SAR & Derby Album DiscographiesSam Cooke was one of the first, if not the first, major black performer to form his own record company. In addition to the record company, Cooke owned Kags Music Corporation, which published the songs Cooke, J.W. Alexander, and others wrote. In 1959, the first single from SAR was "Wade in the Water"/"He Cares" by the Soul Stirrers.
Cooke himself was recording for RCA Victor, but he was writing and producing songs for SAR. With SAR, Sam Cooke had an outlet for the side of his music that he could not express on his pop oriented RCA recordings. The music Cooke produced on SAR is harsher and more down to earth than anything he was allowed to do on RCA. The rhythm and blues on the SAR label included Johnnie Taylor, Johnnie Morisette, the Sims Twins and the Valentinos.
The Valentinos were a family group from Cleveland who had been singing gospel as the Womack
Brothers since the mid-1950s. They recorded two unsuccessful gospel singles for SAR under that name
before Sam Cooke suggested they do some secular songs. Aware of the backlash that occurred when
Sam Cooke himself went to secular songs after a long gospel career with the Soul Stirrers, the
Womacks decided their secular career would be under a different name, the Valentinos. Their first try,
"Lookin' For A Love" [SAR 132], landed them at #8 on the Billboard R&B charts (#72 pop), and
the song was again a big hit for Bobby Womack solo 12 years later, reaching #10 pop and #1 on the
Soul charts. Two years after "Lookin' For A Love," the Valentinos recorded another hit with "It's All Over
Now" [SAR 152, #21 R&B, #94 pop]. Almost as soon as they recorded it, they got word that the Rolling
Stones wanted to cover it. Bobby Womack, who had penned the song with his sister-in-law Shirley
Womack, was at first put off by this development, but the royalty checks helped smooth things over.
The Sims Twins (Bobby & Kenneth Sims), were forerunners of Sam and Dave with "Soothe Me" [SAR 117, #4 R&B, #42 pop]. They also recorded Sam Cooke's song "That's Where It's At". Johnnie Morisette recorded the hit "Meet Me at the Twistin' Place" [SAR 126, #18 R&B, #63 pop] and Johnnie Taylor cut "Rome (Wasn't Built in a Day)" [SAR 131, #112 pop], in all three cases earlier — and many would consider better — than the pop versions Sam Cooke did for RCA. Unfortunately, this more soulful side of Sam Cooke never saw the light of day on RCA until 20 years after his death, when the aborted 1963 album One Night Stand was finally released as the remarkable Sam Cooke Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963.
The singles on the SAR label included gospel by the Soul Stirrers, the Womack Brothers, and R.H. Harris & His Gospel Paraders. It appears that the only albums issued by SAR were gospel releases, with two by the Soul Stirrers, one gospel comedy album and one gospel compilation album.
In 1963, Cooke and Alexander established a pop music subsidiary label named Derby. There were two albums released on Derby, the Mel Carter album titled after his Derby hit, "When a Boy Falls in Love" and an album by Billy Preston titled 16 Yr. Old Soul. Both artists went on to bigger hits on other labels after Derby folded.
Sam Cooke was shot to death in a Los Angeles motel in 1964. SAR Records continued into early 1965 when Sam's widow dissolved the label. The SAR and Derby masters are currently owned by Abkco. It is not known for certain if any of the SAR or Derby LPs were issued in stereo, but it is unlikely.
ABKCO 2231-2 - Sam Cooke's SAR Records Story - Various Artists [1994] First issued
in a 6"X12" box set with pull out section with liner notes and discs (as shown at left). Later reissues were
in a regular sized 2-CD case (as shown at right). All tracks mono. Studio talk for the songs is on a
separate track, so you can cue up the songs without the talk. Disc 1: Wade In The Water - Soul
Stirrers (with studio talk)/I'm A Pilgrim - Soul Stirrers/Praying Ground - Soul Stirrers/Somebody - R.H.
Harris & His Gospel Paraders (with studio talk)/Sometimes - R.H. Harris & His Gospel
Paraders/Amazing Grace - Soul Stirrers/Pass Me Not - R.H. Harris & His Gospel Paraders/Oh Mary
Don't You Weep - Soul Stirrers (with studio talk)/Since I Met The Savior - Soul Stirrers/God Is Standing
By - Soul Stirrers/Lead Me To Calvary - Sam Cooke, S.R. Crain & Soul Stirrers (rehearsal)/Listen To The
Angels Sing - Soul Stirrers/Don't Leave Me Alone - Soul Stirrers/Stand By Me Father - Soul
Stirrers/Jesus Be A Fence Around Me - Soul Stirrers/Lead Me Jesus - Soul Stirrers/Free At Last - Soul
Stirrers/Looking Back - Soul Stirrers (with studio talk and false starts)/Born Again - R.H. Harris & His
Gospel Paraders/Wait On Jesus - R.H. Harris & His Gospel Paraders/Time Brings About A Change -
Soul Stirrers/Must Jesus Bear The Cross Alone - Soul Stirrers/Yield Not To Temptation - Womack
Brothers (with studio talk)/Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray - Womack Brothers/Somewhere There's A God -
Womack Brothers/That's Heaven To Me - Sam Cooke; Disc 2: You Send Me - Sam Cooke
(demo)/Just For You - Sam Cooke/Somewhere There's A Girl - Sam Cooke/You Were Made For Me -
Sam Cooke/When A Boy Falls In Love - Mel Carter/Soothe Me - Sims Twins/That's Where It's At - Sims
Twins (with studio talk)/Everybody Wants To Fall In Love - Valentinos/Keep On Loving You - Johnnie
Taylor/I'll Always Be In Love With You - Johnnie Taylor/Baby We've Got Love - Johnnie Taylor (with
studio talk)/Baby Lots Of Luck - Valentinos/Put Me Down Easy - L.C. Cooke/Rome (Wasn't Built In A
Day) - Johnnie Taylor/Greazee, Parts I & II - Billy Preston/I Gopher You - Sims Twins/You're Always On
My Mind - Johnnie Morisette (with studio talk)/I Need Lots Of Love - Johnnie Taylor/Don't Throw Your
Love On Me So Strong - Johnnie Morisette/Black Night - Johnnie Morisette/Damper - Johnnie
Morisette/You Can Run (But You Can't Hide) - Johnnie Taylor/Meet Me At The Twisting Place - Johnnie
Morisette (with studio talk)/Good Good Loving - Sims Twins/The Wobble - L.C. Cooke/Lookin' For A
Love - Valentinos (with studio talk)/I've Got Love For You - Valentinos/I've Got A Girl - Valentinos (with
studio talk)/Tired Of Living In The Country - Valentinos/It's
All Over Now - Valentinos
