The above title was hung on Solomon when he began preaching and broadcasting from his "Solomon's Temple", founded for him by his grandmother in Philadelphia in 1945. He was all of nine years old and would continue with the program until 1955.

After a brief recording career with Apollo in 1954, he quit to become a mortician. But when he returned to music in the early 1960s with Atlantic he did so with a bang, taking Just Out Of Reach (Of My Two Empty Arms) to # 7 R&B, # 6 Adult Contemporary (AC), and # 24 Billboard Pop Hot 100 in October 1961 b/w Be Bop Grandma (not here). If, as they say, R&R is a melding of pop, country & R&B, then Soul was Rock's favourite offspring, and if Solomon Burke isn't the father of Soul then I'd sure like to know who is. I mean, who else could have taken a pure Country song and turned into a Soul standard?

And just to show that that was no fluke, he would find the pop/R&B charts 25 more times between then and 1975, adding another six solely on the R&B charts. Here you get 15 of those two-barreled hits plus Soul Meeting [track 16] which made it to # 34 R&B/# 91 Hot 100 in the summer of 1966 under the billing Soul Clan [Solomon, with Arthur Conley, Ben E. King, Joe Tex, and Don Covay].

My, oh, my can this man sing, expressing longing [Just Out Of Reach], pain [Cry To Me], or sorrow [Down In The Valley] with equal aplomb and in a manner which is clearly understood. Solomon Burke war rightfully (and belatedly) inducted into the R&R Hall of Fame in 2001.

Recommended most strongly.

Not only is every song here great, it's also the only place you can get "Soul Meeting" on CD as far as I know. That alone makes the price of admission cheap beyond belief.

Solomon Burke fans should do themselves a huge favor and also pick up his "Nashville" disc.

It was exactly what I had hoped for. Not edited.

i have a feeling anyone that really is into Burke's music would love this cd. i dont admit to anyone that im not a big fan becuase i get the usual "oh my god what are you talking about solomon burke is amazing." well sorry im only a casual listener at this point and this cd doesnt really do it for me. i bought it for one track "cry to me" and the sound of the CD is much different then the sound that amazon offers as a clip. i can only imagine people that are really into his music loving this as one of their favorites becuase of the true to life sound the album went out of its way to achieve.

The 'Bishop of Soul' serves up a service of pure musical salvation here: from the Country number 'Just Out Of Reach' to the classic 'Everybody Needs Somebody To Love' (as covered in the movie 'The Blues Brothers'). These tracks have been lovingly restored from the original single recording sessions, with all their raw power, but also with a good sound balance.

This CD pulses with soul: tight brass, great harmonies, and emotive singing by Burke. If you have Otis, Wilson, James Carr, and Aretha in your collection 'The Very Best of Solomon Burke' is a 'must have'.