Sam Cooke's SAR Story

Given the fact that no less than Peter Guralnik has written superb notes to this historic set, you will have to excuse me for choosing to spare myself the embarrassment of attempting any sort of synopsis beyond saying that the Gospel disc is glorious and indispensable for any fan, the secular disc is perhaps less so, although the Sims Twins tracks alone are enough to make it worthwhile. Here is a link to Guralnik's notes and pictures from the accompanying book for this set. The book is 86 pages long so you will have to forgive me that I only scanned the covers and discography for the download.

http://www.songsofsamcooke.com/albums/sar_records_story.htm

The dl links are in the comments below.

"Sam Cooke's SAR Records Story is a double-disc set presenting material recorded for the legendary soul singer's own SAR label from 1959-1965, much of it produced by Cooke himself and including a few of his rough, unreleased demos. The first disc covers the label's religious side, with a multitude of cuts from Cooke's former group the Soul Stirrers (now with Jimmie Outler on lead vocals), plus a generous helping of songs by R.H. Harris & His Gospel Paraders and the Womack Brothers. The second disc covers essentially the same gospel-derived soul territory but with a secular bent, featuring future stars Bobby Womack (with the Valentinos), Billy Preston, and Johnnie Taylor, plus L.C. Cooke, Johnnie Morisette, the Sims Twins, and Mel Carter. All in all, it's an excellent look at a lesser-known portion of Cooke's career, and there's some great, underappreciated music to boot. [The 1995 edition was also produced in a 'longbox' packaging format.]" ~ Steve Huey