We’ve been down this road before with a plethora of blues, soul and rock ‘n’ roll stars, from John Lee Hooker to Roy Orbison to Doctor John: a producer of some repute gets the itch to introduce the work of an old master to a new generation, convenes a crew of A-list songwriters and session players, and conceives of an album designed to put a new coat of paint on an American classic.
So it is with country-soul and gospel titan Solomon Burke. Like A Fire was A&R’d and produced by Steve Jordan, the Picasso of the pocket, a multi-instrumentalist (but primarily a rhythmatist) renowned for his work with Stevie Wonder, Keith Richards, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and Bruce Springsteen.
Here he’s assembled a house band that includes Larry Taylor, Rudy Copeland and Dean Parks backing Mr Burke on a selection of tunes by Clapton, Ben Harper and Keb’ Mo’ among others. The results are predictably spit-polished and slick, but Burke’s voice remains the star of the show, a beautifully matured instrument that can by turns evoke Al Green’s unfettered joy, Ray Charles’s vulnerability and BB King’s wounded growl.
A couple of tracks are for the coffee table (the title tune and ‘Understanding’ dress those vintage tones in somewhat unbecoming silks), but there’s plenty of grit too: the slow country blues of ‘What Makes Me Think I Was Right’; the low-slung Memphis throb of ‘We Don’t Need It’; the fatback funk of ‘A Minute To Rest And A Second To Pray’; and the devotional chestnut ‘If I Give My Heart To You’. All told, Like A Fire is an honest and honourable enterprise, even if it doesn’t add any new twists to the song of Solomon.

Key track: ‘What Makes Me Think I Was Right’