Tuesday, December 29, 2009

1047 - Mojo 32. Sam Cooke - Night Beat (1963)

















Track Listing

1. Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen
2. Lost And Lookin'
3. Mean Old World
4. Please Don't Drive Me Away
5. I Lost Everything
6. Get Yourself Another Fool
7. Little Red Rooster
8. Laughin' And Clowin'
9. Trouble Blues
10. You Gotta Move
11. Fool's Paradise
12. Shake Rattle And Roll

Review

A great album by Sam Cooke, eschewing overly sleek arrangements his amazing voice really shines through here. It is not as boisterous as the live recording at the Harlem Square Club, and it is a much quieter album, but it is indeed beautiful.

Sam Cooke must have had one of the best voices in the history of music and as such he has been pretty badly treated by his arrangers and by the image that they tried to sell of him.

It is in albums like this or the above mentioned live album that we really see what is underpinning his great voice. Here we have him in all his emotional glory without ever being drowned by anything other than his great voice.

Track Highlights

1. Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen
2. Get Yourself Another Fool
3. Mean Old World
4. Shake Rattle And Roll

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The album is often considered one of Cooke's best, and also one of the best soul music albums of the period. Billy Preston, the organ player of the album, was just 16 years old at the time of recording. The album was recorded in just 3 nights.

Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen:

1 comment:

Unknown said...

This album shows another side of Sam. We've heard him sing Gospel, Pop, Soul, and supper-club classics (e.g. "Live at the Copa). Just as he excelled in the other genres, this Blues-influenced compilation highlights his flexiblity as an artist.

Erik Greene
Author, "Our Uncle Sam: The Sam Cooke Story From His Family's Perspective"
www.OurUncleSam.com