Track Listing

1. Like a Fire
2. We Don't Need It
3. Fall
4. Minute to Rest and a Second to Pray - Solomon Burke, , Ben Harper
5. Ain't That Something
6. What Makes Me Think I Was Right
7. Understanding
8. You and Me
9. Thank You
10. If I Give My Heart to You

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #125515 in Music
• Brand: Burke
• Released on: 2008-06-10
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .17 pounds

Album Description
Like A Fire features songs written specifically for the GRAMMY®-winning King of Rock 'n' Soul by an all-star group of songwriters, including Eric Clapton, Ben Harper, Jesse Harris, and Keb' Mo', who just happen to be some of his biggest fans. Eric Clapton wrote the title track and co-wrote "Thank You" with Solomon. Ben Harper duets with Solomon on his composition, "A Minute To Rest And A Second To Pray." And Keb' Mo' and Jesse Harris (writer of Norah Jones' "Don't Know Why") each play guitar and sing backing vocals on the their songs. Like A Fire was produced by Grammy®-winning master drummer Steve Jordan, who has worked with Bob Dylan, Keith Richards, Stevie Wonder, John Mayer and countless other greats, and who also wrote three tracks for the album.

Customer Reviews

A bluesy journey into the Lousiana swamp.
Grammy winning soul and rock'n'roll icon is a living legend whose blues and soul standards have been covered by everyone from Springsteen to the Stones. He is one of the great unsung figures of 1960s soul, having contributed tunes such as "Down in the Valley", "Cry to Me" and "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" to the library of soul classics.
In his '60s heyday at Atlantic records, Burke was a pioneer of that inspired fusion of gospel and blues which gave us soul music. Thereafter, Burke returned to the church, and was running his own ministry in Los Angeles, when country-rocker Joe Henry lured him to make 2002's wonderful secular comeback album, Don't Give Up on Me, which won a Grammy.
His old pal Eric Clapton has written the title track for his new album "Like The Fire" as well as sharing songwriting credits with Burke on the song "Thank You".
The album is a laidback set ranging from the semi-plugged "Like A Fire" and country-tinged "The Fall" to the more predictable rhythm and blues of "Understanding" and "You And Me".
The biggest surprise is "A Minute To Rest And A Minute To Play", which finds him wading Tony Joe White style, into the Louisiana swamp.
Other artists who have worked, written and played on the new album include Ben Harper, Jesse Harris and Keb' Mo.
Burke doesn't sound immediately comfortable within this slick, "adult alternative" setting but with his voice still in top form, he's able to inject a sufficient amount of pure soul into material that in a lesser artist's hands might be easily forgettable.
Sure, the voice is beginning to sound stretched, having lost some of its gutsy resonance. But it's still a formidable thing, and it still aches with real, authentic emotion on songs such as the stirring "We Don't Need It", on Clapton's reflective title track, and on "The Fall", which inhabits that lovely, bittersweet borderland where soul and country meet.
The main difference between "Like A Fire" and Burke's other recent efforts is the lack of chemistry between himself and the band, resulting in what can only be described as soul-by-the-numbers.
Still, nothing can diminish Burke's massively positive presence on songs like "Thank You" and "Understanding", the album's most honest moments.
"Like A Fire" is a pleasant, feel-good accomplishment from a musical giant who's paid his dues, but there are better places to begin exploring what got him here.
Speaking about making his new album, Burke, who's now 68, says: "I'm on a journey, and that journey is music. I want to give all I can to as many people as I can for as long as I can".
Adding that the songs are always emotional, he says: "Songs take a message directly to your heart. When you can't speak for yourself, sometimes a song can say something in three minutes that you've been trying to say all your life". "Producer Steve Jordan gives the music a clattery, funky underpinning, and though the material isn't as strong as 2006's country-soul tour de force Nashville, Burke wrings maximum pathos and humor even from the weakest stuff. The highlight: A wonderfully blustery reading of the cocktail jazz standard "If I Give My Heart to You." It's proof that Burke could spend his sunset years enthroned on a Vegas concert stage".Rolling Stone

Love Forever Shines
Lay It Down

Emotional and soulful.
Solomon Burke is, to those in the know, a soul singer the equal of Sam Cooke or Otis Redding.
Their places in the pantheon of greats may have been sealed by their untimely deaths, but Solomon went on singing, though not to the universal acclaim he surely deserved.
At 68, with a recording career of 46 years behind him, he is not just still in fine voice, he is willing to take chances with his music rather than rely on tried and tested formulas.
It was the 2002 album "Don't Give Up On Me" - featuring songs from such greats as Van Morrison, Tom Waits and Bob Dylan - which reminded many of us that Burke was still a force to be reckoned with.
The celebrity endorsement is still present here, with Eric Clapton, Ben Harper and Keb' Mo' contributing songs.
You'd expect a slightly earthier feel from these guys and that's what you get.
The King of Rock and Soul's "Like a Fire" continues its clear country orientation with a satisfying set of country-soul performances, ranging from the almost swamp-funk gospel of Ben Harper's "A Minute to Rest and a Second to Pray" at one extreme to "If I Give My Heart to You", a torch-song in the pioneering black-country tradition established by Ray Charles, at the other.
This album has something of the rootsy melting pot feel of Ry Cooder's fertile 1970s recordings, going from the ambling country lament of "The Fall" to Keb' Mo's uplifting poverty plaint "We Don't Need It", in which a man on his uppers is reassured by his family that they can do without costly fripperies because "all we need is you".
"The Fall" is a portrait of a once-proud man broken by circumstance, reflecting how "a flame can burn out, if things don't turn out". Burnished with subtle pedal steel, it's a movingly adult performance, recounted by Burke with the minimum of flamboyance and maximum emotion.
Burke is a man of the church, and there are lessons about life at every turn here, particularly the sorry tale of "We Don't Need It", where a family rallies round to help a man laid off from his job.
But it is Clapton who comes up trumps, providing Burke with the most memorable song in the title track. It trots along on the kind of bouncy guitar which propelled another of Clapton's recent masterpieces, "Change The World".

Misses a Spark
Soloman Burke's "Like a Fire" may not be his very best recording compared to his expansive catalog, but it offers a few strong sounds. The opener "Like a Fire" is a bouncy midtempo track penned by Eric Clapton, "I'm always searching for meaning." Danny Kortchmar who worked with James Taylor & was in the classic band Jo Mama guests on guitar. Keb' Mo's sunny guitar and backing vocals support Soloman on Mo's "We Don't Need It," "So we gathered round the table, told them the news, a look of desperation nearly broke me in two." Soloman burns in a workout on Ben Harper's "A Minute to Rest & a Second to Pray." Soloman's vocals are excellent on Jesse Harris' "What Makes Me Think," despite a plodding feel to the music. One of the better tracks is Jesse Harris' "You & Me" that steps into a good groove with Harris' throbbing acoustic guitar & Rudy Copeland's wailing organ. Soloman Burke's sole credit as a songwriter is with Eric Clapton on "Thank You," a subtle shuffle. After a decidedly midtempo playlist, Burke slows down old school for the lounge weeper "If I Give My Heart to You." "Like a Fire" unfortunately never really ignites. There are some bright spots and great musicianship, but the disc misses a spark. Enjoy!