That is a very impressive piece of work! So of all those songs how many would you suspect haven’t been released on CD?
The Keen set is very complete, including b-sides and very rare stereo mixes. But there are RCA tracks that need a CD release: That’s All, To Each His Own, Hold On (80s mix), She’s So Wonderful, The Piper, I’m In The Mood For Love, What Do You Say?, I’m Just A Country Boy (the second of three versions), and (I think) I Fall In Love Every Day and If You Were The Only Girl. Plus you have those odd Specialty-era recordings of Time To Say Goodbye and You Were Made For Me, plus Almost In Your Arms and the bizarre session recordings (with studio chatter) that only came out on a highly questionable album on the Cherie label. There are a fair number of completed songs (not just alternate takes) still in the RCA vault, too. Aside from all that, there are some early pop recordings Sam did for Specialty that feature unique mixes or backing vocals and have only been released on an Ace Records compilation in the UK. His live Shindig! performances of Blowin In The Wind and Tennessee Waltz also beg for release.
As seen in the photo, it doesn’t really have a title other than “Sam Cooke.” I bought mine on eBay years ago after searching for “Sam Cooke” and “colored vinyl.” It was issued in the mid-1980s, as I recall. You might have an easier time finding the tracks on the corresponding LP, “Forever.”
The one with the rare mixes is this one. The last four tracks have some unusual backing elements. The same four tracks, in their commonly heard versions, also appear on this disc.
Does anyone have any good information about what happened on the evening of Sam’s death? The story doesn’t hang together, yet even Guralnick wasn’t able to shine any light on the background to his murder.
My own opinion: It was clearly homicide, but wasn’t murder. Bertha Franklin, the hotel manger, shot a half-naked man who broke into her office. Sam might have had good reason to think Franklin was harboring the prostitute who had just run off with his clothes and his cash, but in any event, Franklin shot him and was cleared of criminal wrongdoing. There are a few inconsistencies in the official version of events (Sam wasn’t only shot, he was also clubbed with a broomstick) that make me suspect the prostitute, Elisa Boyer, and Franklin were in cahoots on the robbery — but even if that’s the case, I don’t think either of them planned to kill Sam. But as there was no meaningful police investigation of any kind, there will always be some unanswered questions.
I see that ABKCO has reissued his five Keen albums on vinyl and will be reissuing Ain’t That Good News, Keep On Movin, and At the Copa soon. And Sony UK apparently reissued Twistin the Night Away a few years ago. And there’s the AP 45 of Night Beat. What about the other RCA albums? Was there a full reissue series? The RCA years seem...haphazard.
To follow up on my own post about Sam Cooke vinyl reissues, I might just wave the white flag on this one. The RCA reissues seem scattered. The only retailer I could find who was selling the first five Keen albums on vinyl was the uDiscover shop in the UK, and shipping to the US was insanely costly. Did any retailer in the US sell those when they came out a few months ago?
Crap. So I ordered a copy of the Ain’t That Good News SACD. It arrived and the disc inside was NOT an SACD. Just a plain old redbook disc. The disc doesn’t have the SACD logo on it. And I tested it out in two different players from different manufacturers, neither of which identified an SACD layer. Turns out it was NOT good news.
I once did an A/B on two players with two copies of one of Sam's hybrid discs, and the CD layer had virtually identical sound with the SACD layer
The biggest difference I can think of is the SACD layer of Portrait Of A Legend has a much longer version of the "Soul" hidden bonus track.
If I remember correctly, didn't Abkco reuse the same UPC numbers from the SACDs when they went out of print on ordinary CDs? Made getting the actual SACDs tougher on the secondary market.
This comes off as a bit patronizing. The seller’s images showed the outside packaging which does have the SACD logo. The disc inside is just a CD. So it goes beyond just using the same catalog number. ABKCO used the same packaging, it seems.
It was not intended that way at all. I have learned that when there is some doubt (especially when I know there are variants) to check with the dealer. But I had no idea that this title had such variants. I was thanking the poster for informing us.
We’re good. Thanks for clarifying. I was caught by surprise with this release for sure because the SACD logo on the packaging. What a shady practice for ABKCO back in 2002 or whenever.
Allen B Klein (ABK of the Allen B Klein COmpany) was one of the shadiest people in the history of the music business. For his entire life. Look him up. In the wikipedia page on him, you will find this: "According to the 2019 documentary Lady You Shot Me: The Life and Death of Sam Cooke, Klein was a predator in his relationship with the singer. As of 2019, Cooke's family received no royalties or benefits from his music. All royalties and publishing profits go to the Klein's corporation. The documentary also proposed that Klein was behind the death of Cooke and had him murdered in order to become the sole beneficiary of Sam Cooke's music."