Beauty marred by bonus tracks

Sam Cooke and the Soul stirrers make some of the most beautiful music available. If there is a better group in the history of music I cannot think of them. The songs earn five stars. However his recordings for Specialty have been marred by excessive bonus tracks. When will Specialty release an album of master tracks? This is sad to have to listen to several versions of the same song before going on again. Bonus tracks are the worst aspect of the CD era.

Close Your Eyes And Listen

To the voice that kills all others from Elvis to Sinatra.
In my honest opinion Sam Cookes gospel recordings leave his secular work far far behind. From the first to last track this is a lesson in musical history.
Thr last 3 songs taken from the shrine concert live will dispel any doubts that Sam Cooke was only a smooth singer . Man he proves here that he can shout better than Otis, Al Green, or Wilson Pickett.
At last he seems to be getting the dues he so rightly deserves , but don't take my word for it . Buy this set and listen without prejudice. If you are not truly amazed then you shouldn't be listening to Sam Cooke , maybe Liberace would be more your cup of tea

Remarkable collection

This is a fascinating document. Presented in chronological order (aside from a few live songs tacked on to the end), it charts the growth not just of Sam Cooke as an artist, but the slow birth of secularized soul from 50's gospel roots. All the recordings sound great, and credit most be given to the folks at Specialty for preserving the masters - outtakes included - with such obvious care. The earliest material here, from 1951, would probably be considered "pop gospel" for the time. It flows nicely, isn't much for histrionics and makes for smooth listening. If you didn't know better, it might take you a song or two before it becomes obvious that it's Sam Cooke singing, and not just some guy who maybe sounds like him. But by 1953, Cooke's vocal style is impossible to mistake; he dominates the songs, and when Paul Foster pops up now and then, the contrast between his "blacker" gospel voice and Cooke's velvet tone is amazing - and it's not that Foster isn't amazing too, by the way. By the third disc, the line between gospel and pop has become utterly blurred - a song like "I'll Come Running Back To You" has as good a claim to be the first "soul" song as any. It's obviously gospel-influenced, and the lyrics are ambiguous enough that you could make a claim for it being a gospel tune, but . . . something, somehow has changed. Aside from historical importance, it's a riveting song and possibly Cooke's single best performance.

The attractions of this box are its completeness, great sound and nice packaging. If you're inclined to by anything of Cooke's beyond a simple greatest hits collection, I'd urge you to buy this package - there isn't really one single-disc distillation of this material that covers all the bases covered here, so by the time you buy the two or three that might, you'd pay about as much as you would for this.

There are only a few rare packages that convey so beautifully an important aspect of important American music, whether it's the Nuggets box or the Anthology Of American Folk Music. This is clearly in the league; any music fan with expansive tastes should own it.