SOLOMON BURKE – NOTHINGS IMPOSSIBLE

It’s good to return to your roots, and Solomon Burke has been distracted for way too long (at least four albums of Americana cross-over by my count). Nothings Impossible and Burke proves this by returning to what he does best, Soul music with a capital “S”. That is S for soul, S for smooth and S for southern. Nothings Impossible is also the last album worked on by legendary producer Wille Mitchell (Al Green) who co-wrote much of the material with Burke, and his spacious but muscular arrangements are a perfect match for Burke’s southern soul voice, a voice that has wearied little over the years. If Burke has had a fault it is in his tendancy to become gospel’s Barry White, letting the schmaltz over-run the message – represented here by the cliched It Must Be Love – but Mitchell has enough grit to keeps Burke “on message” here, with When You’re Not Here representing the real soul side of the big man.

***1/2