SOLOMON BURKE + DE DIJK "HOLD ON TIGHT"

Last year, the album that I thought was Solomon Burke's final release, Nothing's Impossible, was released and it was one of my favorite albums of 2010. But it turns out that there was one last album that we hadn't heard: Hold On Tight. The album features De Dijk, one of the biggest Dutch rock bands.

No, I hadn't heard of them, either. They are sort of like the Dutch version of The Commitments: they love American R&B and soul. But they are proud of being Dutch, and they sing in Dutch, which obviously limits their ability to cross over.

But Solomon shared a stage with them at a European festival and loved them so much, he wanted to collaborate with them. First they did a single, and then they did this album, which is basically songs from De Dijk's catalog, translated into English and I guess rearranged a bit. It was recorded in October of 2009, a year before Solomon passed away.  I don't know if it is his best album, but it is legit, De Dijk sounds incredible (they could give any late night TV show band - except for maybe The Roots - a run for their money). Solomon's singing is as strong as ever.

I think that Solomon Burke had as strong a final act as any legendary artist ever has. I'm grateful to have found this last chapter, which fits in well with Solomon's might final run of albums. So I, and Solomon's fans, owe a "thank you" to the guys in De Dijk.