Day 63: Sam Cooke – Ain’t That Good News

Album cover courtesy of RCA Victor

I’ve been off work for a few days and let me tell you, man alive, I do not want to go back. Not that I have bad work ethic, I like working, but I’ve had too nice of a time and I don’t want the vacation to end. So I needed something nice to keep the spirits up. Today it was time to listen to the King of Soul, Sam Cooke.

Sam Cooke started his singing career as a gospel singer in a group called the Soul Stirrers before shifting his attentions to pop and soul. His pastor father encouraged him to do it by telling him that God gave him a voice and a talent and it was up to him to choose how he uses it if he uses it to make people happy. He was credited with bringing gospel music to younger generations, as his fanbase as a gospel singer consisted largely of young women, with Smokey Robinson saying:

“There were women who had never even thought about going to church until Sam and the Soul Stirrers were there, and they would be around the block four deep.”

Released in October 1964, Ain’t That Good News is Sam Cooke’s 11th studio album. It has a structure where the first half of the album has the more upbeat songs and the second half is mostly slower, more soulful ballads. True to his roots, it opens with “Ain’t That Good News”, an adaptation of an old gospel song, except the lyrics have been changed to pop lyrics about a woman instead of it being a song about God.

I thought I’d like the first half more but I prefer the slower second half. I love “There’ll Be No Second Time”, and that’s competing as my favourite of the bunch, which is high praise because the album also features “A Change Is Gonna Come”. He has such a talent in conveying emotion and the voice of an angel, probably one of the smoothest, most pleasant voices to listen to, ever.

The album ended up being Cooke’s last, as he died under strange circumstances, being shot by the manager of a hotel. She says it was in self-defence. It’s hard to know what to say about that. I’ve got nothing to add to the discussion about the circumstances surrounding his death, there’s enough hubbub about it, with ample conspiracy theories that his friends and family support. Part of me does think that the official story matches what happened, and that’ll make it harder to enjoy his songs. But I don’t know.

It's a beautiful album, and I’m going to just measure it by its merits and not think of anything else surrounding it. It’s an 8.5/10.