Ain't That Good News (studio album) by Sam Cooke

Ain't That Good News by Sam Cooke
Year: 1964
Overall rank: 1,737th   Overall chart historyOverall chart history
Average Rating: 
78/100 (from 149 votes)
  Ratings distributionRatings distribution   Average rating historyAverage rating history
Accolades:
Award Top 10 albums of 1964 (8th)
Award Top albums of the 1960s (170th)
Award Best albums of all time (1,737th)
Product Details
Availability

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Sam Cooke “Ain’t That Good News” LP/RCA-2899 (VG+) 1964 Stereo Dynagroove
Condition: Used

$220.07


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LP AIN'T THAT GOOD NEWS - COOKE, SAM (#018771862819)
Condition: New


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SACD: Sam Cooke - Ain't That Good News - Super Audio CD Hybrid Stereo
Condition: Brand New


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Sam Cooke bestography

Ain't That Good News is ranked 3rd best out of 29 albums by Sam Cooke on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Sam Cooke is Night Beat which is ranked number 1320 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 1,329.

Sam Cooke album bestography « Higher ranked (1,660th) This album (1,737th) Lower ranked (3,881st) »
Live At The Harlem Square Club, 1963Ain't That Good NewsPortrait Of A Legend 1951-1964

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Ain't That Good News track list

  Track ratingsTrack ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 79 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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Ain't That Good News rankings

Ain't That Good News collection

Ain't That Good News ratings

Average Rating: 
78/100 (from 149 votes)
  Ratings distributionRatings distribution Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 149 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
80/100
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35 hours ago Banner  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 4,56880/100
 
70/100
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09/26/2024 06:43 MarkusKosmo  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 37980/100
 
75/100
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08/31/2024 19:40 baystateoftheart  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 2,21172/100
 
30/100
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07/26/2024 23:42 Proto  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 1,91541/100
 
85/100
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07/26/2024 10:30 habibi333  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 67073/100

Rating metrics: Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)

This album is rated in the top 2% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 78.1/100, a mean average of 77.7/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 78.4/100. The standard deviation for this album is 12.7.

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Ain't That Good News favourites

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Ain't That Good News comments

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Rating:  
80/100
From 09/05/2022 17:34
Not enough people talk about this album as a an absolute classic. Sam Cooke had a great voice. Change gonna come top 5 song of all time.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 08/03/2022 16:12
The voice...
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
70/100
From 10/03/2020 23:47
69/100

Best tracks: Another Saturday Night, Tennessee Waltz, A Change Is Gonna Come, Home
Worst tracks: Meet Me At Mary's Place, Sittin' In the Sun, The Riddle Song
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
95/100
From 12/22/2019 18:44
To me, Sam Cooke and Otis Redding are the two greatest male soul singers of all time, and they're like bookends: Redding had the grittier, more hard-edged vocaal style, while Cooke was silky smooth, more of a charmer. Both are absolutely essential to my appreciation of the music of the 1960s, the decade before I was born. I choose Ain't That Good News, Cooke's thirteenth and final album, as the best album from Cooke's surprisingly prolific career, as much on the strength of Cooke's songwriting as his singing. The highlight for me here is the iconic civil rights anthem "A Change Is Gonna Come," one of the most singularly haunting and beautiful songs of the sixties. It remains one of American music's great tragedies that Cooke was taken from us less than a year later at the age of 33 in a bizarre shooting that remains the source of much unresolved speculation and debate.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 05/06/2018 18:51
This is one of those albums that it is quite easy to fall in love with. Almost all the songs are really great. A Change Is Gonna Come is of course the highlight
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
50/100
From 07/12/2015 20:09
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Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -3 votes (0 helpful | 3 unhelpful)
From 04/05/2014 19:08
This is the soulful version of "The Velvet Underground & Nico"
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
From 09/11/2013 11:51
Love side 1 of this.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 05/21/2013 22:45
"Ain't that Good News" from 1964 was the last album Sam Cooke released in his lifetime, and for me it is also one of his most consistent and artistically successful. In 1964 Cooke was more or less a veteran in pop music, but this album clearly (especially the original side 1) proves he was far from finished in his musical development. Cooke is often called the father of soul, and not least because the songs he wrote and recorded during the last 2-3 years of his lifetime. Cooke had in most of his songs an ease and light way of dealing with both very personal and serious themes, and this is one the characteristics of this album, where most of his original songs could well be called classics. Good examples are "Good Times", "Another Saturday Night", "Meet Me at Mary's Place" and of course "A Change Is Gonna Come" which came two exemplify the 1960s' Civil Rights Movement.

On tracks like "Ain't that Good News", "Good Times" and his touching interpretation of "The Riddle Song" Cooke shows that he is in tune with the new sounds that streamed to America from Europe, especially thanks to The Beatles.

This is undoubtedly Cooke's most modern album, although some of the more orchestrated tracks on the original side two, may be mostly rooted in the 1950s.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 07/14/2012 01:20
Chock full of Sam Cooke hits... His voice is so natural, and the tunes flow. Underrated gem of the 60s.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

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Best Albums of 1964
1. A Hard Day's Night by The Beatles
2. Getz/Gilberto by Stan Getz & João Gilberto
3. The Times They Are A-Changin' by Bob Dylan
4. Beatles For Sale by The Beatles
5. Another Side Of Bob Dylan by Bob Dylan
6. Out To Lunch! by Eric Dolphy
7. Presenting The Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica by The Ronettes
8. Ain't That Good News by Sam Cooke
9. Where Did Our Love Go by The Supremes
10. Kinks by The Kinks
11. The Sidewinder by Lee Morgan
12. Empyrean Isles by Herbie Hancock
13. Folk Singer by Muddy Waters
14. Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus by Charles Mingus
15. The Animals by The Animals
16. Song For My Father by Horace Silver Quintet
17. "Live" At The Star-Club, Hamburg by Jerry Lee Lewis
18. Meet The Beatles! by The Beatles
19. The Rolling Stones by The Rolling Stones
20. Wednesday Morning, 3AM by Simon & Garfunkel
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