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Trouble in Mind - the Soul Stirrers


It annoys me, that many of the Youtube and collected Vinyl listings attribute songs to Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers as Sam Cooke was just one member of an already very successful group. It's like retrospectively naming the Beatles John Lennon and the Beatles but worse as the Beatles hadn't already been going for 23 years, quite successfully before he joined them. There's no arguing that Sam Cooke was both one of the very greatest soul singers and one of the greatest gospel singers of all time, but, as he himself was always keen to point out, he learnt lots of his singing style - timing, phrasing, emphasis and so on, from his gospel colleagues especially those from the Soul Stirrers.

So although this track is often credited to Sam, and although he is indeed singing on it, the lead is taken by Paul Foster, 11 years his senior, and a singer for whom he had much admiration. And you can hear it on this - the exquisite timing and the way he can whip up emotion and excitement seemingly from nowhere.

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