1001 Albums Summary

This is my first time listening to this album. Definitely not the Sam Cooke I’m familiar with, but I like this unfiltered live sound a lot better. The energy from the audience, the band, and Cooke himself is really palpable, even through the recording. I think he gave his audience exactly what they were looking for, but I personally would have loved to hear a couple of big solos from the band, especially the saxophonist on Having A Party. Maybe I’m reading into it too much because I’ve been reading a book about prisons, but I really wonder why he chose to put Chain Gang in the middle of an otherwise upbeat set full of songs about love and dancing. Overall quite good, would listen again.

I really like some of the songs on here but the Paul McCartney ones stink so much. Overall it feels more like a choppy playlist/collection of songs than a cohesive album. Maybe there’s something I’m not getting? All that being said, there are a couple bangers on here like I Want You (She’s So Heavy) and you can tell how much work went into recording the record. Not my first choice of album, but I’m sure I will listen again at some point because it’s the damn Beatles.