Solomon Burke: Make Do With What You Got

(Herald rating: * * *)

The big man of rockin' soul made an unexpected comeback three years ago with the Grammy-winning Don't Give Up On Me. It reminded old fans that while he still juggles his church and funeral-parlour duties with his off-on career, the sixtysomething singer could still bring gravitas and urgency to a selection of songs provided by such admirers as Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Bob Dylan and others.

The Stones kicked off their career covering Burke songs like Everybody Needs Somebody to Love and Cry To Me, and the opener here, a gritty gut-bucket riffing rocker I Need Your Love In My Life sounds like he's paying homage to his old students. Later he grabs the Jagger-Richards slow and soul-filled I Got The Blues and makes it over in his inimitable style (like Cry To Me).

Elsewhere he turns Dylan's self-questioning What Good Am I? into funky pop driven by choppy guitar, and aches his way through the Band's It Makes No Difference and Van Morrison's At the Crossroads.

The funky title track comes from Dr John, and Burke closes this profoundly moral and spiritually uplifting blend of rock and soul with a heartfelt treatment of Hank Williams' Wealth Won't Save Your Soul, as only the bishop of the House of God For All People could do.

Label: Sony/BMG