Sam Cooke was with the top gospel a cappella group The Soul Stirrers between 1950 and 1956, before leaving Specialty to join the Keen label and record his first secular hit, “You Send Me”. The 84 tracks assembled on this fine three-disc collection represent everything Cooke did with The Soul Stirrers, including a 20-minute live set at LA’s Shrine Auditorium in 1955. Prime gospel, many of these tracks are classics. With an excellent sleevenote by Daniel Wolff, this is an historic anthology.
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