Sam Cook


Need suggestions if purchasing 2 CDs or a collection of Sam Cook. Thanks.
celtic66
great box set
The Man Who Invented Soul
It doesn't cover the abko stuff so get Keep Moving ON for "A Change is gonna come"
Second the live album recorded in Miami. Much rawer R & B sound geared to a black audience.

The RCA albums were watered down to make Sam "cross the line" and court a white audience. Great vocals but the backing musicians were very safe.
Actually ... Sam Cooke's catalog was re-released in hybrid SACD format a few years back. Pretty decent sound quality.

See this link

Best regards,

Rich
Any of the RCA Living Stereo material should sound pretty good-I have most of them on vinyl. Some of Sam's RCA stereo material is, unfortunately, Dynagroove (such as Night Beat). Perhaps the engineers "removed" the negatives associated with Dynagrrove when they remastered the tapes for CD.
"you really cannot go wrong with ANYTHING Sam Cooke recorded"

agree 100%, but what CD release(s) have the best sound quality in a decent audio system? I'm not setup for vinyl playback )O:
"Night Beat" and "My Kind of Blues" are both tops, but you really cannot go wrong with ANYTHING Sam Cooke recorded. Or, as Michael Scott, the World's Best Boss, would say: It's all good!"
Get 1 live CD for the intense atmosphere of his performances, I'd suggest "One Night Stand!", live at the Harlem Square Club 1963.

And as a 2nd CD the studio masterpiece "Night Beat", recorded the same year on a much more soulful note

Enjoy
his greatest hits is a nice package
but also look for some of his gospel tinged material, it's stellar or the album with A Change Is Gonna Come
sorry don't have it in front of me