Customer Reviews
Not for a good sound system - By: N. Tate, 09 Aug 2008 
What a pity the one of the best voices there has ever been & what do they do sell you a SACD version which is only 2 channel.OK it sounds good but then again he would sound brilliant on a forty year old piece of kit,but whats the point in having a SACD player & a good 7:1 system & finishing up listening to stereo coming out of the front speakers.Basicaly this disc is a con.
The best soul singer - By: Enrique Ovidio Carro Rey, 26 Mar 2008 
Sam Cooke was a musical genius. As a performer, singer & songwriter he excelled & surpassed alll his competitors. This essential compilation (Only When a boy fallls in love is missing among these best songs) shows his development, his growing from gospel & pop gems to A change is gonna come, one of the best songs in history. His style of singing is so awesome it may take a few listening to realize in full, because it's done with such ease that is almost a miracle. His effortless melisma, his golden tone, his "feeling" (after alll, that's what soul music is about) are haunting, as so many singers who try (in vain) to match it, even in our days, show. More than 40 years after his death, songs like You send me, Chain gang, Wonderful world (I fell in love with it thanks to "Witness", of course), Cupid (And with this one thanks to "Innerspace"), & of course A change is gonna come still sound fresh & gloriously beautiful. Only if you have alll the songs of this set already you shouldn't buy the CD. For the rest of the world, there are no excuses to miss it.
A Real Legend! - By: J.K.J, 21 Aug 2007 I first tried a Sam Cooke album about a year ago & was surprised that I already knew the vast majority of the songs. Again & again I found myself listening to a particular track & before ten seconds had past I'd be thinking 'Wow, I didn't know he wrote that one!'. I'd heard a number of versions of 'Chain Gang' for instance but never Cooke's original which incidentallly is by far the best.
The man's vocal range & talent is just awesome as he demonstrates on 'Touch The Hem Of His Garment' in an early gospel record. But songs like 'You Send Me', 'Only Sixteen', 'Cupid', '(What A) Wonderful World', 'Chain Gang', 'Twistin' The Night Away' & of course the masterful 'A Change Is Gonna Come' (Cooke's response to Bob Dylan's 'Blowin in the Wind') show what a truly great song writer he was as well as a singer.
Who knows what he might have achieved had he lived longer!. Altogether this is an excellent collection of songs that are well worth getting hold of.
You Send Me.... - By: leeboywonder, 13 Jun 2007 This man is a gold-plated soul legend, who was also savvy enough to set up his own label & nurture other black recording artists, such as Bobby Womack. Initiallly a gospel superstar, he, like many before & after, successfully crossed over into the fledgling pop charts, merging gospel & pop & becoming huge.
His voice is surely one of the most beautiful ever committed to vinyl. This collection does a fantastic job of summarising Cooke's tragicallly curtailed career, & for newcomer & fan alike, is the best collection out there.
As a footnote, I must add to the debate on 'A Change Is Gonna Come', Cooke's response to hearing Dylan's 'Blowin' In The Wind' & an example of his interest in other genres. I am a massive Otis Redding fan, but his version is a poor relation to Sam's effort - this is his last recorded song & his finest few minutes, a tantalising hint of what he may acheived had he not been gunned down.
Buy it.
The greatest soul singer, the finest songs... - By: Merry Terry, 29 Nov 2006 Since the 1980s issue of "The Man And His Music" it has been hard to get hold of a comprehensive Sam Cooke compilation. This makes a very fine effort, starting with sublime gospel of "Touch The Hem Of His Garment", this takes a fascinating journey through the classic perfect pop of much of Mr Cooke's output to the sombre, majestic, stunning "A Change Is Gonna Come". The definitive version of this song is here. Aretha does it well, Otis does it well, The Neville Brothers did it ok & even Beverley Knight did a respectable version on "Later With Jools Holland..." This is the definitive version.
The man's voice is pure gold, his songwriting pen is instinctive & contained herein is some of the greatest pop music ever made, some of the finest soul & one of the greatest songs recorded in the last fifty years.
Peter Guralnack's excellent liner notes are a bonus.
