The last of his studio albums released in his lifetime, Sam Cooke's Ain't That Good News offers a lot of superb material, pointing in several directions that, alas, were to go largely unexplored. The central number is, of course, the earth-shattering "A Change Is Gonna Come," with its soaring gospel sound and the most elaborate production of any song in Cooke's output. The rousing though less substantial title track also came out of a gospel tradition, as does Cooke's treatment of "Tennessee Waltz," which is one of his finest adaptations of contemporary pop material. "Falling in Love" was the work of Harold Batteste, an old friend of Cooke's who had recently re-entered his orbit and was partly responsible for encouraging the singer in exploring the New Orleans sound that was evident on "Rome Wasn't Built in a Day" and "Meet Me at Mary's Place." And then there's "Good Times," a bittersweet, introspective party number, and the pensive successor to "Twistin' the Night Away." There are a few moments where the spell is almost broken by the intrusion of what seems like pop material, but even Cooke's version of "The Riddle Song" is worth owning, as a glimpse of how he could turn a folk song into a something so quietly soulful that its origins disappeared. With the exception of "Another Saturday Night," which had been released as a single early in the previous year, Ain't That Good News comprised the first material that Cooke had recorded in the six months following the drowning death of his 18-month-old son Vincent; it was also the first album that Cooke recorded and released under his new contract, which gave him greater freedom in choosing repertory and sidemen than he'd ever had, and so it offered a lot of pent-up emotional and musical expression, and, as it turned out, was tragically unique in the singer's output.
Personnel:
John Anderson (trumpet)
Chuck Badie (bass)
Israel Baker (violin)
Robert Barene (violin)
Norman Barthold (guitar)
Harold Battiste (piano)
Arnold Belnick (violin)
Milt Brnhart (trombone)
Harry Betts (trombone)
Louise Blackburn (trombone)
Hal Blaine (drums)
John Boudreaux (drums)
James Bryant (background vocals)
Buddy Clark (bass)
Sam Cooke (vocals)
S.R. Crain (background vocals)
Leroy Crume (guitar)
John DeVoogdt (violin)
Jesse Ehrlich (cello)
John Ewing (trombone)
J.J. Farley (background vocals)
Paul Forster (background vocals)
Joseph R. Gibbons (banjo)
Richard Gibbs (background vocals)
Jewell L. Grant (saxophone)
William Green (saxophone)
Eddie Hall (drums)
Johnny Halliburton (trombone)
Clifford Hils (bass)
William Hinshaw (french horn)
Harry Hyams (viola)
Gwen Johnson (background vocals)
Plas Johnson (saxophone)
Raymond Johnson (piano)
Barney Kessel (guitar)
William Kurash (violin)
Melvin Lastie (trumpet)
Irving Lipschultz (violin)
The Carole Lombard Quartet (background vocals)
Leonard Malarsky (violin)
Lincoln Mayorga (piano, celeste)
Alexander Neiman (viola)
Jimmie Outler (background vocals)
Earl Palmer (drums)
Jack Pepper (violin)
John Pisano (guitar)
Ray Pohlman (bass)
Emil Radocchia (percussion)
Edgar Redmond (saxophone)
Allan Reuss (guitar)
Howard Roberts (guitar)
Emmet Sargeant (cello)
Ralph Schaeffer (violin)
Sidney Sharp (violin)
Ernie Tack (trombone)
Robert Tebow (background vocals)
Darrel Terwilliger (violin)
Eddie Tilman (bass)
George Tipton (background vocals)
Red Tyler (saxophone)
Jackie Ward Singers (background vocals)
Dave Wells (trombone)
Clifton White (guitar)
Tibor Zelig (violin)
Tracklist:
01. (Ain´t That) Good News (Cooke) 2.30
02. Meet Me At Mary´s Place (Cooke) 2.43
03. Good Times (Cooke) 2.28
04. Rome (Wasn´t Built In A Day) (Cooke/Prudhomme) 2.34
05. Another Saturday Nihgt (cooke) 2.41
06. Tennessee Waltz (King/Stewart) 3.11
07. A Change Is Gonna Come (Cooke) 3.12
08. Falling In Love (Basttiste) 2.45
09. Home (When Shadows Fall) (Clarkson/v.Steeden) 2.31
10. There´s Be No Second Time (White) 3.03
11. The Riddle Song (Cooke) 2.29
ARMU 2180 (shareplace)