Solomon Burke (1940-2010)

Goodbye Baby (Baby Goodbye)

A good discography of his original releases...

...Red Kelly's excellent biographical weblogs entries on the man here and here...

...and one of his best (and fairly unknown) Atlantic recordings...

Solomon Burke, the King of Rock and Soul, was a true one-of-a-kind. I honestly don't think that anyone really knows what we lost when we lost him over the weekend. He is the stand-out in Peter Guralnick's compendium of stand-outs, Sweet Soul Music. He is the only voice that could fill the void left at Atlantic when Ray Charles left for ABC-Paramount. Heck he even beat Ray Charles to the Country & Western punch with his first hit, a 1961 recording of a Willie Nelson tune. I shall eternally regret every time I passed by the opportunity to see him perform (and there were a few).

Now do your self a favor and go download his version of Dan Penn's "Uptight Good Woman" - heck, go buy a copy of the original 1969 single on Bell. Although his Atlantic Records stretch provides much of the basis of his legacy, his 1969 sessions for Bell Records cut down in Muscle Shoals are pretty damn near perfect and completely unbelievable at times. They might even be some of the best records cut that year anywhere. Maybe. His version of "Uptight Good Woman" is a perfect reading of the tune, made all that much better by Penn's harmony vocal. This is soulful music of the highest order and a duet that is on par with Sam Cooke and Lou Rawls doing "Bring It On Home To Me". It's that good. Seriously.

Goodbye Baby. Baby Goodbye.