AMG Review of Sam Cooke

Steve Leggett
All Music Guide

This brief nine-song set features some of Sam Cooke's lesser-known tracks from his early-'60s years with RCA Records, and while none of the big hits are here, it’s still a nice collection that spotlights Cooke's precise and naturally nuanced singing on lightly jazzy and orchestrated gems like “You’re Always on My Mind” and the beautiful ballad “Little Things You Do.” The sequence is on the brief side and again, Cooke's biggest secular successes aren’t here, but this is Sam Cooke. When he sang, he sang like an angel. That’s all there is to it.