The 1985 Project Part 11: Sam Cooke Live at the Harlem Square Club 1963

It took 22 years, but the powers that were at RCA finally gave us one of the greatest live albums in history

I’m looking at the albums released in 1985 one at a time, starting with the ones that placed in the 1985 Village Voice Pazz and Jop Poll with plans to remember other releases from that year later on.

By 1985, it was obvious to anybody who took pop music history seriously that Sam Cooke was a magnificent singer. Opinions were, however, divided as to the quality of his records. While Cooke’s music was long categorized as soul, that genre was only beginning to be named during the bulk of his hit-making years. After Cooke left gospel music in 1957 to record “You Send Me,” he eventually signed with RCA Records, a decidedly pop label with little presence in the African-American community.

Cooke’s hits always contained at least some of the gospel influence he had in his bones after spending time as the lead singer of the Soul Stirrers, one of the best groups in that genre. But they were also marketed to white buyers, and as such there was less emphasis on the gritty side of his passionate expression, and more on the novelty of songs like “Cupid” or the limpid sentimentality of “Wonderful World.” From my first exposure to Cooke when I bought his The Best of Sam Cooke album in the late 70s, I adored the way he sang. In fact, I had dreams of being able to capture his particular phrasing and tone with my own voice – an impossibility, of course, but I wanted it.

Though this album was recorded in 1963, RCA shelved it, as the powers that be assumed it was way too harsh for the pop audience it wanted. Like Berry Gordy’s plans for the Supremes, RCA wanted to push Cooke into the supper club circuit, and as such they recorded and released Sam Cooke at the Copa in 1964. Cooke is way too talented a singer for this to be worthless, but it comes close – I suppose there are people out there who want to hear him sing “Bill Bailey Won’t You Please Come Home” but that ain’t my idea of a good time.

So here we were in 1985, with no inkling that this recording existed, and the younger execs at RCA decided to bring out this proof of just how powerful Cooke could be on a stage in front of an audience primed to love him. This small nightclub in Harlem was filled with passionate fans of Sam Cooke, people who knew all his songs, and who cheered, sang along, and danced to the energy and excitement and power he and his incredible band brought to the stage. Even though most of these songs are familiar from the aforementioned Best of album, this performance served as a revelation to those of us who only knew him from his records.

The band is incendiary, with Cornell Dupree on guitar and the great King Curtis on saxophone, along with less familiar names who knew how to play tight and loose at the same time. Curtis’ solos on “Somebody Have Mercy” reach for the heavens, and that inspires Cooke to sing with even more power and intensity. The arrangements are clearly well rehearsed, but Cooke, like many great soul and gospel singers, could lead them in sudden shifts, stretching out sections of the songs if that’s the way he feels it.

Feeling is what is front and center throughout this performance. Most of the songs are uptempo bursts of enthusiasm. Even the ballads are pushing and pulsing and exploding with fervor. Cooke is working to get a response from the audience, and the audience is giving it to him, singing along and cheering and begging him to work even harder. My god, the performance here of “Bring It On Home to Me” sounds like it’s from a different universe than the brilliant original record – instead of Lou Rawl’s responses to Cooke’s calls, Cooke and the audience work together to create what becomes an out-of-body experience of exhilaration. And this version of “Having A Party” definitely feels like one of those times you don’t want a good time to end – I love the part where he says he couldn’t ever do the Mashed Potato.

I have a very short list of perfect live albums – Jerry Lee Lewis Live at the Star Club; Etta James Rocks the House; Motorhead No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith; and this one. 10 points out of 10.