Hey peoples,

What's the best Solomon Burke collection out there to get? I only own one song of his from a soul collection (Got To Get You Off Of My Mind) but I'm tryin' to dig deeper into his discography.

I seen three collection and want to know which is better?

Rhino's The Very Best of ... and the Definite Soul Collection or Home In Your Heart

Hmm, they're all by Rhino.

I only have the Rhino Very Best of compilation which is a nice lil' overview of his Atlantic years. Although you need to get a hold of a compilation that features his Apollo years(mid/late 50s) because they are legendary,,,,I mean hell, Lester Young played behind him in one of those songs LESTER YOUNG!

Its funny hearing those early recordings though, because they have singing like Billy Eckstine, until he gets his church on and then the real Mr.Burk appears

The man some say really "invented soul", or better yet, the first artist to actually be classified as a "soul singer". Around the time he signed with Atlantic Records in 1961, Jerry Wexler was trying to bill him as a blues, or, rhythm and blues singer and he felt being called such was sacrilege and felt he would be sent to hell if he was ever branded as such. Apparently when asked by a radio DJ what he wanted to be referred to as, he said "a soul singer". This is what later artists like James Brown (who used to call himself a "rock and roll artist") and Aretha Franklin later decided to go as. Even Ray Charles refer to himself as an R&B artist rather than soul artist despite the fact later history revisionists called him "the father of soul music".

Harlepolis said:

I only have the Rhino Very Best of compilation which is a nice lil' overview of his Atlantic years. Although you need to get a hold of a compilation that features his Apollo years(mid/late 50s) because they are legendary,,,,I mean hell, Lester Young played behind him in one of those songs LESTER YOUNG!

Its funny hearing those early recordings though, because they have singing like Billy Eckstine, until he gets his church on and then the real Mr.Burk appears

Is there any disc with his Apollo material?

Timmy84 said:

The man some say really "invented soul", or better yet, the first artist to actually be classified as a "soul singer". Around the time he signed with Atlantic Records in 1961, Jerry Wexler was trying to bill him as a blues, or, rhythm and blues singer and he felt being called such was sacrilege and felt he would be sent to hell if he was ever branded as such. Apparently when asked by a radio DJ what he wanted to be referred to as, he said "a soul singer". This is what later artists like James Brown (who used to call himself a "rock and roll artist") and Aretha Franklin later decided to go as. Even Ray Charles refer to himself as an R&B artist rather than soul artist despite the fact later history revisionists called him "the father of soul music".

I always see him as the first Soul artist. But, he was really just the first to be billed as a "soul artis?"

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Harlepolis said:

I only have the Rhino Very Best of compilation which is a nice lil' overview of his Atlantic years. Although you need to get a hold of a compilation that features his Apollo years(mid/late 50s) because they are legendary,,,,I mean hell, Lester Young played behind him in one of those songs LESTER YOUNG!

Its funny hearing those early recordings though, because they have singing like Billy Eckstine, until he gets his church on and then the real Mr.Burk appears

Is there any disc with his Apollo material?

"This Is It: The Origins of Soul"

Harlepolis said:

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Is there any disc with his Apollo material?

"This Is It: The Origins of Soul"

Hmm, interesting. I checked out some of the clips from amazon. He sounds so different.

It's cool to hear artist early in their career before they find their stride.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Timmy84 said:

The man some say really "invented soul", or better yet, the first artist to actually be classified as a "soul singer". Around the time he signed with Atlantic Records in 1961, Jerry Wexler was trying to bill him as a blues, or, rhythm and blues singer and he felt being called such was sacrilege and felt he would be sent to hell if he was ever branded as such. Apparently when asked by a radio DJ what he wanted to be referred to as, he said "a soul singer". This is what later artists like James Brown (who used to call himself a "rock and roll artist") and Aretha Franklin later decided to go as. Even Ray Charles refer to himself as an R&B artist rather than soul artist despite the fact later history revisionists called him "the father of soul music".

I always see him as the first Soul artist. But, he was really just the first to be billed as a "soul artist?"

From what I read? Yeah. Sam Cooke was still called "a rock and roll" or "teen pop" singer when he died. After his death, they called him a "soul artist". Probably because of his influence on what became soul artists later on. Same thing happened with Little Willie John when he died.

I have this one pretty good overview with most of his hits:

http://www.amazon.com/Hom...omon+Burke