The Man and His MusicSam CookeDescription: AMAZON Such has been the longevity of Sam Cooke's music that it can look as if there are enough compilation albums of his material available to provide every man woman and child on God's green earth with a different one. However this exhaustive 28-track collection is really the only one anybody need own and one everybody should certainly want to--Sam Cooke was a superlative singer who would have become a genuine superstar had he not been shot dead by the manageress of a Los Angeles hotel in December 1964 aged 33. Like all the very best soul singers Cooke sounded like a man torn between the edicts of heaven and the temptations of earth devoted in equal measures to his women and his God. His voice was capable both of a holiness you could swear an oath on (Touch The Hem Of His Garment A Change Is Gonna Come) and a fervid sensuality that would cause anyone to hesitate before playing it to maiden aunts (Soothe Me; You Send Me). The Man & His Music is an all-too-rare case of a raging talent being done posthumous justice by its record company. --Andrew Mueller
