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39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Back In The Saddle--And Better Than Ever, November 4, 2003
By A Customer
Legal and personal problems (not the least of which was the sudden drowning death of his infant son) kept Sam Cooke out of the recording studio for the bulk of 1963. When he finally returned there near year's end, he did so with a vengeance: A goldmine of new--and very strong--original songs, along with a handful of covers done his own way for good measure. It is those recording sessions conducted over the final year of Sam's life which comprise 90% of this outstanding--and phenomenal-sounding cd.
With the exception of gospel, pretty much the full gamut of Cooke's stylistic reservoir is tapped in this collection. If, for instance, dancing's your thing, "Shake," Good Times," "It's Got The Whole World Shakin'" and "Yeah Man," among others, will take care of you. (Note: The latter of those would later serve as an obvious musical and melodic springboard for Arthur Conley's classic "Sweet Soul Music.") If you want good soul-driven blues, "There'll Be No Second Time" and "Somebody Ease My Troubled Mind" will do you. There are tender ballads ("When A Boy Falls In Love"), and New Orleans-flavored r&b ("Cousin Of Mine" and "Basin Street Blues.") There are also two songs in this collection which were herebefore unreleased, the title track, and "I'm Just A Country Boy." The underrated Cooke original "Rome Wasn't Built In A Day" is one of my favorite cuts: Sounds to me like one which could have been issued as a single and had some chart success. And of course, I'd be remissed if I didn't mention Sam's greatest artistic achievement: "A Change Is Gonna Come." The song was written both in response to Bob Dylan's "Blowin' In The Wind" and Sam's observance of, and emotions about, the burgeoning Civil Rights movement of the time. For me, however, over all the years and countless times I've heard it, this song gives me the same feeling I get from listening to Jim Morrison's lyrics on what turned out to be his swan song, "Riders On The Storm": I can't escape the feeling that somehow or other, the composer knew his time on this earth was near its conclusion. The soaring string and horn arrangements supporting Sam's foreboding lyrics and impassioned, melodramatic vocal on this song are breathtakingly, eerily perfect for the occasion: He never made a better record, and neither have many others.
As for the sound quality on this cd, it's a pretty stunning example of what modernday technology can do to nearly 40-year-old recordings. Even if you don't have the capacity to play the hybrid super-audio layer (and I don't), the crisp, clear sound of instruments and vocals alike that you'll hear on the regular cd layer far surpasses the way you've heard any of these songs before. I'm pleased that, as a follow-up to this cd being released in the remastered super-audio format, the 2003 Cooke career-spanning single-disck compilation Portrait Of A Legend was issued the same way. After many years of inferior collections of inferior (sometimes downright crappy) sound quality, it's good to know that the work left behind by the man who invented soul music is finally receiving its just due. In closing, then: If you've got SOUL in you soul, I think you'll find this cd more than just a commodity in your collection; you'll pay it a good number of visits, and consider it money very well spent.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Essential Listening!, July 15, 2006
"Keep Movin' on" is a compilation that ,with a few exceptions, covers the last year of Sam Cooke's recording career. The last album released in his own lifetime, the great "Ain't That Good News" is almost completely covered here; along with rarities, singles and some of his very last recordings from November 1964.
For people who only know Sam Cooke from pop-hits like "Only Sixteen", "A Wonderful World" and "You Send Me", it may sound a little odd that Cooke is often called the creator of soul-music. This wouldn't be the case if they were familar with these late Sam Cooke recordings. "Ain't That Good New" is my favourite Sam Cooke original album; and most best from songs from that album such as "Meet Me at Mary's Place", "Good Times", "The Riddle Song" and the title track are included.
Other highlight are "Shake", "That's Where it's At" ( I believe this song inspired Otis Redding to do "That's How Strong my Love is" ), and the previously unreleased "Keep Moving On"
Fine informative 26 pages booklet included!
Essential listening for fans of early soul-music - and fans of good music in general!
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gems and rares in his last days, May 8, 2006
Since I happened to give up a fine compilation CD "A Man and His Music", I had waited too long for listening to Sam Cooke's last recordings including 'A Change is Gonna Come', 'Another Saturday Nights', Good Times' and so on. However, now we can have them easily on CD because Abkco started releasing his hidden treasures, especially Cameo-Parkway recordings. If you want to taste only the cream of Sam Cooke tunes, you better get "Portrait of a Legend". But if you want to dig deeper, I recommend you to have this CD with "The Man Who Invented Soul" and CDs of his Soul Stirrers years.
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by Sam Cooke 
