Sam Cooke - Greatest Hits

Sam Cooke | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 24, 1998)
• Original Release Date: February 24, 1998
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B000006389
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #596 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #8 in Music > R&B > Classic R&B
  • #19 in Music > Pop > Oldies > General
  • #33 in Music > R&B > Soul > General AAS

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Now we have Greatest Hits, a 22-song collection of Cooke's pop hits in addition to the 13-song Best Of collection and the 28-song The Man and His Music. Only The Man comes close to presenting a complete portrait of the legendary soul singer: At least there are examples of Cooke's gospel and R&B material. (Any collection without "A Change is Gonna Come" is an automatic failure.) Cooke's melodious voice and deft songwriting touch are worthy of more than a single-disc compilation. If you want just the pop smashes, the sublime ballads, and infectious mellow grooves, this set will suffice. Otherwise, The Man offers a more comprehensive and well-rounded look at Cooke's legacy. --Marc Greilsamer

Product Description

First they went platinum...Now they're going green. Your best loved music in its simplest form. 20 best-selling "Greatest Hits" & "Best of" collections now available in a new eco-friendly package. 1CD in card wallet packaging - no plastic, no booklet - just great music! Booklets are available online through a unique URL on the package. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

83 of 84 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cooke's Hit's Packages with only the main course., February 17, 2000

By 

Dean Martin Dent - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sam Cooke - Greatest Hits (Audio CD)

There are only two Sam Cooke compilations which I would say are comprehensive.First is the 3-record set The One And Only Sam Cooke,a mail order album by Candlelight Music(with a blue RCA label) from 1974.The second was The Man And His Music his first CD-era compilation which included the full-lenghth version of A Change Is Gonna Come.Unfortunatly these two are out of print(if any one can give me information on how to get a copy of The One And Only...please Email me).This new hits collection is an essential because the tracks are remastered,bringing out the clarity in the instrumentation(especially the strings and french horn on Cupid)and also the inclusion, for the first time in the digital era,Frankie & Johnny,Send Me Some Lovin'(a Little Richard cover),and That's It-I Quit-I'm Movin'On.Unfortunatly,the omission of Another Saturday Night,Ain't That Good News,When A Boy Falls In Love,Good Times and of course the transcending A Change Is Gonna Come, shows like other Cooke hits that a two disc set or a box set is the only way to truly represent this man's body of work.As long as you have the man's beautiful voice on any digitally encoded piece of aluminum,any Sam Cooke is essential.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good News, Bad News, July 13, 2000

By 

Steve Vrana (Aurora, NE) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sam Cooke - Greatest Hits (Audio CD)

With 1986's The Man And His Music out of print, the release of Greatest Hits is a case of good news, bad news.

Good News: It updates and expands on the CD version of 1962's The Best Of by adding eight more tracks. You get early minor hits like "You Were Made for Me" and "Love You Most of All" (both from 1958). You also get later hits like "Send Me Some Lovin'," "Frankie and Johnny" (yes, it's on the CD, even though it's not listed by Amazon) and "The Little Red Rooster" all Top 20 hits from 1963. You even get his final Top 40 hit, "Sugar Dumpling," which was released posthumously in 1965.

Bad News: Unlike The Man And His Music, Greatest Hits completely ignores Cooke's gospel music and even more dumbfounding is the omission of "Another Saturday Night," "Shake" (his last two Top Ten hits) and the socially conscious "A Change Is Gonna Come." [Who was asleep at the switch when that decision was made?] Fortunately, I still have my cassette version of The Man And His Music, but until that title gets re-released, Greatest Hits is the current best alternative. RECOMMENDED

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Almost all of his classics, March 23, 2000

By 

Leonard Fleisig "Len" (Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sam Cooke - Greatest Hits (Audio CD)

You can never really go wrong with a Sam Cooke album. This is no exception.The CD contains a good number of his 'hits'. Cooke works for just about any mood I happpen to be in. I often get in my car, pop in this CD, click on "Bring It On Home To Me" and just keep playing that song over and over. For you trivia buffs out there - that's Lou Rawls doing the harmony with Cooke on this track. You Send Me, Wonderful World, Twistin the NIght Away - work well for those upbeat moments. All in all - a CD worth buying.