Sam Cooke retrospect. on NPR
Lazer
796 Posts
right now, Talk of the Nation.
Lazer
796 Posts
Comments
I happen to be reading this book currently, which I highly recommend:
The author is on right now.
I only found out because I was listening to NPR. I didn't know in advance. Sorry. Sheesh.
You can listen to Talk of the Nation streaming all day, urryday on their web site.
Did they ever record?
And RH Harris?
Sure, plenty, in various incarnations.
DJ Ferrari
This was HUGE. Left to Right: William Bell, Peter Guaralnick, Julian Bond. Best thing that's happened in Atlanta in years, and the room was about half full. But the stories that came out of that night were awe inspiring.
http://georgiasoul.blogspot.com/2005/11/peter-guralnick-visits-atlanta-part-1.html
Wow--I wish I could have been there.
If nothing else came out of that night, it was worth the price of admission (free admission + $5 glass of wine + price of Sam Cooke biography) to hear Julian Bond speak fondly of the first time he saw shake dancers. As serious and academic as he is, and portrays himself, he has an incredible sense of humor and is sharp as a samurai's blade.
a must have for, well, everyone.
And for his later secular work, the four CD The Man Who Invented Soul set is highly recommended.
They were still recording in the 90's. Probably still recording today.
The Sam Cook (Gospel Sam had no "e") stuff is available from Specialty I belive. The singer before Cooke was my favorite. I can't remember all the singers from the Soul Stirrers but I think Lou Rawls was in there.
Dan
Cool!
Dan
Dan: Thanks for your hospitality when I was in PDX. And thanks A TON for shipping me the button, which I received a little while ago. My woman liked it.
Great getting to meet you. Very cool 60s homemade button from the High School in the heart of Portland's Black community.
Dan
I think he's only unappreciated amongst crate digger types.
In the real world (i.e., amongst older people that are not obsessive record collectors but appreciate good music when they hear it) he gets his props.
Co-sign. Dude is regularly credited with being the most influential and important soul artist of all time (he's your favorite singer's favorite singer)
Also there's a Brook Benton quote re: the civil rights struggles of the '60s that just jumped off the page at me:
"We're waking up. We're tired of being pushed around. What are we- dogs? The man tells you, 'Here's a uniform. Take 13 weeks of basic training...and go fight for your country.' So you fight, and you get out and you can't even vote...
I'm not a non-violent Negro. If a dog or an Alabama or Mississippi cop comes on me, I'm gonna have something to protect myself with...if I'm going to go downtown to try to speak to the officials to explain the rights of my people, and they have dogs there- well, it's hard to fight off a dog with bare hands. So I figure I'm probably gonna have to get me a gun, or a knife, or a few bombs...
Somebody's gonna slip up somewhere, and it won't be Negroes. These Negroes in Alabama have right on their side. Nothing they're doing is wrong; they're simply marching in to demand what's been due them for years...they're not citizens, no matter what it says in the book. They're not free, they're slaves- they're in something even worse than slavery...when a man knows he may die, you'd be surprised how many people he's ready to carry out with him."[/b]
Never did I think I would quote FauxRillz,but yes, very underrated!!! Y'ALL DON'T GET IT!!!!!!
Seriously, there are things that transend cratedigging and Sam Cooke is it.
And Wilson Picket too.
And Ray.
And Otis.
And Brook.
The mention of Brook Benton above reminded me how criminally underrated he is, as well. This is no esoteric record-collector choice; in the late 50's and early, pre-soul 60's, Brook had a fistful of hits and was considered up there with Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson, and Little Willie John as far as R&B balladeers. Sure, you had to fight through a mass of violins and hokey backup singers to get to Brook's boss baritone, but fans of Sam, Jackie and John should be used to that. For an R&B singer who was around prior to 1970, his albums are unusually common (as we've discussed before, it was a singles market for years). So next time you're out there in the field, pick up one of his Mercury Golden Hits compilations (there were two), then if you want to hear Brook at his most soulful, keep an eye out for Singing The Blues (also known as Lie To Me) and Today (a 1970 effort that includes his comeback hit "Rainy Night In Georgia").
Didn't mean to hijack the thread from Sam, but I just wanted to big-up a contemporary of his that deserves an NPR special of his own!!!