If You Need Me
Stupidity - (London Records, 1963)
Cry to Me
Tonight's the Night
Goodbye Baby (Baby Goodbye)
Everybody Needs Somebody To Love
Gotta Getcha Off My Mind
DANCE, DANCE, DANCE
KEEP LOOKIN' - Atlantic 1966
Solomon Burke wrote the song Got To Get You Off My Mind to get Sam Cooke's death off his mind. It was a great favourite of ours although at that time we did not know its history, we just couldn’t get it off our minds. His gospel roots are obvious in his music - just listen to If You Need Me which sounds just like a sung sermon - but with a whole load of soul. His voice in one of the sweetest in the business. He was a superb crossover artist - the aforementioned track was covered by the Rolling Stones in their early R&B days.
Solomon is a Bishop and the King of Soul.
Without doubt the above tracks were his most popular on the original soul scene in Manchester in the 1960's. The first two were most probably more popular at the time by Wilson Pickett.
Bert Berns produced many of Solomon’s recordings. He is still going strong but sitting down on stage these days on an enormous chair as he did when letting in the New Year in 2004 on The Hootenanny Show with Jools Holland.
