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Don't Give Up on Me | 
 enlarge | Artist: Solomon Burke
Label: Epitaph / Ada
Category: Music
List Price: $13.98
Buy New: $12.99
You Save: $0.99 (7%)
New (45) Used (24) Collectible (4) from $2.75
Rating:  47 reviews
Sales Rank: 43825
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.4
MPN: 80358
UPC: 457780358232
EAN: 0045778035823
ASIN: B000068CTE
Release Date: July 23, 2002
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Tracks:
| • | Don't Give Up On Me (Dan Penn) | | • | Fast Train (Van Morrison) | | • | Diamond In Your Mind (Tom Waits) | | • | Flesh And Blood (Joe Henry) | | • | Soul Searchin' (Brian Wilson / Paley) | | • | Only A Dream (Van Morrison) | | • | The Judgment (Elvis Costello / Cait O'Riordan) | | • | Stepchild (Bob Dylan) | | • | The Other Side Of The Coin (Nick Lowe) | | • | None Of Us Are Free (Mann & Weil / Russell) | | • | Sit This One Out (Pick Purnell) |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Of all the great male '60s soul singers--a short list that includes Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, and James Brown--only Solomon Burke still actively records. More amazing, he's produced his best full-length album with Don't Give Up on Me. It's easy to give some credit to the album's star songwriters, who include Burke fans Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Van Morrison, Brian Wilson, and Bob Dylan. But really it's the quality of the songs and Burke himself, one of the most versatile and charismatic singers around, that make this album so special. The 11 songs range from the lazy, seductive plea of the title track and the gravelly gospel of "Diamond in Your Mind" to the country-soul of "Other Side of the Coin" and the civil-rights-era urgency of "None of Us Are Free." Joe Henry's production is suitably subdued, and the instrumentation--generally guitar, bass, drums, organ, and piano--is sympathetic throughout. And if you doubt that Burke is the real star in a room crowded with those folks, consider this: the two slightest tracks here were written by Wilson and Costello, while one of the best, the album-closing "Sit This One Out," was written by someone named Pick Purnell. A great album not fixed in the past or fully of this decade, Don't Give Up is a crowning achievement of an R&B pioneer who has returned to reclaim his self-bestowed title from the '60s: "The King of Rock and Soul." --Keith Moerer
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| Customer Reviews: Read 42 more reviews...
 Always keep a diamond in your mind September 5, 2008
This CD is one of those "Diamonds" Burke refers to. I came late to Burke fandom, thanks to a friend, but this is not the last Burke CD I'm adding to my collection.
Where do I start? "Don't Give Up On Me" has brought together some of the best songwriters and side players in the business for a CD that's in my opinion essential to a good R&B collection. Songwriters include Van Morrison, Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe. Sidemen are both on instruments and vocal and just begin with the Blind Boys of Alabama.
"Diamond in your mind" is a Tom Waits song. "Keep hoping" is a universal sentiment, but what an incisive phrase for keeping positive.
"Soul Searching" is by Brian Wilson. The tune sounds like a timeless classic.
"The Judgement" is a heartbreaking blues number about unrequited love. There's no sung chorus, but the musical line is haunting and eerie.
This music is R&B at its deepest core, but it's also universal music. The messages run the gamut of emotions from strong and hopeful to harsh and painful.
If you love R&B, this is a CD you need to listen to. It's definitely a favorite of mine and I suspect will be for years to come.
Rebecca Kyle, September 2008
A magnificent labor of love nobody should be without: ten stars! February 29, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
In February 2002 Solomon Burke and a couple of other terrific musicians went into the studio to record this gem. All live and just in four days.
In four days? Impossible? Listen to this and I promise you'll never question them again. These guys don't need tons of takes, they know exactly what they're doing. Just get together and tape it. Amazing!!!
What do I say when words fail me to describe the intensity, the depth, the love, the joy and pain, the hope and everything else that is this music.
Solomon Burke, the American icon, doesn't need an introduction.
The way he molds these songs (some especially written for him) into unforgettable stories just blows you away.
Joe Henry who produced the album, did a marvelous job. Besides writing my favorite Flesh and Blood, he was able to bring out the best in these great musicians and capture it for ages to come. This is SOUL music in the truest meaning of the word. One of my all time favorites!!!
Great musicians: Jay Bellerose drums and percussion, Chris Bruce guitar, David Palmer piano and keys, David Pitch bass and Rudy Copeland organ.
The guests are just as amazing: Bennie Wallace tenor sax, Daniel Lanois electric guitars, Niki Harris and Jean McClain background vocals, The Blind Boys of Alabama special guests.
Songs by Bob Dylan (Stepchild), Nick Lowe (The Other Side of the Coin), Van Morrison (Fast Train, Only A Dream), Tom Waits (Diamond in Your Mind) Brian Wilson (Soul Searchin')
Close your eyes and enjoy!
A Fitting Showcase for a Legend November 4, 2007
I had never heard of Solomon Burke before hearing him for the first time sing a track on a Derek Trucks CD a couple years ago. I realize now that he is the original. You'll get the feeling that every singer you love - Van, Bruce, Eric, Mick, Elvis - learned to sing by listening to him. Since I've been listening to Solomon Burke, my entire concept of what it means - and what it takes - to sing a song has completely changed. Mr. Burke, if you're reading this, THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS YOU!
To Joe Henry, THANK YOU! Your production on this album is off the charts. You put Mr. Burke's vocals right where they belong - front and center - crisp and clean - with no (perceived) effects. It's as if he's standing two feet in front of me, and there's no microphone or amplifier between his mouth and my ears. I commend you on this brave choice. You show that his voice - complete with "imperfections" - has nothing to hide. Any so-called enhancement would only diminish it's immediacy. Every idiosyncracy is like a ring in the tree. He sings like he has lived every song. Thanks to your production, as a listener, I feel like we're in the same room, just kickin' back, while I'm lucky enough to listen to him do what he loves to do. The back up vocals on "Diamond" sound like they're spinning on an old 45 in the corner of the room - brilliant! As for the Blind Boys on "Free," I thought I was listening to a dub of the Ink Spots! The Blind Boys take the texture of this great acoustic groove to an even higher level - absolutely rich! Thanks for sharing your vision with the rest of us.
 Solomon Burke May 8, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Great Blues singer. As long as he's been around, I didn't know about him until I saw him on "Breakfast With The Arts". Quality lyrics, quality voice, and good solid blues sound. This is one of those artists that you just don't want to see grow old. BB King is another. Charlie Daniels is another. "Don't Give Up On Me" is a great song with a lot of feeling and it is a great album that carries that feeling through the entire array of songs. Good stuff.
Comeback for all Generations December 21, 2006
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
In the last 15 years we have seen some comebacks of artists that were famous in the 50's and 60's but whose careers slowly went downhill in the 80's, mostly thanks to the invention of the soul-less synthesizer.
Johnny Cash was introduced to a new audience with his 'American Recordings' and subsequent released under the same title. He was no longer the guy in black singing 'Ring of Fire' but that old guy singing Palace Music and Danzig songs.
You could say the same thing about Bob Dylan with his last three CD's.
And then there is Reverend Burke. A great career in the 60's, some mediocre songs in the 80's but with "Don't Give Up On Me" he finally has what he always claimed to posess: the title of King of Soul.
No tracks he has written himself, but songs by Dan Penn (the brilliant and passionate title track), Brian Wilson, Elvis Costello and Bob Dylan.
The instrumentation is laid-back and how it is supposed to be, as if it could be played on the street without any electricity. Burke's voice, now even deeper than it used to be, soothes us and makes the tracks written by others his. We should not give up on him, we believe he has a diamond in his mind and that his life had been not so great.
This might be one of the best real old-fashioned soul albums of the last 20 years. The King is back.
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