I was lucky enough to catch Joe Henry, one of Solomon Burke’s “older” producers, (Don’t Give Up on Me, from 2002), at a conference. We ended up likening Solomon Burke with mid/late period Klaus Kinski—a sensation, already assured the “legend” word in his obit, saying, in effect, “Take that big bag of money and drop it at my feet. I’m gonna sleepwalk through this thing and it’s gonna be good enough, because I’m me, so there.” Which had gone on in Burke’s world well before 2002.

The work of the late great Willie Mitchell on his last production job makes this more essential listening. Mitchell stirs the spices of his artfully selected house band (kudos to Steve Potts, who makes everyone wait for him on the 2 almost as long as Al Jackson, Jr. did). The first song Mitchell showed to Burke? “You Needed Me,” a number one for Anne Murray in 1978. Mitchell knew this was secretly a soul song, and Burke testifies the lyric, deceptively gently, then more deceptively gently. We don’t know if the lover he’s singing to is Jesus and/or God, but it sounds more and more like holy praise with every phrase. Solomon knew it was a soul song, too, and that’s one sweat drop more precious than sleepwalking.