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Free at last soul sterris2/18/2023 After a crash course in onstage etiquette and a few dance move tips, by a member of James Brown’s back-up troupe the Flames, and a makeover by Sy Devore, clothier to the stars, the Valentinos cut a swath through R&B till the end of the decade. “Rock in the Cradle of Love” is built on the “Lookin’ for A Love”/ Couldn’t Hear Nobody Pray” model, but rocks harder than both of its influences, with Womack on guitar. “She’s So Good To Me” is another gospel clone off “God Is so Good To Me,” with Womack again sounding enough like Cooke could be his twin.īut “Lookin’ for A Love” is the gold standard, the one that had everything: soul, doo -wop, and gospel all in one package, galloping along, spurred by Womack’s whip-crack vocal. The group wasted no time converting the gospel tune to the secular world by renaming it “Somewhere There’s a Girl,” moving the tempo along a bit more but otherwise a note-for-note rendition of the original. “Somewhere There’s a God” featuring Womack’s lead vocal, sounds just like Cooke. The Valentinos jump back and forth across the gospel/secular line on their sessions for SAR. Its virtually a note-for-note cover with a stiffer beat, but substituting the lyric “I built a fence all around me” for the one Jesus built in Cooke’s version. Sam and Dave took notice of the song’s secular possibilities, cutting ’61’s “No More Pain” based on the song. Outler’s voice is a bit rougher than Cooke’s, a few barbed wire strands entwined in his delivery tear the fabric of Cook’e velvety voice, but he still sounds remarkably similar. Charged with hitting a little girl with his car while under the influence of marijuana, Taylor left the group to become a preacher before jumping back in later in the decade as an R&B singer.īut the most impressive Cooke clone was Jimmie Outler, whose performance on the Cooke-penned composition “Jesus Be a Fence around Me”, written especially for Outler, is as good as any gospel Cooke ever cut. Taylor was a vet of the Highway QC’s, and his vocal on “Stand By Me Father,” sounds identical to Cooke. The first was Johnny Taylor, who went on to soul fame with ’68’s “Who’s Making Love,”. The Soul Stirrers’ two-CD set covers 1959–’64, featuring a plethora of singers hoping to replace Cooke. But the song that made Bobby’s fortune was ’64’s “All Over Now.” It barely cracked the charts for the group, but when the Stones picked it up, it provided Womack with sizeable royalty checks for the rest of his life.ĪBKCO has compiled the complete recordings that both groups did on Cooke’s SAR label, and it’s a treasure. As the Valentinos, the Womack Brothers became stars with “Lookin’ For A Love” charting in the top ten. “Couldn’t Hear Nobody Pray.” Retrofitted, and with a new set of lyrics, it became “Looking For A Love,” and the group got a new name because Cooke thought their hair styles looked like Spanish Valentinos. Cooke recorded them in ’61 for SAR, cutting a couple of gospel tunes before crossing them over with one of the reworked gospel tunes. They tried to break out into secular music in ’54 with “Buffalo Bill,” but returned to gospel when it didn’t chart. The Womack Brothers were Bobby’s entree into the business, playing guitar and singing with his four male siblings. Womack’s leathery whipcrack vocal lash paved the way for soul’s raw shouters like Wilson Pickett, who also started in gospel. His success in the secular world allowed him to start his own record label, SAR, and his first choice for his new label was the Soul Stirrers, the group he left when he crossed over.Īlthough many feared Cooke’s departure would be the end of the group, they prospered and continued recording and performing for decades, with various personnel cycling in and out, keeping the gospel fires burning.īobby Womack also began his career in gospel, but with a vocal approach worlds away from Cooke’s. Sam Cooke was the first to cross over, taking his velvety vocals along, to coat soul’s vaults. Kickin’, screamin’, and cryin’, the former penitents took the music from church to the streets, the love of God replaced by the love of a woman, or lack thereof. Gospel was the parent, soul the scruffy rebel child breaking free from the shackles of religion to go secular.
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