Tag: Peter Guralnick

3 a.m. Albums: Sam Cooke’s “Night Beat”

Sam Cooke Night In our series “3 a.m. Albums,” we look at albums that are perfect for those nights when you cannot sleep due to sadness, loneliness, despair, or other reasons. This post in the series considers Sam Cooke’s twelfth album, Night Beat, released in August 1963.

When you think of singer-songwriter Sam Cooke, who was born on January 22, 1931, you probably first think of the singles and his wonderful tracks like “You Send Me,” “A Change Is Gonna Come,” and “Twistin’ the Night Away.” But if you ask a Sam Cooke fan to name their favorite album by the R&B singer, chances are they will name an album without any of his most recognizable hits: Night Beat.

The Recording and “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen”

Early in 1963, less than two years before Cooke’s tragic death, he went into the studio for some late night recording sessions with talented musicians such as pianist Ray Johnson (piano), the sixteen-year-old Billy Preston (organ); Barney Kessell (guitar), Hal Blaine (drums), Ed Hall (drums), Cliff Hils (bass), Clif White (bass), and René Hall (rhythm guitar). During those nights, they created a moody masterpiece for late-night listening.

The opening track on side one of the album creates the mood with Cooke singing an old spiritual, “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen.” While the singer tells us about his lonely troubles, Cooke adds a layer of rhythm and blues that both provides comfort to the troubled and offers a little bit of hope.

Cooke’s Originals on the Album

Night Beat includes some Cooke originals, like “Mean Old World,” a song Cooke had recorded with the Soul Stirrers six years earlier. The other songs written by Cooke were “Laughin’ and Clownin'” and “You Gotta Move.”

Below is “You Gotta Move.”

An Uplifting Coda

Most of the songs were written by other artists, including classics like the blues song “Little Red Rooster.” Indeed, many of the songs are steeped in the blues, with many of the songs reflecting themes of heartbreak.

The one song, however, that stands out as an uplifting coda is the closing track on side two, Cooke’s version of “Shake, Rattle, and Roll.” It is as if after sorting through the heartbreak, he wants to remind us that after you get through it all you will find pure joy once again.

So, after reflecting on your misery, “Get out of that bed, go wash your face and hands.”

The Song That Sums Up the Album

According to Peter Guralnick’s excellent biography of the singer, Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke (2005), the song that best summed up the mood of the album was recorded at the end of an evening, “Lost and Lookin’.” Cooke’s voice in the minor-key number faces the world alone, accompanied only by bass and the cymbals on the drum set.

According to Guralnick, “Lost and Lookin'” “showed off every one of Sam’s characteristic vocal effects.” But it did so “without in any way suggesting, either to the listener or himself, that they were effects, so intrinsic were they to his feeling for the music, to the feelings he wanted to express.”

An Album To Get You Through the Night

The album is a wonderful friend to have late at night. Allmusic explains, “The songs are intimate blues, most taken at the pace of a late-night stroll, but despite the dark shading and heart-rending tempos, Cooke’s voice is so transcendent it’s difficult to become depressed while listening.”

So, the next late night where you need some company to help get you through until sunrise, put on Sam Cooke’s Night Beat.

What is your favorite 3 a.m. album? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Howlin’ Wolf on Shindig! on May 20, 1965

    Howlin' Wolf Shindig In the thirteenth Oxford American Annual Southern Music issue, author Peter Guralnick wrote an excellent essay about Howlin’ Wolf, “What is the Soul of Man?” In the essay, Gualnick, who has written definitive biographies of great artists such as Elvis Presley and Sam Cooke, recounts how the greatest moment on television for him was Howlin’ Wolf’s appearance on Shindig! taped on May 20, 1965.

    On that Thursday night, The Rolling Stones were the headliners on the show, and Wolf for some reason was listed on the show under the name “Chester Burnett,” as his given name was Chester Arthur Burnett. But when he took the stage and began his first hit, “How Many More Years,” the 6’3″ Wolf made it so “[e]very moment was larger than life.”

    In this clip from the show, the Stones talk of their admiration for Howlin’ Wolf. Then Wolf took the stage and wiggled and leapt, as Guralink described, “with The Stones sitting at his feet, as if not just the stage but the entire world would shake.”

    According to the website The 60s at 50, the May 20th taped show appeared on ABC on May 26, 1965.

    What do you think of Howlin’ Wolf’s performance? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Happy Birthday Robert Johnson!

    Robert Johnson Centennial Collection

    Blues legend Robert Johnson (probably) was born on May 8, 1911 in Hazlehurst, Mississippi. Although he was only 27 when he died — possibly poisoned by a jealous husband in Mississippi — and he only left us 29 recordings, he is more than a legend in the music world. The singer and guitar player who allegedly sold his soul to the Devil for his guitar skills has influenced generations of musicians.

    In Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues, Elijah Wald recounts a description of the birth written by Peter Guralnick: “Robert Johnson was born probably on May 8, 1911, the eleventh child of Julia Major Dodds, whose ten older children were all the offspring of her marriage to Charles Dodds. Robert was illegitimate, which . . . was the cause of the name confusion and the cause of many of Johnson’s later problems.”

    Here is a roundup of some websites about Johnson and stories from 2011 about the 100th anniversary of his birth:

    – A Sudbury Star article discusses Robert Johnson’s life and his influence on modern musicians.

    – USA Today gives an overview of events occurring to celebrate the anniversary, along with a video of Gregg Allman talking about Johnson.

    – The Gibson Guitar website has in interview with Robert Johnson’s grandson.

    – The Seattle Post Intelligencer has a review of a new 2-CD collection of Johnson’s music, The Centennial Collection. Amazon offers additional reviews of The Centennial Collection.

    – Here is a YouTube video of academics discussing what is thought to be the only known video of Johnson.

    – The Republic from Columbus, Indiana has an article about the connection between Johnson and Bob Dylan.

    – Mississippi’s Jackson Clarion Ledger discusses the planned celebration in Greenwood, Mississippi, where Johnson died in 1938.

    – Crawdaddy has a short article connecting Robert Johnson to current Mississippi blues.

    – The Robert Johnson Notebooks has a literary analysis of the lyrics to his songs.

    Of course, it all comes down to the music, so consider Robert Johnson playing and singing “Cross Road Blues.” Although many assume the song is about Johnson’s encounter with Satan at the crossroads, there is no mention of the Devil in the song. Instead, the song is most likely about the singer’s attempt to get home before dark, a genuine fear during a time when African-Americans did not want to encounter lynching parties in the South.

    For an electric version of the song, here is Eric Clapton introduced his version of “Crossroads,” by explaining what Johnson means to him. “It really shook me up.”

    Robert Johnson seems to be such a legendary figure of the past, one may find it hard to believe that his birth was not really that long ago. He could have lived to be alive today. Happy birthday Mr. Johnson, wherever you are.

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