Search - Sam Cooke :: Best

Avoid this CD! Buy Sam Cooke-Greatest Hits instead.

John D. Hayman | Shutesbury, MA USA | 02/04/2001

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Sam Cooke recorded wonderful music but these recordings are not given justice on this CD. This is almost the same track listing as the LP of the same name and layout. This CD was put out when CD's first hit. Consequently, it is not really mastered for CD (although it says it is remastered). The volume on this CD is very, very, very low. There are no dynamics. There are only 13 songs (one is an alternate recording). Clearly, this disc does not take advatage of the sonic possibilities of the the CD, nor does it take advantage of the amount of music CD's can accomodate. The 1998 release, Sam Cooke-Greatest Hits, has 20 songs and is really mastered for CD."

A Solid 1957-1962 Overview

Steve Vrana | Aurora, NE | 07/13/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There's a timeless quality to Sam Cooke's music. And while he's been imitated from Dr. Hook and the Animals to Rod Stewart and Art Garfunkel, they've never matched the soulfulness of these originals. It's too bad the 2-disc collection The Man And His Music (1986) is out of print. While The Best Of does a fine job of covering his early commercial peak (1957-1962), it overlooks his gospel music and his post-1962 output. This is a fine collection and I have it on vinyl, but if you're upgrading to a CD release, go with 1998's Greatest Hits which includes everything on this album (except "Summertime") plus an additional nine songs."

This album brings back a lot of memories

L. E STOTTLEMEYER | KCMO | 05/29/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When I was a teen growing up in Kansas City in the 70's this was the only Sam Cooke lp available for years. I think for that whole decade this was the only album available of Sam's secular recordings. RCA or should I say Allen Klein just didn't bother releasing anything else except this album. Consequently when I purchased these albums I played the heck out of them and after they got real poppy and scratchy sounding I would go back to the record store and buy another copy. This one album was always available with no problem. But it served it's purpose for me-songs like You send me,Chain Gang,Sad mood,I love you for sentimental reasons,Twisting the night away, all turned me into a major Cooke fan and regardless of the quality it sure feels good to still see that ole yellow background with Sam's smiling face. I come from the hunger period of record collecting where quality never was paramount over just plain being able to find the record and being able to listen to it.That my friend was the pure joy of it all. This cd is still worth the price of admission."