Ain't That Good News (album)

 

"(Ain't That) Good News"

The opening track is a secular adaptation of a gospel tune.

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"A Change Is Gonna Come"

The album's and Sam Cooke's most well-known recording featured orchestral arrangements.

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Wikiquote has quotations related to Ain't That Good News (album).

A record that featured one side of harder soul numbers and another of mellower ballads, much like R&B musician Ray Charles' Modern Sounds records, Ain't That Good News reflects Cooke's greater freedom in choosing material and sidemen.^[6] Therefore, it offered much pent-up emotional and musical expression, which was unique in the Cooke's output. Musically, Ain't That Good News features two sides of different stylistic approaches by Sam Cooke. According to record producers Luigi Creatore and Hugo Peretti, the first side of the album is "strong and rockin'," while the second side, "ballads....deep and soulful." They went on to write of the album:

In many ways this is a tribute to the developed talents of Sam Cooke. As the skillful and polished performer that he was, Cooke could take any kind of song material and bring it on home to his audience so that it means something.^[5]

— Hugo & Luigi

Side one features the nostalgic "Good Times", written by Cooke, and "Another Saturday Night", which he wrote when staying in a hotel room where no female guests were allowed during a tour of the United Kingdom ^[5] The rolling chorus of "Meet Me at Mary's Place" was also written by Cooke about a gospel promoter in Charlotte, North Carolina where gospel groups often stayed.^[6] The country-style "Tennessee Waltz" is given new life here, while the title track, done out of the gospel tradition, would be his greatest hit until the central number on this album.^[7] "A Change Is Gonna Come", with its soaring gospel sound and powerful first-person language, was written in response to Dylan's protest anthem "Blowin' in the Wind" and became one of popular music's most well-known message songs, as well as Sam Cooke's signature recording.^[6]

Following the centerpiece are orchestrated ballads and standards that are arranged by conductor René Hall. Cooke gives the Irving Berlin tune, "Sittin' in the Sun", a powerful reading as he does with "Home". Ending on a somber and emotional note, the album closes with Sam Cooke's rendition of the traditional Appalachian ballad "The Riddle Song". According to string section leader Sid Sharp, Sam Cooke started to cry at the line "I gave my love a baby with no crying", which was reminiscent of the loss of Cooke's infant child, Vincent.^[7]

All songs written by Sam Cooke, except where noted.^[5]

Side one

1. "Ain't That Good News" – 2:30
2. "Meet Me at Mary's Place" – 2:44
3. "Good Times" – 2:28
4. "Rome Wasn't Built in a Day" (Sam Cooke, Beverly Prudhomme, Betty Prudhomme) – 2:34
5. "Another Saturday Night" – 2:42
6. "Tennessee Waltz" (Pee Wee King, Redd Stewart) – 3:12

Side two

7. "A Change Is Gonna Come" – 3:13
8. "Falling in Love" (Harold Battiste) – 2:45
9. "Home" (Jeff Clarkson, Harry Clarkson, Peter van Steeden) – 2:32
10. "Sittin' in the Sun" (Irving Berlin) – 3:18
11. "No Second Time" (Clifton White) – 3:03
12. "The Riddle Song" (Traditional) – 2:30

* Between late 1963 and late 1964, Billboard Magazine did not publish an R&B singles chart.^[7]

• Sam Cooke – vocals
• Chuck Badie, Buddy Clark, Ray Pohlman, Clifford Hils, Eddie Tilman – bass guitar
• Joseph Gibbons – banjo
• Hal Blaine, John Boudreaux, Edward Hall, Earl Palmer – drums
• Norman Bartold, Le Roy Crume, Barney Kessel, John Pisano, Allen Reuss, Howard Roberts, Clifton White – guitar
• Emil Richards – marimba, percussion, timpani
• Linwood Mitchell – percussion
• Harold Battiste, Ray Johnson – piano
• Lincoln Mayorga – piano, celeste
• William Hinshaw – french horn
• Jewell Grant, William Green, Plas Johnson, Edgar Redmond, Red Tyler – saxophone
• Milton Bernhart, Ernest Tack, David Wells, John Halliburton, Harry Betts, Louis Blackburn, Streamline Ewing – trombone
• John Anderson, Melvin Lastie – trumpet
• Jesse Ehrlich, Emmet Sargeant – cello
• Harry Hyams, Alexander Neiman – viola
• Israel Baker, Robert Barene, Arnold Belnick, John DeVoogdt, William Kurasch, Irving Lipschultz, Leonard Malarsky, Jack Pepper, Ralph Schaeffer, Sid Sharp, Darrell Terwilliger, Tibor Zelig – violin
• James Bryant – backing vocals
• Gwenn Johnson – backing vocals
• Carol Lombard – backing vocals
• Robert Tebow – backing vocals
• George Tipton – backing vocals
• Jackie Ward – backing vocals
• The Soul Stirrers – backing vocals
• Luigi Creatore, Hugo Peretti – producer
• Dave Hassinger – recording engineer
• René Hall, Joe Hooven – arranger, conductor
• Jody H. Klein, Teri Landi – reissue producer
• Wally Seawell – cover photo
• Frank Driggs – photography (2008 import release)

An official reissue of Ain't That Good News came nearly forty years after its initial 1964 release on LP format. The reissued compact disc of the album featured Super-Audio and Hybrid format, also known as Super High Material, which enhanced audio quality through the use of polycarbonate plastic. Using a process developed by JVC and Universal Music Japan and discovered through the joint companies' research of LCD display manufacturing, these CDs featured improved transparency on the data side of the disc, allowing for more accurate reading of the data by the CD player laser head. The reissues were fully compatible with standard CD players, and are listed below:^[7][8]

• Ain't That Good News reissue liner notes by Hugo & Luigi, Lenne Allik. ABKCO Music & Records, Inc. 2003.
• Nick Johnstone (1999). Melody Maker History of 20th Century Popular Music. Bloomsbury, London, UK. ISBN 0-7475-4190-6.

• Songs of Sam Cooke: Main Page^[usurped]
• Songs of Sam Cooke: Ain't That Good News^[usurped]