Cooke's Tour


Cooke's Tour is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Sam Cooke. Record producer by Hugo & Luigi, the album was released in April 1960 in the United States by RCA Victor. Cooke's Tour was the singer's first on the RCA Victor label.
The album was remastered in 2011 as a part of The RCA Albums Collection.

Background

As Keen's marketing was limited, Sam Cooke began to shop around to other labels in February 1960. Interest was immediate from labels such as Atlantic and Capitol, but Cooke signed with Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore at RCA Victor, who offered a $100,000 advance. RCA Victor had previously signed Jesse Belvin, Della Reese and the Isley Brothers, and Peretti and Creatore were set on making Cooke an international album artist.
Cooke's Tour, recorded on March 2 and 3, 1960, is an "adventurous travelogue" that explores various territories around the world. Glen Osser wrote arrangements and conducted the album's orchestra, which was an R&B rhythm section and a fifteen-piece string ensemble. Cooke was closest to the album's final track, "The House I Live In," as he had just moved into his dream home in Leimert Park, Los Angeles.

Track listing

All songs arranged and conducted by Glen Osser.

Side one

  1. "Far Away Places" – 3:28
  2. "Under Paris Skies" – 3:10
  3. "South of the Border " – 3:10
  4. "Bali Ha'i" – 3:17
  5. "The Coffee Song " – 2:02
  6. "Arrivederci, Roma " – 2:47

    Side two

  7. "London by Night" – 3:34
  8. "Jamaica Farewell" – 2:32
  9. "Galway Bay" – 3:00
  10. "Sweet Leilani" – 2:48
  11. "The Japanese Farewell Song" – 2:57
  12. "The House I Live In" – 3:19

    Personnel

All credits adapted from The RCA Albums Collection liner notes.