Sunday Music: 16 Most Requested Songs, Sam Cooke

Album Title: 16 Most Requested Songs, Sam Cooke

Why I Bought It: I kept running into Sam Cooke's name - in The Sound of the City, in Buddy Holly Is Alive and Well on Ganymede - and realized that I hadn't, to my knowledge, heard anything of his. So, when I saw this album on the racks someplace, I snatched it up.

What I Like (Boogie): "Twistin' the Night Away". The descriptions of the dancers, in all their variety, would be worth the price of admission. Just good, bouncy fun. Honorable Mention: "Having a Party".

What I Like (Mournful): "Chain Gang". I put this one in the same category with "Look Down" from Les Miz, maybe a notch below; this one's a little mellower.

What I Like (Comforting): "Summertime". I like several versions of this song; what sets this one apart is the ethereal sound of the backup singers.

What I Don't Like: nothing, really. "Another Saturday Night" has its troublesome aspects, but - unlike, say, Cat Stevens' version - this one gives the impression that he actually would show the hypothetical girl a good time.

Overall: This isn't as good as my other Sam Cooke album, I think, but it's... nice. Yes. That's the word for this one.

The Library of America

I've been a member of the Library of America book club for quite a long time. They do supply nice books: high-quality, a strong tendency towards completeness, and good textual apparatus and supplementary material. The biggest problem is that I've become rather leery of buying books by major (or even middle-rank) USAn authors, since LoA might well supercede my purchase with their next volume.

Anyway. I'm trying to get caught up on my finances after a long lax spell, and among the bills to be paid is that for the last two LoA volumes. I just got around to opening the boxes, and found a couple of pleasant surprises, authors I don't have and would be likely to impulse-buy if I ran across them: Ambrose Bierce (The Devil's Dictionary, plus many (all?) of his short stories and memoirs), and Shirley Jackson (the volume is titled Novels and Stories, and indicates that it includes "The Lottery", "The Haunting of Hill House", "We Have Always Lived in the Castle", and, it says, Other Stories and Sketches). I don't know when I'll get around to reading them - most LoA volumes sit on the shelves for quite a while - but I suspect it'll be sooner rather than later.

:rubs hands: