A Blast From The Past
Sully | Mar 12, 2011 | Comments 0
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These articles are archives published at BluesWax as BluesWax Picks,
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Originally Published September 4, 2002
Don’t Give Up On Me
By Beardo
A Perfect 10?
It may be the crime of the century if this man doesn’t finally get his due with this release. The shadow of Otis Redding disperses as possibly the last of the 60′s Soul singers to still be workin’ hard and giving it up for the peeps, Mr. Solomon Burke, gets gifts from his fans, in the form of songs written just for him to interpret. These unknown “fans” are Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, Nick Lowe, Brian Wilson, Tom Waits, Joe Henry (who also produced) and others.Recorded in an amazing four days (compared to six weeks for a guitar intro to a Steely Dan “song”), this CD exhibits feeling and heart that take living a lifetime to express.
How do you review perfection? No record collection is complete without this! All the tracks are pure gold so I will merely mention my two favorites and let you choose yours when you pick up your copy…tomorrow!
I am a fan of Bob Dylan songs done by others and this song is on the top of the list. “Stepchild” is a killer Blues, both lyrically and musically. Solomon’s voice and apparent adlibs are great. Also being a fan of Nick Lowe songs, period, “The Other Side Of The Coin” just could not have been done better than this. Was that two songs already? “Don’t Give Up On Me” by Dan Penn (the really talented Penn) and Brian Wilson’s “Soul Searchin’” are the other two favorites. I would give this a rating of “10″ if that wasn’t an impossible, mythical, god-like, not attainable score.
Fat Possum Records has hit another base clearing home run with this one. Don’t be like me, going to a wedding INSTEAD of seeing and meeting this guy last month, get out this week and see some live music!
Beardo
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