Rock ’n Soul

3.5
Pretty good listen, he's not Fats Domino though

Incredible voice. The songs aren’t that distinctive or memorable which I suppose is why he didn’t have that many hits and so has been under celebrated.

Pre Listen:
Haven't heard of Solomon Burke. Album cover is definitely dated, would be something I'd overlook in a records store for sure. No expectations, outside of this will probably be decent, but boring.

Notable Tracks:
Cry To Me - I know he's saying "Don't you feel like cry-cra-cry-cra crying to me" but it sounds like he's saying "Don't you feel like a cracka cracka cracka". Just saying.
You Can't Love Them All - My favorite song. I think it got the best song, the soft instrumental ensemble plays together so well. I especially like the acoustic guitar and piano.

Post Listen:
About what I was expecting. Old soul, nostalgic feeling, one stand out song and the rest wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything incredibly special.

A very. *very* inoffensive album. I would almost describe it as cute. Everything is done ok, and again, no bad songs or anything like that.

I'm struggling to come up with anything to say deeper than that. Another album I would've really loved a decade ago or so when this was the sum of my music tastes. 3/5.

Lo mismo hay gente para los que este disco es un referente, pero yo solo lo veo como cultura musical. Suena muy bien, pero nada me ha llamado la atención. Esto sería un 2,5 que como no puedo poner lo dejo en 3 por no ser Grinch.

Thoroughly enjoyed listening to this album. It did start to sound a little one note by the end, but his singing is amazing and the arrangements are quite dense and complex. I’m surprised he didn’t see the same success as some of his peers especially since he’s considered one of the founding fathers of soul music.

It's good! The arrangements on some of the album cuts were a bit different than what I expected from his other hits (i.e. more acoustic guitars).

Sam Cooke did it better but man they don’t make music that makes you this happy anymore.

dated then, still dated now.

One of the pioneers of soul, according to Wikipedia. Lots of short love songs and covers turned to “rock and soul”. I understand the genre a bit more through this record; it’s very vocal-focused, which makes sense given its roots in gospel.

As for this album, I think it suffers from how similar-sounding each song is. I guess since soul was just breaking ground, it was still attached to like rock and R&B (3.5).

Коли слухав цей альбом, то згадав серіал місс Мейзел, там був такий персонаж - співак Шай Болдвін. Такий собі образ соул\рнб співаків 50х-60х.
Власне більше нічого не маю сказати, музика застигла в тому часі і для мене сприймається виключно як щось архаічне. Не знаю чому так, але так. Між 2.5 і 3, поставлю 3.

No puedo creer que voy a hacer esto (yo tenía las 5 estrellas reservadas para Joni Mitchell), pero honestamente no encuentro nada que criticar al álbum. La pasé muy bien escuchándolo y eso que ni siquiera es algo que escucharía comúnmente. Me encantó la reiteración de la palabra "love" a lo largo del álbum. Y aunque alguna que otra letra es cuestionable o puede ser acusada de simplista, son naturalmente divertidas e identificables. Además la voz de él y sus vocalistas es increíble.

(3.5) come on who hurt him

Absolutely adored this album

There’s a slipshod element to this “album”, given the range of recording dates, and as much as I like this era of R&B, it’s definitely not my go-to by any means. Still, Burke sounds amazing, and I’d definitely be interested in checking out more of his work someday.

3.5/5

I hadn't heard of Solomon Burke before. I was really curious to see what I'd get. In the end, it sounded a lot like Elvis Presley to me and eventually started to get on my nerves. Although the album isn't bad, I probably won't listen to it all the way through again. 3/5

Nice voice. Backing vocals way too prominent at times.

Jamais écouté avant.

Un document intéressant sur les premières années de la soul, sublimé par la maîtrise vocale de Solomon Burke, mais qui souffre aussi des défauts de son temps : textes clichés, instrumentation minimaliste et répétitive, chœurs un peu trop présents...

Top : Cry to Me
Flop : Won't You Give Him (One More Chance)

I swear to glorious HaShem, why are all of these tracklists wacked the fuck out on spotify?? Again nothing a little queueing won't fix, but it's so weird. Like the tracklist is right there, ON THE COVER, how's you gonna mess that up???? Whatever. This album definitely isn't "rock 'n soul," but it's pretty good. Mr. Burke's voice is lovely, and it has a good range between of a buttery, soulful, middle ground, a wild, howling higher register, and a deep, romantic lower register. It's a good vessel for these songs. The entire album itself, in terms of instrumentation and musicality, is quite pleasant too; its best moments are just straight-forward southern soul, such as "If You Need Me," or "Can't Nobody Love You." Many of the songs end up sounding much more pop-soaked, such as "Cry To Me," or "Hard Ain't It Hard." It's a very consistent and easygoing listening experience. The background singers, though they get old somewhat quickly, are still pretty pleasant all around. What ends up really holding it back, frankly, is that none of it is really, truly, GREAT. Even if there are some really cool songs here, I can't really say that I'll come back to any of these songs, genuinely, even if it's enjoyable.
7.2/10

Nothing bad about this album. Can't say I loved it. I'm not the biggest fan of soul, but this is good.

Great voice. Can't say I've listened to him before. Music for cooking/cleaning on a weekend. 3.5/5. Raising to 4.