Title: Ain't That Good News
Artist: Sam Cooke
Label: RCA (now on ABKCO)
Year: 1964
Songs: (Ain't That) Good News/Meet Me at Mary's Place/Good Times/Rome (Wasn't Built In A Day)*/Another Saturday Night/Tennessee Waltz**/A Change Is Gonna Come/Falling In Love***/Home (When Shadow's Fall)+/Sittin' In The Sun++/There'll Be No Second Time+++/The Riddle Song#
Written by: Sam Cooke, except *Sam Cooke, Betty Prudhomme & Beverly Prudhomme, **Stewart & King, ***Harold Battiste, +Clarkson, Clarkson & Steeden, ++Irving Berlin, +++White and #Traditional, arranged by Sam Cooke
Produced by: Hugo (Peretti) and Luigi (Creatore)
Thoughts: Forget about how this is the man's last album and just listen to his voice. God! Is that not one of the greatest voices in music history?!? Plus, this guy WRITES! And boy, does he write! All the originals here are incredible, especially "A Change Is Gonna Come", one of the most important songs in American history. It's just heartbreaking and beautiful. Some of these songs are fun, too. The opening title track is a great tear through American culture and "Meet Me At Mary's Place" is a great party track. The covers on the second side are great. Cooke had this voice where he could take anything, even a terrible song, and turn it into a soulful track with as much power as anything. We certainly lost a great man with his tragic death. This guy was just awesome and I'm looking forward to trying to find more of his stuff.
Rating: 10/10
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