Portrait of a Legend: 1951-64 - Cooke, Sam (CD 2003)

I remember when I was a young boy I had a CD full of popular soul hits which included a whole host of famous soul singers and groups such as Percy Sledge, Jackie Wilson, The Drifters, Smokey Robinson, James Brown and other popular soul acts from the 1950s-1960s. There was also a guy named Sam Cooke whose voice I was immediately drawn to. To say the man's voice is beautiful is an understatement which is why I decided to venture out and look for the one CD that defines him as a musician. I had heard about Portrait of a Legend being the definitive Sam Cooke CD and tried my hardest to find this CD. Luckily for me, I did and am forever grateful to have found this CD. With songs ranging from 1951 until his sad and tragic death in 1964, this is the most comprehensive Sam Cooke CD in the market.

The CD has a massive 30 tracks plus a hidden track which are:

1. Touch the Hem of His Garment
2. Lovable
3. You Send Me
4. Only Sixteen
5. (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons
6. Just For You
7. Win Your Love For Me
8. Everybody Loves to Cha Cha Cha
9. I'll Come Running Back to You
10. You Were Made for Me
11. Sad Mood
12. Cupid
13. (What a) Wonderful World
14. Chain Gang
15. Summertime
16. Little Red Rooster
17. Bring it on Home to Me
18. Nothing Can Change This Love
19. Sugar Dumpling
20. (Ain't That) Good News
21. Meet Me at Mary's Place
22. Twistin' the Night Away
23. Shake
24. Tennessee Waltz
25. Another Saturday Night
26. Good Times
27. Having a Party
28. That's Where It's At
29. A Change is Gonna Come
30. Jesus Gave Me Water
31. Interview (hidden track)

The CD starts off in 1951 where Sam Cooke was still with the Soul Stirrers which is a Gospel group Cooke used to be in. His Gospel roots are shown in the two songs Touch the Hem of His Garment and Jesus Gave Me Water. Based on a story in the Bible where a woman is healed by touching Jesus' cloak (which can be found in Matthew 9:20-22, Mark 5:25-34 and Luke 8:43-48), Touch the Hem of His Garment is a lovely way to open the proceedings. Sam's voice effectively carries the song after a short piano intro that leads into the first verse of the song. The song also features some great harmonies from the Soul Stirrers who are solid in the background for Sam's lead vocals. Passion would probably be the one word that can be used to sum up Sam's singing in this song. Jesus Gave Me Water is the earliest recording in this compilation and it is a wonderful worship song showing his faith in God which is shown in the emphasis that the water Jesus gives is not from the well. This is done in a capella and this provides the Soul Stirrers an opportunity to show off some brilliant harmonies throughout the song acting both as a call-and-response mechanism during the chorus and as an accompaniment of sounds during the verses. Sam's range is impressively shown in this song, growing in pure emotion as the song progresses and as he hits higher notes.

After starting off with Gospel groups and singing Gospel tunes, Sam eventually moved into the mainstream and one of the pop songs that would eventually define Cooke's smooth style was the 1957 hit, You Send Me. With its memorable introduction of "darling you send me/honest you do" to its wonderful female harmonies prevalent in the background, it is hard not to fall in love with Cooke's style. There is a real warmth to his voice and in the arrangement of the song with pleasant guitar chords, unobtrusive drums and bass. Plus, its just a great song about love and you cannot go wrong with that!

From here, Cooke ran a whole string of hits. One of these songs is (What a) Wonderful World. Making its most recent appearance at the opening credits of Hitch, the song opens up with some drums, double bass and a most nostalgic progression of guitar chords before Cooke comes in. The song's lyrics are unforgettable starting off with "don't know much about history/don't know much biology/don't know much about a science book/don't know much about the French I took/but I do know that I love you/and I know that if you love me too/what a wonderful world this could be". Its hard not to love these lyrics and the fact that this song is just a song with a wonderful message of love throughout. I also really dig the unevenness of the drum beat and the minor chord progressions from the guitar which maintains the Latin feel throughout the song. The male harmonies meld perfectly into the song and really complement Cooke's voice. The final segment of the song where Cooke does some scat singing shows Cooke's impressive vocal range and his ability to control the soft-loud dynamic and uber-smooth phrasing. I cannot think of anyone who could string a phrase together and sing it better than Sam Cooke could in his life and this song just highlights his ability to string a whole series of passages so eloquently.

Other Cooke-written hits included in this compilation are Everybody Loves to Cha Cha Cha, Cupid, Chain Gang and Twistin' the Night Away. I really enjoyed the cha-cha rhythm set by the congos in Everybody Loves to Cha Cha Cha and Cooke's passage of how to do the cha-cha is hard to forget. Cupid is a wonderful ballad and is one that will make your heart melt. The french horn and harp intro is beautiful as is the introductory chorus from Cooke. Yet at the same time, there is vivid imagery portrayed by the harp (via the harp intro) and the arrow (via the sounds of an arrow being shot which are provided by Cooke) which are so often used to represent the Roman God of love. The ending passages where Cooke sings "Cupid/don't ya hear me/calling you/I need you/CUPID!" will particularly make one weep. The ooh-aahing from Cooke at the beginning of Chain Gang will forever be etched in your memory bank as is the bass voice that sings "well don't ya know" at the beginning of the chorus. Twistin' the Night Away, which was covered by Rod Stewart for the movie Innerspace, starts off with the sound of a brass fanfare led by trumpets and trombones to set a nice dancing groove. One feature of this song is the call-and-response used between Cooke's vocals and the instruments during the verses and the tenor saxophone and group of male voices during the saxophone solo. This is one that will get you up dancing in no time.

Summertime and Tennessee Waltz represent some of Cooke's covers and Cooke is able to put his own unique twist on each of these tunes. With Summertime, it opens up with the sound of a guitar playing in a minor key and the minor key creates a haunting sound which is further portrayed by the female harmonies provided in the background. Cooke's smoothness is exuded from this song and the free-flowing humming passage is Cooke at his very best. The cover of Tennessee Waltz is a more upbeat version of the Patti Page version one is so used to hearing. Cooke takes an opportunity to show his vocal range in this one and keeps in line with the song's upbeat tempo.

It has probably been said many times in the past but I will say it again right here and right now. A Change is Gonna Come is the most damn beautiful song I have ever listened to in my life. This is no joke. If you have not listened to this yet then I strongly urge you to go find a copy of this song (Sam Cooke's version as well). Inspired by Bob Dylan's Blowing in the Wind, this song is essentially Cooke's response to Dylan's song and to many, this is considered to be the civil rights anthem. This starts off with a lush string arrangement that comes to a grinding halt before Cooke's voice takes over. Unlike most of his other songs which are generally joyous in its delivery, his delivery of this song is not only heartfelt but it is sung in such a way that you feel his pain as he sings this song. The social messages in this song still hold very strong dealing with issues such as the fear of death ("its been too hard to live it/but I'm afraid to die/'cause I don't know what's up there/beyond the sky"), the inherent racism in the 1950s-60s ("I go to the movies/and I go downtown/somebody keep telling me don't hang around") and the fact that people chose not to deal with it ("then I go to my brother/and I say brother help me please/but he winds up knocking me/back down on my knees"). It also deals with the death of Cooke's 3-year old son who drowned a year before this song was written (its expressed in the final verse where he says "there are times when I thought/I couldn't last for long"). He delivers each of these messages with such emotional power that it does a whole lot more than pluck your heart strings. This song also shows how Cooke changed both as a musician and as a person from 1951 to 1964 and how he grew increasingly skeptical about the world around him. I also love the way the strings and brass section of horns and trombones use dynamics so effectively in this song starting off quietly but building off to the huge climax in the end as Cooke grows more and more emotionally intense as the song progresses. This is a great way to close off the compilation as this is Cooke's magnum opus.

In conclusion, Portrait of a Legend is a must-have compilation for any Sam Cooke fan and more importantly, for any person that loves soul music. There are 30 great soul tracks here and like it has done to me, this will change your perception as to what great soul music should be.

Thanks for reading the review.