The Man Who Invented Soul [Box Set]

Disc 1
1	You Send Me 2:45
2	Summertime, Pt. 1 2:23
3	For Sentimental Reasons 2:40
4	Desire Me 2:27
5	Lonely Island 2:31
6	You Were Made for Me 2:58
7	Win Your Love (For Me) 2:34
8	Love You Most of All 2:19
9	Everybody Loves to Cha Cha Cha 2:43
10	No One Can Take Your Place 2:22
11	Only Sixteen 2:14
12	With You 2:38
13	Crazy She Calls Me 2:35
14	I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues 2:34
15	Comes Love 2:30
16	Ain't Nobody's Business 2:27
17	Little Things You Do 2:17
18	There! I've Said It Again 2:01
19	When I Fall in Love 2:45
20	Let's Go Steady Again 2:33
21	Wonderful World 2:05
Disc 2
1	Chain Gang 2:42
2	I Belong to Your Heart 2:19
3	Teenage Sonata 2:43
4	Love Me 2:23
5	Sad Mood Unreleased Version 2:34
6	If I Had You (I'd Be Happy) 2:25
7	You Belong to Me 2:46
8	Sad Mood 2:39
9	Tenderness 2:22
10	That's It, I Quit, I'm Moving On 2:39
11	Hold On 2:49
12	Cupid 2:37
13	Tenderness Unreleased Version 2:26
14	Don't Get Around Much Anymore 3:13
15	Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out 3:26
16	Baby Won't You Please Come Home 2:14
17	Trouble in Mind 3:01
18	Out in the Cold Again 2:26
19	Exactly Like You 2:10
20	Since I Met You Baby 3:04
21	I'm Just a Lucky So and So 3:17
22	But Not for Me 2:34
23	You're Always on My Mind 2:18
24	(Don't Fight It) Feel It 2:02
25	It's All Right 2:47
26	Twistin' the Night Away 2:42
27	One More Time 2:27
28	Don't Cry on My Shoulder 2:42
Disc 3
1	Somebody's Gonna Miss Me 2:48
2	Somebody Have Mercy 3:06
3	Sugar Dumpling Original Version 2:18
4	Nothing Can Change This Love Unreleased Version 2:16
5	Talkin' Trash 2:15
6	Movin' and Groovin' 2:56
7	Soothe Me 2:19
8	Having a Party 2:36
9	Bring It on Home to Me 2:45
10	A Whole Lotta Woman 2:33
11	I'm Gonna Forget About You 2:30
12	Nothing Can Change This Love 2:39
13	Baby, Baby, Baby 2:30
14	Send Me Some Lovin' 2:48
15	All the Way 3:30
16	Smoke Rings 3:26
17	Wish You Love 2:25
18	Driftin' Blues 3:18
19	Little Girl 2:37
20	Cry Me a River 2:48
21	These Foolish Things 4:01
22	Frankie and Johnny 2:46
23	I Ain't Gonna Cheat on You No More 2:25
24	Another Saturday Night Previously Unreleased Take 2:46
25	Love Will Find a Way 2:18
26	Cool Train First Stereo Release 2:32
Disc 4
1	Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen 3:25
2	Lost and Lookin' 2:13
3	Mean Old World 3:48
4	Please Don't Drive Me Away 2:15
5	I Lost Everything 3:25
6	Get Yourself Another Fool 4:07
7	Little Red Rooster 2:53
8	Laughin' and Clownin' 3:38
9	Trouble Blues 3:24
10	You Gotta Move 2:40
11	Fool's Paradise 2:35
12	Shake, Rattle & Roll 3:31
13	Intro/(Don't Fight It) Feel It 3:46
14	Chain Gang 3:12
15	Cupid 2:45
16	It's All Right/ For Sentimental Reasons 5:13
17	Twistin' the Night Away 4:17
18	Somebody Have Mercy 7:16
19	Bring It on Home to Me 3:04
20	Nothing Can Change This Love 3:46
21	Having a Party 5:25

Barnes & Noble

This collection’s title makes a weighty claim, but a tour through this rich, beautifully packaged box set quickly makes it evident that Sam Cooke’s fusion of gospel and pop laid the foundation for the genre-splicing music of such seminal soul artists as Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, and Al Green -- not to mention hits from subsequent generations of crooners. Spanning Cooke’s career from 1957 until 1963, The Man Who Invented Soul is thematically divided into four discs. The first disc features material from Cooke’s early years with Keen Records, including the chart-topping singles "You Send Me" and "Only Sixteen." The second and third discs collect tracks from his RCA years (1960 to 1963), a time that produced infectious classics such as "Chain Gang" and "Cupid." The fourth disc, however, showcases songs from the quintessential Cooke albums Night Beat, which documents Cooke’s successful foray into more complex jazz-soul arrangements, and Live at the Harlem Square Club, which captures the former gospel star’s onstage charisma with sizzling versions of "Twistin’ the Night Away" and "Having a Party." Like his white counterpart Bobby Darin, Cooke was blessed with an intoxicating voice that enabled him to effortlessly move from one musical genre to the next -- be it blues ("Little Red Rooster"), rock ‘n’ roll ("Shake, Rattle & Roll"), folk ("Frankie And Johnny"), or standards ("Summertime"). If Cooke hadn’t been killed in 1964, who knows what creative heights this pioneer might have scaled. Still, his music lives on. And despite the exclusion of his posthumously released ballad "A Change Is Gonna Come," Cooke’s musical legacy is well documented in this stellar box set. Dave Gil de Rubio

All Music Guide

This set is near essential to fans of Sam Cooke, despite the fact that it contains none of his gospel recordings for Specialty Records or any of the work from the final year of his career (owned by ABKCO Records). Scattered every few minutes across this four-disc collection are reminders of just how far ahead of all existing musical forms Cooke was, creating sounds that stretched the definitions of song genres as they were understood and created completely new categories. Indeed, he was so successful that it's easy to underestimate the impact and importance of many of his early triumphs. "You Send Me," which opens this set, may seem today like the safest, tamest pop music, but in 1957 it was a genre-bending single, a new kind of R&B/pop music hybrid and one that quietly shook the foundations of the music business when it hit number one.

Disc one offers a fresh appreciation of the best of the early Keen Records sides, drawing on the best of nearly two years of singles and the strongest of Cooke's LP tracks in the best account to date of his early career in popular music. Disc two begins Cooke's RCA years, and the quality of his singles, which clearly and easily bridge the gap between genres, races, and generations, improves dramatically. The development of Cooke's writing and singing and his growing confidence and range culminate with disc four, which encompasses the Night Beat album and Cooke's live performance from the Harlem Square Club. The sound is extraordinary throughout, expansive, rich-textured, and vividly detailed; a choice earlier CD release, The Man and His Music, by comparison, sounds thin and tinny. Bruce Eder