It Don't Get No Better Than This: Essential Recordings

Personnel: Solomon Burke (vocals); Marc Ribot, Renard Poché (guitar); Bill "Foots" Samuel (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone); Arno Hecht (tenor saxophone); Crispin Cioe (baritone saxophone); Terry Tullos, Paul Litterall (trumpet); Ernie Gautreau (valve trombone); Gabriel Rotello, Craig Wroten (keyboards); Bob Kent, Herman V. Ernest III (drums).
Photographer: Jack Vartoogian.
Southern soul icon Solomon Burke's 1960s recordings made R&B history, but in between his '60s heyday and his triumphant 2000s comeback, his long, strange journey brought him to Rounder Records in the mid-'80s, where he released one studio album and one live recording. This package reissues the studio disc, A CHANGE IS GONNA COME, and appends one cut from the live album, SOUL ALIVE. The production makes no attempt to recreate Burke's classic '60s sound, but doesn't try to crassly modernize him either, and Burke's powerhouse voice is too titanic to play second fiddle to arrangements in any case.