Customer Reviews

The Very Best of Sam & Dave

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

The only Sam & Dave disc you need. Once again, Rhino comes through with a great package; with all the hits, well remastered, original versions as we remember them.

They were funky before we used the word. Gutteral, always vying back and forth for the lead. Rumor had it that after a few years they did not like one another, and mayber it was rooted in their trying to upstage each other in these songs. Sometimes they sang together, but most times, they were both working (seemingly at cross purposes) and it sure sounded sweet.

Backed by the Memphis Horns, all their hits are here. "Soul Man" The smooth "Soothe Me" and the tragic and magic "When SOmething Is Wrong WIth My Baby". "I Thank You" "Hold On, I'm Comin'" and everything else we want to recall.

Can't you find another way of doin' it? Listening to them, I think not. All the Sam & Dave you need.

I was not really into Sam & Dave before I bought this cd. I must say it is excellent. Their interaction with each other is amazing. They really define the 'gospel' based side of RnB which is called, of course, Soul Music. The intense vocal theatrics they exude are truly astonishing. And even better this cd has all of the original singles not the ones that were re-sung by the duo, which still sounded good but were no where near as intense and raw as the originals. The remastering is excellent, job very, very well done. After I heard the 'real' version of "Hold On! I'm Comin'" I was hooked. But the energy and excitement dont end there, they also were exceptional at heavy ballads. Two of the three ballads here are heavy and they really dig into them. It's almost too much to listen to them because the emotion they put forth is earthshattering. It is also very fun to listen to. While listening close to some of the lyrics on some of the songs I laughed a little at what they were talking about,case in point "I take what I want." This is very, very enjoyable and it has made me a Sam & Dave fan for life. I now plan on getting all of their studio albums with Stax. Enjoy!!!

Summer's near and what better time to celebrate the funk of Sam and Dave, than by purchasing this great collection of music and blaring it on your car stereo with the windows rolled down, so you can expose it to anybody you happen to drive by. Get everyone around you dancing and feeling good!!!!!
A definite A+ as far as greatest hits go. Good remastering, great selection of hits and a mini booklet to boot.
If you love horns, then what are you waiting for??!!
GO BUY IT ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This 1995 release from Rhino comes so very very close to being a complete "very best of" anthology, giving us 12 of the 14 Billboard Pop Hot 100 and R&B singles the duo registered from 1966 to 1969 for the Stax/Atlantic labels. The only two missing are their final two with those labels - Born Again, which hit # 27 R&B/# 92 Hot 100 in April 1969, and their 1971 cover of the Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds hit, Don't Pull Your Love, which finished at # 36 R&B and # 102 Hot 100 Bubble Under in November.

Sam Moore, born in October 1935 in Miami, started out singing with a gospel group known as The Melionaires, while David Prater, born in May 1937 in Ocilla, Georgia, began performing as a solo act. They met in 1961 and cut their first records together in 1962 for the small Alston label without success. Signed to Stax, their first few releases there also failed to dent the charts, including one of the tracks presented here [3].

In 1966 they broke through, sort of, when You Don't Know Like I Know peaked at # 7 R&B/# 90 Hot 100 early that spring. The follow-up Hold On! I'm A Comin' did much better, hitting # 1 R&B and # 21 Hot 100 in June, followed by Said I Wasn't Gonna Tell Nobody which topped out at # 8 R&B/# 64 Hot 100 in November.

Their next three hits - You Got Me Hummin', When Something Is Wrong With My Baby, and Soothe Me [written by Sam Cooke], also failed to climb high on the Hot 100, reaching # 77, 42, and 56 respectively, although each did very well on the R&B charts [# 7, 2, and 16]. But in the fall of 1967 they struck real gold when Soul Man charged to # 1 R&B [where it stayed for 7 weeks] and # 2 Hot 100, kept from the top spot only by The Letter by The Box Tops, and To Sir With Love by Lulu. I Thank You also did very well, reaching # 4 R&B and # 9 Hot 100 early in 1968, but after that they would never have another Hot 100 Top 40.

The only other hits they had which are not included here was the 1971 # 36 R&B cover of the Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds hit Don't Pull Your Love, which also "bubbled under" at # 102 on the Hot 100 for Atlantic, another R&B hit in 1974 - A Little Bit Of Good (Cures A Whole Lot Of Love)- which hit # 89 for United Artists, and The Sam & Dave Medley billed to Stars On 45 featuring Sam & Dave, a # 92 R&B in 1985 for the 21 Records label.

In retrospect, it would have been better had Rhino perhaps omitted tracks 3, 7 [the uncharted B-side to When Something Is Wrong With My Baby in early 1967], and 12 [the uncharted B-side to I Thank You in early 1968] and, instead, included the missing hits. Either that, or extended the compilation to 20 tracks in the first place.

With the insert are 4 pages of liner notes written by Eugene Holley, Jr., the text of which contains chart details where applicable, but no label information. The sound reproduction is excellent as are most, if not all, of Rhino releases.

David Prater died in a car crash on April 9, 1988 at age 50. In 1992 the duo was inducted into the R&R Hall of Fame.

This CD has everything you'd want from Sam & Dave. Great for parties or crusin'. And unlike all the other greatest-hit collections out there, this one is from Rhino. So you know it's been remastered from the original tapes for the best sound quality. All the hits are included - Soul Man, I Thank You, Hold On!,Wrap It Up and a live version of Soothe Me. I personally like the studio version since all the others are studios. What's the point of having one concert song? Luckily, it happens to be a pretty good version. So even though it doesn't quite make a perfect CD, there's no way you can't be satisfied.

there was some footage and stuff about these two guys on Soul Deep, the program that followed the evoloution of soul music.

One show was on the Southern Soul sensation and Staxx records.

Basically, Sam and Dave were components, along with Otis, Wilson Pickett and others, that put the raw, unpolished, and dirty sound of Memphis on the map. The band to give em all the rough and sharp edge was Booker T and the MG's. Steve Cropper has become something of a Legend to me over the last few informative years. His guitar can be heard on all of the aforementioned, and characterizes the sound with that chink style and raw licks he manipulated to a new level.

That sound was the perfect tool for Sam and Dave, who were having trouble breaking the scene. The ever resourcful Jerry wexler did what he did with Pickett and gave the boys the Staxx treatment. essentially, if you can't move to this, then your paralized! The one-upmanship is eveident in the chemistry the experience. Seeing them perform is another thing entirely!

Nice sound on the remaster, and ALL the grooves are here for the licking!

Soul at it's funkiest.

You can't consider yourself afficionato of 60s soul music if you do not have Sam and Dave in your collection. Unparralleled horn section backing, the stuff that influenced Blood, Sweat and Tears more than they will ever admit, Sam and Dave were the funky, street-wise and rugged soul music that Motown was too perfectly coiffed and dressed up to do.

Excellent CD, great to drive by. Good sound and quality, true talent from the good ol' school!! Glad to have this apart of my collection

The very best of Sam & Dave (Rhino): This is an essential hits album. If you don't have these cuts, you don't have a proper music collection.

Sam and Dave put Memphis blues on the map. They had a string of hits in the mid 1960's. Great dance tunes. The original "Soul Man" and great follow-up hits. A must if you want to sample the soul sound of the sixties.