Zombies and Mortuary Science?

I really like this song featured in this edition this cover comparison thing I've been doing. I still haven't figured out a clever name for it yet. So I'll just continue to refer to it using a few different awkward descriptive phrases.

This is another case where I heard the cover before the original. The song is Can't Nobody Love You by Solomon Burke and covered by the Zombies. I already know this one is going to be close.  If I had to rank both of these versions by a number out of ten, they’d both be 9.5's. Will the Zombies be able to overrun the good Dr. of Soul? You’ll have to read on to find out.

Solomon Burke is the singer who coined the term "Soul Music." Before him all music in that genre was classified as Rhythm and Blues. Because of Solomon's religious upbringing, he considered Rhythm and Blues to be the devil's music, and didn't want his music associated with that name. Solomon was also an ordained Bishop, and a Doctor of Mortuary Science. He was once described by Jerry Wexler, an executive at Atlantic Records as "the greatest male soul singer of all time.” Despite this he was only ranked number 89 on Rolling Stone’s 100 greatest singers of all time. Solomon recorded Can't Nobody Love You on his 1964 album Rock 'n' Soul. It reached number 66 on the Billboard Top 100. (It was written by James Mitchell. I can’t really find much information on who he was or is. Just that he wrote it and Solomon recorded it. I've also found it credited to a Phillip Mitchell, so I'm not really too sure about that. If anyone knows for sure feel free to clear it up in the comments.)

The Zombies are an English rock band formed in 1962. They're best known for three songs: She's Not There, Tell Her No, and probably the most well known Time of the Season. Their 1968 album Odessey and Oracle (the designers of the album cover spelled Odyssey wrong) is ranked number 100 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. It's a good album. Can't Nobody Love You was recorded for the Zombies self titled Debut album.

Solomon Burke:

The Zombies:

Now that we've listened to both it's time to make a decision. I really like both versions of this song. In their own right each are excellent. However Solomon Burke wins. He has to. The Zombies just can't compete with the power of his voice. It knocks down all the walls and supports the roof.  The Zombies cover is great. They do everything right, but it's just not enough to dethrone King Solomon.