Four Classic Albums (Sam Cooke / Cooke's Tour / Hits Of The 50s / Twistin' The Night Away)

Great collection. Bought this collection for the song Unchained Melody. First heard his version on the Transformers film Bumblebee. Tried checking the various streaming, but to no avail. Very please with this four CD set.

I knew Sam Cooke (1931-1964) had numerous pop hits to his credit like SEND FOR ME, CHAIN GANG, WONDERFUL WORLD and CUPID but until this double-disc came my way I was unaware the singer recorded at least three albums dedicated to standards so thanks Avid for making them available in this double disc set.What you get is SAM COOKE (1957) headed by his then current hit YOU SEND ME but the remaining dozen album tracks lean towards lively but worthwhile covers of THE LONESOME ROAD, TAMMY, CANADIAN SUNSET and AROUND THE WORLD with just a touch of contemporaneous arrangements to lift them towards the more pop placement need of this album. In 1960 COOKE’S TOUR paved the concept way for FARAWAY PLACES, SOUTH OF THE BORDER, GALWAY BAY and JAMAICA FAREWELL amongst travelling choices with noted arranger/conductor Glenn Osser providing sympathetic underlay for the trip. Good to see the inclusion of THE HOUSE I LIVE IN a song with a message once recorded by Sinatra.The second disc combines HITS OF THE ‘50’s, recorded in 1960 so ideally has the complete previous decade’s memorable songs to retrieve. HEY THERE, MONA LISA, UNCHAINED MELODY, SECRET LOVE and THE WAYWARD WIND are choice items with much track variation. Finally with TWISTIN’ THE NIGHT AWAY, Sam’s big single hit in 1964, the same-titled album is chock full of similarlythemed numbers dedicated to the craze so with the traditional CAMPDOWN TWIST and TWISTIN’ IN THE OLD TOWN TONIGHT adapted to the rhythmic need plus a few numbers newly written by Cooke, this lively album may be at odds with the others but it entertains by its sheer energy!Apparently, Cooke did much to make the music industry a better place for black performers and it’s a great shame his early tragic passing robbed us of more than the dozen of so albums he managed to record during his short career. Avid’s usual remastering applies with album graphics, notes and session details adding to this set’s appeal.

Sam Cooke at his best the man for me can do no wrong been trying to get hits 50s for years on cd well worth buying this set of albums.