Three new summer soul treats

It's a summer bonanza of soul. Besides the new album by Al Green and sets by such fine retro stylists as James Hunter, Eli "Paperboy" Reed and Duffy, three pioneering greats of the musical genre, all with Philadelphia connections, have new CDs.

This summer, in order of appearance, Solomon Burke continues his late-career renaissance; Garnet Mimms reappears after 30 years away from the pop world, and Howard Tate takes the next step in his return from the abyss of drug addiction and homelessness.

Burke is known as the King of Rock and Soul, but the West Philadelphia native has always had an affinity for country as well - his last album,

Nashville,

was cut in Music City with producer-guitarist and country-soul maven Buddy Miller. For

Like a Fire

(Shout! Factory ***), out now, Burke enlists Steve Jordan, the drummer who has worked with Keith Richards, Stevie Wonder and other luminaries, but he continues to explore the country-soul connection.

Ironically,

Fire

gets off to a lukewarm start with the Eric Clapton title song. The spare, acoustic-textured arrangement sets the musical tone, but the lackluster quality of the song offers the first hint that the material will not rise to the sustained heights of

Nashville

or 2002's Grammy-winning

Don't Give Up on Me

- albums that borrowed from the cream of Dylan, Springsteen, Tom Waits, Tom T. Hall and Dolly Parton, among others.

Still, with his preacherly baritone, the 68-year-old Burke again manages to combine magisterial sweep with gut-level emotion on the better selections: Keb' Mo's "We Don't Need It," a heart-tugging family tale; Ben Harper's urgent, gospel-stoked "A Minute to Rest and a Second to Pray"; and Jesse Harris' anguished "What Makes Me Think I Was Right."

Garnet Mimms, best known for the 1963 smash "Cry Baby," one of the landmark works in the emergence of soul, has been keeping busy with church work and singing gospel since he left the music business in the late '70s. The 74-year-old West Virginia native and longtime Philadelphian is pastor of the nondenominational Glory Land Ministries on West Cheltenham Avenue in West Oak Lane.

None of the 15 songs on

Is Anybody Out There?

(Evidence ***1/2), due Tuesday, would be out of place at Mimms' joyous Sunday services. As with most of his secular music, the performances are steeped in gospel feeling. Some, like "I Know the One" and "Thirty-Three," are overtly Christian. But many, such as "Keeping the Dream Alive" and "On Top of This Mountain," are more general tales of inspiration and uplift, often in the face of struggle and doubt, but without any sugarcoating.

Mimms recorded the album in Nashville with Jon Tiven, the producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist behind comeback albums by Betty Harris and Wilson Pickett, and the discoverer of the brilliant young Ellis Hooks. Tiven cowrote 13 of the songs (other writers include Southern-soul architects Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham, country singer Marty Brown, and the late Little Milton and Johnny Taylor). He also crafted the classic soul accompaniment, augmented by the Heart for Christ Choir.

It's first-class treatment for a singer who continues to deserve it - Mimms possesses a strong, clear voice that exudes warmth and steady conviction, giving these performances a soul-stirring grace and power.

Howard Tate, 70, also made his name in the '60s, with immortals such as "Get It While You Can," and he too traveled to Nashville for the Tiven treatment. As with Mimms' album, Tiven not only produced the 15-song set but also provided much of the material and musical accompaniment, along with such usual collaborators as Dan Penn, Steve Cropper and Felix Cavaliere.

Still, the towering

Blue Day

(Evidence ****), due Aug. 12, stands on its own in content and tone. That's evident from the get-go with "Miss Beehive," a slice of up-tempo R&B about retro-soul star Amy Winehouse ("Miss Beehive likes to misbehave"). "If I Was White" confronts racism head-on, while "Stalking My Woman" has an air of menace and "Back to My Old Ways Again" deals with substance abuse.

Like Burke and Mimms, the Georgia-born, Philadelphia-raised Tate, who now lives across the Delaware in Southampton, Burlington County, has worked as a minister. His gospel roots come to the fore on the rocking "If God Brought You to It," although he's backed not by a choir but by roots-rock singer Mike Farris (he and another excellent vocalist, Jonell Mosser, appear on several tracks).

Blue Day

is a rousing portrait of a singer whose voice has lost none of its richness, and whose energy and attitude belie his years - "I used to be a heavyweight / I've still got the crown / Don't count me out / 'Cause I can still go a few rounds," he boasts on "Live Like a Millionaire." It's hard to argue the point: Tate still reaches deep down for the kind of incandescent feeling that left no choice but to give his music - and that of Burke and Mimms - the name

soul.