'Rock 'N Soul'

My favorite effect of this 1,001 project is the amount of soul that I've subjected myself to the last several years. They've by far been the most anticipated and loved albums that I've discovered.

Therefore, I've been dying to listen to Solomon Burke's magnum opus Rock 'N Soul. Burke was known as the "King of Rock 'N Soul" which was derived from a quote from Burke, who stated "without soul, there'd be no rock, and without rock, there'd be no soul."

This of course opens the door for a discussion about the etymology of music and how all of this crap is related and often a mere instrument or genre-changing studio trick away from being something else. For example, how is "Honky Tonk Woman" not a country single? If Toby Keith reocrded it exactly as the Rolling Stones did, it would be.

Add a fiddle or steel guitar to a song, it's country. Add synthesized keyboard or process drums and its pop. Add an overly distorted guitar and its rock.

The bottom line is that all modern music outside of world and classical is connected and only seemingly separated by our own imaginations.

This was especially true in 1965 when Burke released Rock 'N Soul, just several years after The Beatles were covering Little Richard and Elvis Presley was making black music incredible popular.

Rock 'N Soul did not disappoint personally. It's a beautiful album with a ton of rock characteristics and is surprisingly un-soullike. It's not the same as Sam Cooke or Otis Redding, yet it highlights Burke's beautiful vocal styling. Often, it seems more like Nat King Cole than modern (at the time) soul singers. Fantastic album.