What do we think about Sam Cooke's Night Beat

Don't miss Sam with the Soul Stirrers either. One listen to "Touch The Hem of His Garment" and you'll understand the charismatic power he had over audiences (as documented in the excellent Guralnick).

This and Live at the Harlem Square Club are two of the best records ever.

These Amazon reviews of both would seem to suggest the tampering is evident, especially with the audience noise on Harlem Square. I do like the new cover for Live at the Harlem Square Club although I had no problem with the old cover either.

Harlem Square comments:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/B000AO4NJU/ref=cm_cr_dp_2_1/104-2534850-8824738?%5Fencoding=UTF8&s=music

Night Beat comments:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000AO4NJK/ref=pd_bxgy_text_1/104-2534850-8824738?v=glance&s=music&st=*

I like every track except "Little Red Rooster," which is kind of namby-pamby for the tone of the album... and i had no idea that Sam Cooke wrote "You Gotta Move." that's one of my favorite Stones tracks.

i realized last night that i'm way lacking in soul records, so i spent about two hours filling up my amazon basket haha. christmas is going to be extremely soulful this year.

But...Sam didn't write "You Gotta Move." That'd be Mississippi Fred MacDowell, I believe.

or this:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000002IS4/ref=pd_sim_music_1/103-7639573-5138263?v=glance&s=music

Anyway, Night Beat is totally classic. I never noticed any sound problems (and I have the remaster) but I haven't listened in a while. I think I'll break it out right now if I can find it. Kind of a neat coincidence this thread was started yesterday -- just last night I heard a Sam Cooke track I'd never heard before that stopped me dead in my tracks -- his version of "Smoke Rings". I'd got up from reading in bed to go turn off the radio, when the DJ puts on this Cooke track and his voice just sounds so supple and amazing, just like the material on Night Beat. I really think even to this day the hardcore R&B stuff is a whole side of him that the majority of people, even big music fans, are oblivious to. but then, he was just so generally versatile, there really is not (or shouldn't be) one Cooke sound. I definitely want to pick up the new Guralnick too.. there was an interview with PG on chicago public radio this morning .. (skip to the one hour, 45 second mark in the broadcast)

anyway turns out this "Smoke Rings" track is on this The Rhythm and the Blues comp, which I of course put on order as quickly as I could today...

(that's how I knew they had the interview today; I didn't actually hear it this morning, but last night after they played the track, they mentioned they'd have Guralnick on in the morning to talk about his book...)

-- dark Horse (saint.boy...), November 10th, 2005.

I think you're right about Mississippi Fred writing a song with that title, but on my 1995 cd copy of "Night Beat" Sam is credited as the writer of "You Gotta Move," and I am not sure if it is the same song as the Mississipi Fred one--maybe it's an adaptation.

Anyway - hear them both here:
http://s37.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0XQVEL7ZLTQLQ3FVBUCS5MVF7T

It's like the soul In the Wee Small Hours

otm.

does anyone else think it would have been better for cooke's voice to have been positioned differently? i'm not so sure about the 'being right next to the mic' thing.

I dunno. It works for me.

I like this a lot, but the single disc comp released in 2004 is my favorite Cooke.

this + harlem square club on disc 4 of hte box set is like the best cd ever

Give or take "Shake, Rattle and Roll," Night Beat is one of those records where every note is perfect, and perfectly placed. The Band, too.

yeah? i love "shake rattle and roll" closing this album out. has a nice "who cares" kind of feel to it after the darker (well, darker for sam cooke) songs that precede it ...

about the talk of the harlem sq reissue upthread - did anyone notice any real differences? i never heard it, but know that there's meant to be another verse in twistin' the night away, maybe, and king curtis' band intro. one night stand's like the best recording ever.

Mickey "Guitar" Baker's intro on "I Lost Everything" is beyond heartbreaking. That guy's way underrated.

One of the songs ("Mean Old World") from this popped up in shuffle last night as I was winding down towards sleep and stopped me in my tracks. Had to start at the beginning of the record and play it through to the end. One of the few records that any cut forces me to listen to the whole thing. Magical.

love this album so much

night beat is incredible, yeah.

can't stop playing this atm

If you grew up with his records as a kid, this would be a depressing addition. Not my favorite.

really? why? i like pretty much all the sam cooke i've heard - this doesn't seem like a drop off in quality or anything ...

this is an incredible record, u s steel is u s steel

One of my favorites, though best comes first ("Lost and Looking").

fucking hell, when Sam starts singing 9 seconds into "Nobody Knows" I'm all goosebumps. This album has no right to be so good.

"Nobody Knows" is my putting-a-brave-face-on-shit jam

What a way to start an album! Sets the tone, and, except for the false bravado of "Little Red Rooster", it's the bleakest sing-along ever. As I said, so good.

love this record. thanks for reminding me.

i like "little red rooster"! tho i can see how it is a little out of step w/ the rest of the album's vibe.

I love "Little Red Rooster" too. Just noting it's a curveball from the bleak trajectory.

Love Billy Preston's playing on "Rooster" (especially the "barks"/"howls"), all the more impressive for the fact that was only sixteen at the time.

so I have a vinyl reissue of this, and the lead off track is "Lost and Lookin", which I am baffled to learn is apparently not the standard track order for this record...?! Like one of the things I've always loved about this album is how the track order was structured such that there was a progressive addition of instruments - the first track is just his voice and the bass, the second track adds the drums, the third track brings in the piano etc. until by the end you have the whole hand and they're banging through "Shake Rattle and Roll". But apparently the first track is actually supposed to be "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen". Which completely changes the vibe of the album for me. idgi.