his better-known fans responded, including
Bob Dylan
Tom Waits
Van Morrison
Elvis Costello
Brian Wilson
, and
Nick Lowe
, all of whom contributed songs to the project. But for all the songwriting starpower on deck, the focus is squarely on
throughout, and he proves he's lost none of the power, force, or dramatic intensity of his glory days.
's low-key production captures the nooks and crannies of
's voice, and he delivers a performance worthy of a great actor on each cut, from the
deep soul
of
"Don't Give Up on Me"
and the
blues
-based swagger of
"Stepchild"
to the inspired tall tales of
"Diamond in Your Mind"
and the near-operatic passion of
"The Judgement."
His voice is in superb shape, too, sounding no less powerful at age 66 than he did in his glory days, and with a depth of emotion and gift for phrasing that's only grown with the passage of time. In many ways,
most closely resembles
Johnny Cash
's superb
American Recordings
, in that the spare simplicity of the album's presentation reveals the rich complexities of the singer's gifts as they've rarely been allowed in the past; while it's a very different kettle of fish from his classic sides for
Atlantic
in the 1960s,
Don't Give up on Me
leaves no doubt that
is still one of the finest voices of his time, and anyone who has ever been moved by the power of
music needs to hear this album. ~ Mark Deming