Our friends at ABKCO in New York continue their reissue programme of material recorded for Sam Cooke’s SAR label with this mid-priced Valentinos anthology. The group – Bobby, Curtis, Harry, Friendly Jr and Cecil Womack – recorded two gospel 45s for SAR as the Womack Brothers before turning secular for five R&B singles as the Valentinos, including the original version of ‘It’s All Over Now’, as covered by the Rolling Stones. Compiled by Grammy-winner Teri Landi, the collection comprises those 14 tracks, two titles first issued on ABKCO’s “Sam Cooke’s SAR Records Story” in 1994 and seven previously unreleased masters – all produced by Sam Cooke between June 1961 and September 1964. The booklet contains a scholarly essay by Bill Dahl drawn on interviews with several members of the group, plus detailed track annotations, including recording dates and session musicians.