Sam Cooke At the Copa

iTunes Review

In 1963, Sam Cooke was one of the biggest soul stars in America. Like Ray Charles, he'd made huge inroads into the white showbiz world while retaining his unique qualities of voice and vision. His engagement at one of the country's most important nightclubs, New York's Copacabana, was a natural subject for the only live album Cooke released during his lifetime. At the Copa mostly shies away from the singer's hits, instead offering everything from "Bill Bailey" and "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" to Bob Dylan's then-recent "Blowin' in the Wind" (a particular favorite of Cooke's; it inspired him to write his own timeless anthem "A Change is Gonna Come"). The album works in two ways: as a document of another side of the man's talents, and a subtle Civil Rights-era infiltration of African-American culture into the most mainstream adult venue possible.