"The last of his studio albums released in his lifetime, this album offers a lot of superb material, pointing in several directions. The central number is, the earth-shattering "A Change Is Gonna Come," with its soaring gospel sound and the most elaborate production of any song in Cooke's output. The rousing though less substantial title track also came out of a gospel tradition, as does Cooke's treatment of "Tennessee Waltz," which is one of his finest pop adaptations. "Falling in Love" was the work of Harold Battiste, an old friend of Cooke's who had recently re-entered his orbit and was partly responsible for the New Orleans sound that was evident on "Rome Wasn't Built in a Day" and "Meet Me at Mary's Place." And then there's "Good Times," a bittersweet, introspective party number. This was the first album that Cooke recorded under his new contract, which gave him greater freedom in choosing repertory and sidemen, and so it offered a lot of pent-up emotional and musical expression." (Bruce Eder, Allmusic)
