Sam Cooke - The Best Of Sam Cooke 180G 45 RPM Audiophile Vinyl LP - Analogue Productions

This Best Of Sam Cooke album was the beacon that kept Cooke's most popular songs in the public eye. For a couple of generations this was the first - and often only - Sam Cooke album they owned. Although there are more ambitious collections that show Cooke's remarkable range and diversity, this is still the best starting place. These are Sam Cooke's biggest commercial hits. This is the message in a bottle that brought his gifts to millions of people. What is it that makes Cooke's music so irresistible? Well, first the voice, of course. So good, in fact, was Cooke as a vocalist that Atlantic Records vice president Jerry Wexler said matter-of-factly, ''Sam Cooke was the best singer who ever lived, no contest.'' But beyond just his voice, it's the phrasing that makes these songs so timeless and memorable. Cooke himself explained it this way: ''You just talk the story. That's how you get people to come to you - because it's not like a song, it's like two people rapping, only with a melody a