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———.
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———.
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———.
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———.
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———.
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———.
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———.
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———.
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———.
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———.
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———.
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———.
Joel Whitburn’s Top Pop Singles, 1955-1993.
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———.
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A Brief Discographical Note

YOU REALLY CAN’T GO TOO FAR WRONG
with Sam Cooke. All but his very worst records have something redeeming about them, if only the grace of that inimitable voice. But there is a core of material that can serve as an introduction to his work and that will hopefully lead the listener not just to additional Sam Cooke albums but to the wealth of gospel, pop, and r&b music that not only served as his inspiration but continues to be inspired by him.

Virtually all of Sam’s gospel recordings with the Soul Stirrers are presented in a meticulously remastered three-CD set,
Sam Cooke with the Soul Stirrers
(Specialty 4437), which also includes his first pop sides, recorded under the name of Dale Cook in December 1956. There are two other Soul Stirrers CDs worth seeking out for the alternate takes (
Jesus Gave Me Water
and
The Last Mile of the Way,
Specialty 7031 and 7052), but the one other gospel album that is absolutely essential is
The Great 1955 Shrine Concert
(Specialty 7045), the live program that includes Sam’s epic “Nearer to Thee” while also featuring the work of Brother Joe May, Dorothy Love Coates and the Gospel Harmonettes, the Caravans, and the Pilgrim Travelers, among others. You can get the Stirrers’ part of the program on the three-CD set, but you owe it to yourself to absorb the full flavor of the program on this stand-alone album.

For an overview of Sam’s career, from his gospel beginnings through “A Change Is Gonna Come,” nothing can compare to
Portrait of a Legend
(ABKCO 92642), which, like the earlier (and now out-of-print)
Sam Cooke: The Man and His Music,
serves as a guide to Sam at his very best. It has nearly all the hits, and while every listener is bound to miss one or two personal favorites, the sound is a revelation and brings to life some of the most familiar numbers in ways that they may not have been heard since their first release.

Keep Movin’ On
(ABKCO 95632) focuses on Sam’s recordings over the last year and a half of his life, and, while there are, inevitably, duplications with
Portrait of a Legend,
there are more than enough rediscoveries and surprises (including the never previously issued title track) as well as intimations of the diverse directions in which Sam’s music was continuing to evolve. From my perspective “(Somebody) Ease My Troublin’ Mind,” Harold Battiste’s “Falling in Love,” and “There’ll Be No Second Time,” a rare Clif White composition, would alone be worth the price of admission, but there are in all fourteen tracks not included on the
Legend
CD.