Classic Sam Cooke Albums Available in Dolby Atmos

ARTIST JUL, 19, 2024
Classic Sam Cooke Albums Available in Dolby Atmos

Portrait of a Legend, Keep Movin’ On, Sam Cooke at the Copa and Ain’t That Good News, All Newly Remixed In Dolby Spatial Audio, Will Be Available On Apple Music, TIDAL, Amazon Music

Today, July 19, ABKCO Music & Records has released four Sam Cooke titles in the Dolby Atmos® audio format for the first time ever. These include the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inaugural class inductee’s Ain’t That Good News (1964) and Sam Cooke at the Copa (1964), respectively his final studio album and final live album issued before his untimely passing in December of that year. These are rounded out by the compilations Keep Movin’ On (2001) and Portrait of a Legend: 1951-1964 (2003). All four sets are available simultaneously on Apple Music, TIDAL and Amazon Music.

Developed by Dolby Laboratories in 2012, Dolby Atmos® is a patented technology that is a leap forward from surround sound. It goes beyond the ordinary listening experience and puts you inside the song in a spatial way, revealing every detail of the music with unparalleled clarity and depth. The Atmos® mixing for Keep Movin’ On, Ain’t That Good News, Sam Cooke at the Copa and nine tracks from Portrait of a Legend were all accomplished by Grammy-nominated recording engineer Kenta Yonesaka at The Hit Factory in New York. Yonesaka has worked with artists as diverse as The Rolling Stones, Buddy Guy, Mark Ronson, Mariah Carey and Kendrick Lamar. The majority of Portrait of a Legend was mixed in Atmos® by Chris Bolster at Abbey Road Studios. All titles were mastered by Adam Grover at Sterling Sound in Nashville. ABKCO has embarked on a campaign to reissue classic titles on Dolby Atmos®, starting with several releases by The Animals (The Animals, The Animals on Tour, Animal Tracks, Animalization, The Animals Retrospective) in May as well as these Sam Cooke albums.

“The newly remixed albums sound amazing in Dolby Spatial Audio.” says Nicole Cooke-Johnson, granddaughter of Sam Cooke. “We encourage all of Sam’s fans to experience the music as it should be heard, and we hope you enjoy listening as much as we do.”

Over the course of his brief career, Sam Cooke changed the course of cultural history in a significant and demonstrable way. After moving from Clarksdale, Mississippi to Chicago as a child, he sang in gospel groups the Highway QC’s and the Soul Stirrers before having massive success as a solo artist in the secular world starting in 1957. “Chain Gang,” “Twistin’ the Night Away” and “Another Saturday Night” were all Top 10 hit singles, and “You Send Me” went to Number One. Cooke is notable for writing and producing much of his own material, as well as co-founding SAR Records in an era where black-owned labels were a rarity.

Released in March 1964, Ain’t That Good News is split evenly between up-tempo songs and soulful ballads, and introduced the world to the Civil Rights Movement anthem “A Change Is Gonna Come,” recorded the previous month. During the recording of the traditional Appalachian ballad “The Riddle Song,” it has been reported that Cooke cried while singing the line “I gave my love a baby with no crying,” having lost his son Vincent in a drowning accident in 1963.

Recorded live in July 1964 at the Copacabana in New York City and released that October, Sam Cooke at the Copa is notable for documenting his triumphant return to the most prestigious club in the nation six years after his underwhelming first appearance. In addition to his own hits and a cover of Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind,” the material Cooke chose for the predominantly white audience leaned heavily towards standards and showtunes. These included “The Best Things In Life Are Free” (from the 1927 musical Good News), “Try a Little Tenderness” (originally recorded in 1932 by the Ray Noble Orchestra and later famously covered by Otis Redding in 1966), and Pete Seeger and Lee Hays’ folk staple “If I Had a Hammer.”

Keep Movin’ On serves as an overview of the last two years of Sam Cooke’s career, and features two tracks that had been previously unreleased – a later version of “I’m Just a Country Boy” (written by Fred Hellerman and Marshall Barer, and first recorded by Harry Belafonte in 1954) and the Cooke-penned title track, both recorded by Cooke in 1963. At 31 tracks, Portrait of a Legend presents the full scope of Cooke as a recording artist, going back to “Jesus Gave Me Water” from his first ever session with the Soul Stirrers in 1951. Pop hits such as “Bring It On Home To Me,” “Shake” and his Billboard R&B Number One “I’ll Come Running Back to You” illustrate his evolution as an artist before his tragic death in 1964 at the age of 33.

Sam Cooke – Ain’t That Good News tracklist

  1. Ain’t That Good News
  2. Meet Me At Mary’s Place
  3. Good Times
  4. Rome (Wasn’t Built In A Day)
  5. Another Saturday Night
  6. Tennessee Waltz
  7. A Change Is Gonna Come
  8. Falling In Love
  9. Home (When Shadows Fall)
  10. Sittin’ In The Sun
  11. There’ll Be No Second Time
  12. The Riddle Song

Sam Cooke – Sam Cooke At The Copa tracklist

  1. Opening Introduction
  2. The Best Things In Life Are Free
  3. Bill Bailey
  4. Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out
  5. Frankie And Johnny
  6. Try A Little Tenderness / (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons / You Send Me
  7. If I Had A Hammer (The Hammer Song)
  8. When I Fall In Love
  9. Twistin’ The Night Away
  10. Band Introductions
  11. This Little Light Of Mine
  12. Blowin’ In The Wind
  13. Tennessee Waltz

Sam Cooke – Keep Movin’ On tracklist

  1. (Ain’t That) Good News
  2. Rome (Wasn’t Built In A Day)
  3. Meet Me At Mary’s Place
  4. Basin Street Blues
  5. Cousin Of Mine
  6. Tennessee Waltz
  7. Falling In Love
  8. When A Boy Falls In Love
  9. Good Times
  10. Shake
  11. Yeah Man
  12. It’s Got The Whole World Shakin’
  13. The Riddle Song
  14. I’m Just A Country Boy
  15. Try A Little Love
  16. There’ll Be No Second Time
  17. Another Saturday Night
  18. Sugar Dumpling
  19. That’s Where It’s At
  20. You’re Nobody Til Somebody Loves You
  21. (Somebody) Ease My Troublin’ Mind
  22. A Change Is Gonna Come
  23. Keep Movin’ On

 Sam Cooke – Portrait of a Legend: 1951-1964 tracklist

  1. Touch The Hem Of His Garment
  2. Lovable
  3. You Send Me
  4. Only Sixteen
  5. (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons
  6. Just For You
  7. Win Your Love For Me
  8. Everybody Loves To Cha Cha Cha
  9. I’ll Come Running Back To You
  10. You Were Made For Me
  11. Sad Mood
  12. Cupid
  13. (What A) Wonderful World
  14. Chain Gang
  15. Summertime
  16. Little Red Rooster
  17. Bring It On Home To Me
  18. Nothing Can Change This Love
  19. Sugar Dumpling
  20. Ain’t That Good News
  21. Meet Me At Mary’s Place
  22. Twistin’ The Night Away
  23. Shake
  24. Tennessee Waltz
  25. Another Saturday Night
  26. Good Times
  27. Having A Party
  28. That’s Where It’s At
  29. A Change Is Gonna Come
  30. Jesus Gave Me Water
  31. Soul (Hidden Track)