Customer Reviews

Keep Movin on

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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.

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.

"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!

For years, ABKCO has inexcusably left this material out of print, refusing to release it or even licensing it to the dozens of companies who've approached them; even RCA was turned away when they asked to include the material in their recent box set, "The Man Who Invented Music."

Now, after years of waiting, they've finally released this music on this essential Sam Cooke CD. Legendary cuts like the party anthem "Shake," the popular hit "Another Saturday Night" (the original hit version), and the definitive civil rights anthem "A Change Is Gonna Come" can finally be heard without spending $70+ for the out-of-print and poor-sounding CD "Man and His Music."

Even the lesser known material is great. As Sam Cooke became more popular, he made less concessions to the general public, and by the end of his career, when he made these recordings, he was making some of the best and most influential r&b/soul recordings ever. It's simply impossible to understand Cooke's legacy without hearing this material.

This CD has been digitally remastered in 24-bit resolution from the original master tapes, and sounds much better than anything ever on CD (collector's of vintage vinyl may wish to stick with the original 45's, but this will satisfy less discerning listeners).

It is obvious that when the "Man Who Invented Soul" box set was conceived, it was hoped that this material would make up its fourth disc. What we got, instead, was a disc combining "Night Beat" and "Live at the Harlem Square Club," which were nice if you didn't already have them... but I did! And of course, it meant that you got a career retrospective of this charter member of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame that didn't include the end of his career! The manager Sam hired to gain him artistic control of his own career, Allen Klein, now owns the masters that make up this disc. It's a shame that he and RCA couldn't find a way to make the complete package happen, but this disc (definitely) has anything else you could want, that is not on the box set.
So give a listen to "Good Times", "Good News", "Shake", and Sam's masterpiece, "A Change Is Gonna Come." The sound quality is excellent. A couple of big treats are "Yeah, Man", the song that so inspired Arthur Conley's "Sweet Soul Music," that Sam was given a writer's credit; and "It's Got The Whole World Shakin'." I went into my first listen to the song (it's never, ever played on the radio despite being a big posthumous hit), expecting to hear some kind of a continuation of "Shake." I couldn't have been more wrong. Sam was known to keep a close eye on the latest trends, and 1964 had been a big year for a certain record company out of Detroit. So if you can imagaine Sam Cooke meets Holland/Dozier/Holland, get this disc and give "It's Got The Whole World Shakin'" a listen. It was the very last song he ever recorded, and it's pretty clear that the "It" Sam is referring to, is The Motown Sound! In summary, this is the disc you need to complete your history of Sam Cooke. If you have the gospel/early years Sam on the Legends of Specialty series, The Man Who Invented Soul box set, and this CD, you've got it all, on six fabulous discs!

For any Sam Cooke fan who was peeved at 2000's The Man Who Invented Soul box set's omission of his final recordings thanks to liscensing red tape, can rejoice with this new release.Not only do we get A Change Is Gonna Come,Shake,Another Saturday Night & Good News(in superior sound that renders The Man & The Music obsolete),we also have the digital debut of the dixieland-esque Cousin Of Mine,Tennessee Waltz,the second,more commercial version of Sugar Dumplin',as well as the title track in what is his most laid back vocal(possibly a demo)
Despite "GRABKO" reluctance to liscence out the recordings to RCA for a comprehensive compilation (at the time it's 2001 issue),KMO stands as that missing fourth disc in his career overview.

This CD turned out to be some of Sam Cooke's final and greatest work. This CD has such variety, from high-tempo dancec cuts like "Shake" and "Yeah Man". There are ballads like the underappreciated "Basin Street Blues" and "I'm Falling in Love". And of course, there is the GREATEST song ever written and recorded, "A Change is Gonna Come". I can listen to this song for hours on end, and every time it gives you a trembling in your stomach and makes you want to fall to your knees and cry. There are other gems on here like "Another Saturday Night", and "Meet Me At Mary's Place". This CD can be enjoyed by anyone of any age.

Think "What's Going On" is a scathing critique of social injustice? Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come" makes Marvin Gaye's hit (a great song, by the way) sound like the theme from Happy Days. Well, not quite, but you get the idea! The point is, "A Change is Gonna Come" was painfully unavailable on CD...until now.

<<Keep Movin' On>> contains a lot of Sam's hits you'll be famillar with ("Another Saturday Night," "Shake," "That's Where It's At") as well as others like "Rome," and the aforementioned "A Change Is Gonna Come." Though no single disc collection could provide a comprehensive overview of Sam Cooke's career, <<Keep Movin' On>> is an excellent introduction. And MAJOR props to ABKCO Records for including killer liner notes AND "A Change Is Gonna Come."

To me there are two catagories of singers; Sam Cooke and everybody else. I mean has there ever been a greater voice in popular music? In the cd "Keep Movin' On", there is some of Sam's best work. Let's start with the obvious "A Change is Gonna Come" may possibly the best r&b song ever recorded. Then you add such soul gems as "Good Times", "That's Where It's At", "Sugar Dumpling", "Meet Me ATt Mary's Place" and "Rome Wasn't Built In A Day", and you really have something special. On top of that Sam further displays the beauty of his voice with his eloquent rendition of the "Riddle Song". This cd also includes a number of standards and other Sam Cooke hits. I've heard all of these songs before except for the title song "Keep Movin' On". What a gift for all of Sam's fans...that song is absolutely awesome. There is not a singer today (or any other time) that can touch Sam Cooke. When you here Sam Cooke sing you have one foot in church. Compared to the "studio" stuff singers are releasing today Sam Cooke shows us why he was the MAN WHO INVENTED SOUL! Buy this cd and get ready for greatness.

This Cd gives you an idea of the kind of thing that Sam Cooke would have been recording had it not been for the tragic night of Dec. 11, 1964 (a little over a week before I was born, in fact). Much of this points to the future direction of Soul Music. "Yeah man" is clearly the original version of Arthur Conley's "Sweet Soul Music." "Ease My Troubled Mind" could be seen either as a metaphor for Sam's personal problems at the time (his son had just died) or that of the Civil Rights Movement. "It's Got the Whole World Shaking" is one of Sam's lesser-known, but not lesser tunes.

"The Riddle Song" usually brings guffaws to most modern listeners because of the classic comedy scene in "Animal House" that involves this song (where John Belushi smashes the guitar of a terrible sounding folksinger who warbles the tune), but Sam's moving rendition brings the tune back to it's original dignity.

"A Change Is Gonna Come" needs no further elaboration from me, but "Keep Moving On" sounds almost like a sequel to "Change," somewhat of a less elaborate hymn to positive thinking. I strongly recommend that you play this song before you go to work or school, it will really put you in a good frame of mind to face adversity. One can only wonder why it was never publicly released after it was recorded in 1963. But in either case, listen and enjoy.