Friday, November 04, 2005
Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Soul...Sam Cooke!
This Sunday, my review of the excellent biography of Sam Cooke by Peter Guralnick, Dream Boogie, ran in The Oregonian. Some days 700 words feels long (some days 400 feels long...the new protocol for most O! reviews), but I could have gone on and on. Maybe I did.
You can link to the review here, although the Oregonlive site has been somewhat stingy of late at retrieving the articles at the links it left for them; it was there when I linked this morning.
The Salon review, which was a somewhat cool reception, wondered, as I did, what is next for Mr. Guralnick, suggesting perhaps Otis Redding or Charlie Rich. A great question. I saw him read a few years back, after Last Train to Memphis was published. Quite the conversationalist, although I can't remember what he said or where we were (Colorado maybe?). Generally regarded as a Good Guy.
Anyway, one thing interesting about the book is how contained it is to Cooke's life. No mention of the Hall of Fame entry, no follow ups on who some of the key players became (Bobby Womack, a huge player, suffers somewhat from this early career anonymity in Dream Boogie).
On the other hand, that other version of the story, "Soul Man Brought Down," has been told, in what is virtually the only other biography out there, and out of print at that, Daniel Wolfe's You Send Me.
A final note, at this moment. I can not highly enough recommend Sam Cooke's Live at the Harlem Square Club, recorded in January 1963, and released with great Guralnick liner notes 20 years later. It is the performer that Otis Redding channels in his later performances, engaging and raw and electrified. And, with the schizophrenia of the Cooke catalog, which still seems to suffer from the split in publishing rights, which consequently means finding something with "Cupid" and "Keep Movin' On" both on it a real challenge, it might be the best first start.
UPDATE (November 20, 2005): John Leland reviews Dream Boogie for the New York Times, complete with a brief audio medley of Sam sounds.
You can link to the review here, although the Oregonlive site has been somewhat stingy of late at retrieving the articles at the links it left for them; it was there when I linked this morning.The Salon review, which was a somewhat cool reception, wondered, as I did, what is next for Mr. Guralnick, suggesting perhaps Otis Redding or Charlie Rich. A great question. I saw him read a few years back, after Last Train to Memphis was published. Quite the conversationalist, although I can't remember what he said or where we were (Colorado maybe?). Generally regarded as a Good Guy.
Anyway, one thing interesting about the book is how contained it is to Cooke's life. No mention of the Hall of Fame entry, no follow ups on who some of the key players became (Bobby Womack, a huge player, suffers somewhat from this early career anonymity in Dream Boogie).
On the other hand, that other version of the story, "Soul Man Brought Down," has been told, in what is virtually the only other biography out there, and out of print at that, Daniel Wolfe's You Send Me.
A final note, at this moment. I can not highly enough recommend Sam Cooke's Live at the Harlem Square Club, recorded in January 1963, and released with great Guralnick liner notes 20 years later. It is the performer that Otis Redding channels in his later performances, engaging and raw and electrified. And, with the schizophrenia of the Cooke catalog, which still seems to suffer from the split in publishing rights, which consequently means finding something with "Cupid" and "Keep Movin' On" both on it a real challenge, it might be the best first start.
UPDATE (November 20, 2005): John Leland reviews Dream Boogie for the New York Times, complete with a brief audio medley of Sam sounds.
