Customer Reviews

The Best of

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For more than two decades, the original 12-track release of 1962's THE BEST OF SAM COOKE (see my review) was the most complete collection of his hits. In 1986, it was replaced by the double-LP THE MAN AND HIS MUSIC (now out of print). In 2003, ABKCO released the definitive 30-track PORTRAIT OF A LEGEND (see my review).

Now, two years later, RCA upgrades THE BEST OF by adding three bonus tracks: "Win Your Love For Me" (No. 22, 1958), "You Were Made for Me" (No. 27, 1958) and "Nothing Can Change This Love" (No. 12, 1962). Unfortunately, this collection still ends with 1962 which means it is still missing major hits like "Another Saturday Night," "Shake" and the posthumously released classic "A Change Is Gonna Come."

The bottom line is this: Sam Cooke is the most influential soul singer of the past half century, and any serious music collection must include at least one Sam Cook album. But the album to get is PORTRAIT OF A LEGEND. Why? It includes all 15 tracks from THE BEST OF, plus 15 more (including the three mentioned above). The three-star rating isn't for the music (that's five-star!), it's for shortchanging such an influential artist.

Sam Cooke had the kind of voice that would have given him a long career but he died too soon. I know that he recorded a lot of music while he lived and this contains most of his most recognizable hits. The transfer to disc is really good and the sound is great so I can recommend this to anyone who likes Sam and his music.

ive been listening to this album since i was a little girl and sam cooke still gives me the chills when i hear him sing. i have no doubt that he is one of the greatest singers of all time. all of his songs were obviously not classics, but no one can touch him on "bring it on home to me". that is his masterpiece as far as im concerned.

With his smooth, velvet vocals, Sam Cooke stands on his own as one of the all time great singer-songwriters, influencing a number of other aspiring artist in the music business, especially Otis Redding, Bobby Womack, Johnny Taylor... the great Cooke was capable of singing almost any style of music in his own distinctive way, mostly soul. This R.C.A. best of recording tells all, the classic ballads, "Summertime", "You Send Me", "Bring It On Home", featuring other Cooke favorites, "Chain Gang", "Cupid", "A Wonderful World", "Twisting The Night Away", classic Sam Cooke material that will stand the test of time. The only problem with this compilation, it's missing the hits, "Change Is Gonna Come", "Shake", "Another Saturday Night". This was the first Sam Cooke album for me, it also became my favorite. The remastering is excellent, a giant step from the first released 1990 cd.

I LOVE this CD!!! I grew up listening to this music and I was so excited to see all of my favorite songs on this album.

Sam Cooke should be considered like Nat King Cole and Johnny Mathis as an expert of soul and pop. With an occasional format on oldies' stations, Sam Cooke's legacy deserves a revival for uninitiated audiences. Remarkably, the production of his songs is clear and smooth, fitting for his voice. The instrumentation and backing vocals did the soul singer proud. He could do pop crooner songs with prefection on "Only Sixteen," "What a Wonderful World," and "Cupid". But his festive party numbers could still bring the kids onto the dancefloor, including "Everybody Loves to Cha Cha Cha," and "Twistin' the Night Away,". To further his repertoire, "Bring It on Home to Me" showcases a rockabilly start and a soulful piano for a substantive hidden nugget waiting to be rediscovered. The engaging lyrics are quick to please, but "Chain Gang" increases the scope to social commentary. The three bonus tracks sound like they belonged there in the first place, rather than tiresome encores. Only one complaint is deserved, with the quality and quantity of great Sam Cooke songs, they don't include "Another Saturday Night," one of his greatest songs. I can only conjecture that there were some copyright disputes, but this omission doesn't stop the album from its high stature.

I bought a Dave Mason album that had a cover of a Sam Cooke song. It sounded familiar so I went out and got this album just one classic after the other, loved it.

For many years Sam Cooke (1931-1964) was best recalled for the sordid circumstances of his death. Although married, Cooke was a noted womanizer. He met Elisa Boyer at a Los Angeles bar, and the two went to the Hacienda Motel on South Figueroa Street in Los Angeles. Boyer claimed that Cooke attempted to rape her, that she freed herself, and she escaped taking his clothing, hoping he would not follow her naked. Cooke, entirely naked except for sports jacket and shoes, went to the manager's office, where he met the manager on duty, Bertha Franklin. Franklin claimed that Cooke demanded to know Boyer's whereabouts, and when Franklin said she did not know the woman Cooke attacked her. She then shot and killed him in self defense. It was an ugly story--and it may not have been entirely true, for rumor had it that Cooke was known to carry large sums of cash, that boyer was a hooker (she was arrested for prostitution not long after Cooke's death), and that she was working with Franklin to rob him. Etta James, who viewed Cooke's body, stated that he appeared to have been savagely beaten, an observation that did not accord with the official account.

Whatever the case, the circumstances of Cooke's death seemed to push his recordings out of the spotlight for a time. For a long time the only readily available record by Cooke was this one: THE BEST OF SAM COOKE. In some ways it was not--and even with revisions and bonus tracks still isn't--completely indicative of what Cooke could do. His range was unexpected, and he had a gift for lifting a song from one genre and dropping it into his own musical idiom. If all you knew of Cooke was this particular album, you'd never expect him to do a Bob Dylan song, much less do it well, but he could and he did. Still, THE BEST OF SAM COOKE does give us the side of the singer the public knew from the radio: these were cross-over hits that were just as popular with white audiences as they were with blacks. "Having A Party," "Cupid," and "Wonderful World" are classics of their kind. But now and then you catch a slightly different inflection: "Bring It On Home To Me" is a classic of the then-emerging soul style, and Cooke's take on the Gershwin classic "Summertime" is bested only by Janis Joplin. Although the recordings seem to have been remastered at some point, they could stand it again--but that's really just gloss. This is the Sam Cooke that most people remember, the man with that truly lucious, super-smooth voice that echos the likes of Nat King Cole and pushes the boundaries of what was possible with the music of his day.

Whenever you have a "Best Of" collection you will always have an argument about what should and shouldn't be included, and there is a truly glaring omission in this one: any collection of Cooke's recordings, be it pop, R&B, soul, or anything else, HAS to include "A Change Is Gonna Come." This one doesn't, and for that reason I deduct a star from my rating. Nonetheless, this is a great place for someone who isn't knowledgeable of Cooke's work to begin--it will make you want to hear more.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer
In Memory of Roscoe, 1999-2011, Faithful Companion

I love ALL of Sam Cooke's music. This CD did not let me down. I certainly recommend it to anyone.

I purchased this album due to my parents and during the holiday they love to dance to the classic oldies and Sam Cookie is one of their favorites. My family and I dance and sang to this CD for most of Christmas afternoon. We loved this cd.