Sam Cooke — Live At The Harlem Square Club, 1963
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There are plenty of legendary albums, but few stunning live releases. Sam Cooke’s blistering set recorded in a sweaty Miami Club (pre-dating Live At The Apollo by ten months) could well be the best ever. Mr Soul gives his all through a gig that includes Chain Gang, party rave-up Twisting The Night Away, and the definitive version of Bring It On Home To Me. Cooke’s usually sweet voice is at times raspy, which gives the tunes an added fervor as he brings the audience to the edge of ecstasy like a Southern Preacher conducting a sermon. Most concert albums show an artist performing at their peak of their live career. The scary thing is that this was the norm for a Sam Cooke show. Shamefully unreleased until 1985, Live At The Harlem Square Club is the ultimate testament to the inventor of Soul Music.
1 comment
Erik Greene Tuesday 12 February 2008
This album is vitally important to my uncle’s legacy because it showed a side of Sam that many in mainstream America never got a chance to see–his “gritty” side. He purposely aimed his records at a crossover market (now common, but virtually unheard of in his day), so this peek into his “other” side is masterful…even though RCA thought it had no commercial value for the 22 years you mentioned.
Better late than never!
Erik Greene
Author, “Our Uncle Sam”
http://www.OurUncleSam.com