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> Sam Cooke - The Man Who Invented Soul
Sam
Cooke
The
Man Who Invented Soul (RCA 07863 67911-2) ©2000
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Copyright ©2000
PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved.
Revised:
August 27, 2021. |
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Description: |
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Sam Cooke
is as responsible as any person in the world for opening the door for African-Americans in
popular music. But beyond that, he was a truly amazing showman and songwriter.
But after a good 10-20 years of respect after his unfortunate (and suspicious) death
at 33, people seem to have forgotten about or downplay Cooke's singing and his charisma.
In a recent VH1 TV movie on the life of Little Richard, they had the actor playing
Richard making fun of a stupidly smiling sweater-wearing goofball who was supposed to be
Cooke. Well, get this, VH1 people, Sam Cooke was a better singer, better songwriter
and even a better performer than Little Richard. You doubt it, listen to this! |
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What's Good About It? |
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Where do
you start? I guess at the very beginning, with Cooke's very first (secular) hit,
"You Send Me." The song is, and deserves to be, simply one of the most
influential R&B singles ever. Many people could hang an entire career on that
song, but that was just the beginning of a stream of standards, soul singles that to this
day resonate. The simple but touching lyrics of "Cupid" and "(What A)
Wonderful World" are still touching people all over the world. Even when he was
following the current musical trends, like on "Twistin' the Night Away," his
songs were more vital and timeless than the fads they followed (listen to "Twistin'
the Night Away" together with Chubby Checker's "The Twist" or any of the
scores of imitators and see which one has aged better.) It's time to remind
everyone, Sam Cooke had quite simply one of the great singing voices of rhythm and blues
music, and it is a joy to be reintroduced to it. |
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What's Bad About It? |
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There is
not a single thing on the box set that is bad. The one bad thing is what is
missing... |
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What's Missing? |
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It's an
absolute crime that any compilation of the songs of Sam Cooke – much less a career
spanning box set – could miss Cooke's most incredible moment, the posthumously released
single "A Change Is Gonna Come." That song was his greatest moment as a
singer and more importantly, as a songwriter. It plumbed emotional depths that Cooke
had skirted in some of his more commercial singles. Also missing, but less
noticeably, is another late single called "Shake" which was a fine gospel
rave-up, but nothing more. It would have also made some historical sense to pull out
some of his early gospel sides with the Soul Stirrers. |
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PopEntertainment.com
final grade:
A-
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This would be a solid A if not for the set dropping the
ball with the missing "A Change Is Gonna Come." It still is an amazing
body of work, made even more amazing by Cooke's premature death at age 33. Sam Cooke
is sometimes overlooked for his role in music history. Listen to The Man Who
Invented Soul to be reminded how much the music world owes to him.
Jay S. Jacobs
Copyright ©2000
PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved.
Revised:
August 27, 2021.
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