The exceptional “One Night Stand – Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963” by Sam Cooke.
Sam Cooke was the son of a minister and is still one of the most influential soul artists of all time. He was undoubtedly daring and stood up at a time when the Civil Rights Movement was nascent. At one time, he refused to sing at an event that was segregated.
But he crossed over into the white community in the late 1950s and very early 1960s. While starting as a gospel singer, he was amazingly popular for his soul and pop music. AllMusic biographer Bruce Eder wrote that Cooke was “the inventor of soul music” and possessed “an incredible natural singing voice and a smooth, effortless delivery that has never been surpassed.”
In the early 1960s, Sam Cooke was already a household name. However, while popular and influential, much of his studio work represented a fairly sanitized version of his roots in gospel and soul music, tailored for broader, mainly white audiences.
He was the ultimate cross-over artist at that time, and “One Night Stand – Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963” proves it.
The show nails it, and this is Cooke at his most relentless, fun, and passionate best. Partly maybe because the Harlem Square Club is in Miami’s historically African-American neighborhood of Overtown – so he was singing to (well, listening to this live album, perhaps along with) a packed club “with the singer’s most devoted fans from his days singing gospel.” The audience in January 1963 at the Harlem Square Club wasn’t a mainstream audience used to his usual smooth and composed studio image.
For example, he opens “It’s All Right” with a not-quite clean-cut image, dated to its time: “Alright fellas, when somebody has come and told you about something your girlfriend or wife has done and stuff, [don’t go home and go hit on them,] Whatever they tell you anything about your lady, go home, if she’s sleeping, shake her, move her up / In a way that she wipes all the sleep from her eyes, understand? / And once she’s got all that sleep from her eyes, look at them and tell them, “Baby, it’s all right, oh it’s all right….“
“...All my friends tell me that you found somebody new, they report to me every little thing that you do. But long as you tell me that it’s all untrue. I believe it’s all right.“
But he then skillfully shifts into “Sentimental Reasons” – “Do you know why it’s alright? Because I love you, for sentimental reasons….” The crowd is enraptured – they are asked to sing along with him and easily oblige. It is magnificent.
When he sings, on “Chain Gang,” “That’s the sound of the men, working on the chain gang,” and then shifts to “All day long they’re saying, huh ah, Huhhhh ahhh, uhhh ah, uhhhh ahhhh” over and over… those are some serious sounds. He means it. It’s gritty, and it’s real compared to anything else he recorded. Really, honest, real.
He means it and wants the crowd to sing along. And they do – they practically become members of his band.
A lot of his pop hits are here. “Having a Party,” “Twisting the Night Away,” “Cupid,” etc. But this is a raucous, party album; you feel it when you press play. Cooke charismatically controls the room, creating an intimate, practically symbiotic relationship between himself and the crowd. (God knows how hot was that night was, but it feels (sounds?) sweltering). You get pulled into the audience while listening to it – precisely what a live album’s mission is supposed to be.
“Bring It On Home to Me” is a particular highlight. Outside of the confines of the studio, Cooke shines. It is emotional, powerful, and raw, encapsulating the heart and soul of rhythm and blues. His gospel roots come to the forefront here in this song, with the spiritual aspect of his voice coming to the fore.
His vocals are scorching throughout the brief, just over half-hour set.
His band also helps. Led by bandleader, King Curtis on saxophone, they not only support Cooke, but at times, it feels like they are pushing him to perform even harder – especially on “Twisting the Night Away” and “Somebody Have Mercy,” where Curtis’ saxophone explodes out of the gate, he practically duets with Cooke (particularly on the latter.)
The recording’s quality is fantastic, and while the entire night certainly isn’t a smooth listen (it’s rough, and it’s meant to be!), that’s just fine with me. It’s immersive – you can hear banter, chatting in the crowd, glasses clinking. Cooke banters with his audience constantly between songs. It’s the sort of live album where you feel like ordering a drink because everyone else is!!
The album was not released until 1985, more than twenty years after Cooke’s untimely death, really due to RCA’s unease with the unfiltered, intense, and emotional nature of the performance, a far cry from Cooke’s mainstream image.
Upon its release in 1985, critics recognized it for what it was – a masterpiece. It’s been hailed as one of the greatest live albums ever recorded.
As he triumphantly exclaims, “I want you to remember this!!!!” at the beginning of the last song, “Having a Party.”
“We’re having a party,
Dancing to the music.”
“I feel alright now, I don’t want to quit. We got that groove. Keep on having’ that party.”
Mission accomplished.
10/10
Chris Garrod, May 23rd, 2023