I was a fan of the Allman Brothers Band. But, when I’m No Angel came out in 1987, my focus turned to Gregg Allman and his guitar playing gifts. “I’m No Angel” peaked at Number 49 on the Billboard Hot 100, but reached Number 1 on Billboard‘s Mainstream Rock Tracks. I remember this song getting a lot of airplay on local radio stations at the time. Ironically, “I’m No Angel” was covered by Cher, Allman’s former wife.
A couple of years later, I bought a copy of Joe Cocker’s One Night of Sin (1989). It contains the hit single “When The Night Comes” (US #11), which was Cocker’s last US Top 40 hit and played at the end credits of Tom Selleck‘s crime drama An Innocent Man of that same year. I’m also fond of “I’ve Got to Use My Imagination.” “I’ve Got to Use My Imagination” is a song first recorded by Gladys Knight & the Pips. Released from the hit album, Imagination, which was their debut album with Buddah Records, the song was a success on the soul and pop charts. It spent a week at number one on the Hot Soul Singles chart in early 1974 and peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming one of their highest charting songs. The song eventually sold more than one million copies. I like Joe Cocker’s version a lot, too.
I don’t know why I gravitate to music from this era. Perhaps it’s the quality of the music–pre-synthesizers and drum machines–and the wonderful sound. Are you a fan of Gregg Allman and Joe Cocker? GRADE: A (for both)
TRACK LIST:
| 1 | I’m No Angel | 3:42 | |
| 2 | Anything Goes | 4:12 | |
| 3 | Evidence Of Love | 4:34 | |
| 4 | Yours For The Asking | 3:16 | |
| 5 | Things That Might Have Been | 4:26 | |
| 6 | Can’t Keep Running | 4:02 | |
| 7 | Faces Without Names | 3:36 | |
| 8 | Lead Me On | 4:44 | |
| 9 | Don’t Want You No More | 2:31 | |
| 10 | It’s Not My Cross To Bear | 5:37 |
TRACK LIST:
| 1 | When The Night Comes Written-By – Adams*, Warren*, Vallance | |
| 2 | I Will Live For You Written-By – Stephen Allen Davis | |
| 3 | I’ve Got To Use My Imagination Written-By – B. Goldberg*, G. Goffin | |
| 4 | Letting Go Written-By – C. Midnight*, J. Scott | |
| 5 | Just To Keep From Drowning Written-By – M. Chapman*, S. A. Davis | |
| 6 | Unforgiven (Bonus Track) Written-By – K. Lauber*, T. Hardin | |
| 7 | Another Mind Gone Written-By – Stainton*, J. Levine*, Cocker | |
| 8 | FeverWritten-By – E. Cooley*, J. Davenport | |
| 9 | You Know We’re Gonna Hurt Written-By – N. Gilder*, R. Boston | |
| 10 | Bad Bad Sing Written-By – C. Midnight*, D. Hartman | |
| 11 | I’m Your Man Written-By – Leonard Cohen | |
| 12 | One Night Of Sin Written-By – D. Bartholomew*, P. King |
I loved The Allman Brothers but never followed Gregg’s solo career. I liked some Joe Crocker but not a huge fan. I liked his first couple albums and his work with Leon Russell.
Steve, Joe Cocker’s career tailed off after ONE NIGHT OF SIN. Gregg Allman’s career ended abruptly.
Of course!
I was really sad when Allman Brothers were stopped.
And Joe Cocker has been and still is one of my top favourites. Mad Dogs and Englishmen with its lineup of greats was one of the first LP sets I bought.
And there are his famous concerts in Berlin and Dresden in 1988 which prepared for the fall of the Berlin Wall like Bruce Springsteen.
OT:
The city of Dresden after Joe’s death even named the site the “Cockerwiese” to honour him.
I still remember my surprise and being totally moved when Joe sang Bird on a Wire – another one of my favourites.
Wolf, Joe Cocker’s unusual voice gained him fans…and a lot of people who didn’t like his singing style.
I always liked Gregg Allman with or without the Allman Brothers. But I never understood the appeal of Joe Cocker.
Michael, I know a lot of people who can’t stand Joe Cocker’s voice. Cocker is an acquired taste.
I’m with Wolf; I’m a big Joe Cocker fan.
I got a chance to see him at JazzFest in New Orleans several years ago. I was with Jeff and Jackie Meyerson and Wilba and it was Hades hot but the show was well worth it.
Yeah, Beth, I was just going to mention that too. We saw Joe one other time, here, but the Jazzfest concert was a good one. I have a couple of his CDs, including the mAD DOGS AND ENLISHMEN tour with Leon Russell.
Never particularly a fan of Gregg Allman, but more not NOT a fan, as I just don’t know all that much of his music. I have liked the Allman Brothers music I’ve heard. By coincidence, at the Jimmy Buffett concert on Tuesday, his bandmate Mac McAnally played Duane Allman’s “Little Martha” while the rest of the band took an offstage break.
Jeff, both Gregg Allman and Joe Cocker had tragic lives, but made great music.
Beth, it was Hades Hot here in Western NY last week with high humidity. Now, the temps are in the 70s and it’s way more comfortable. I was an early fan of Joe Cocker, but I never saw him in concert, alas! Katie gave Diane a copy of FLYING SOLO by Linda Holmes for her Birthday. Katie and Diane are both big fans of Linda Holmes. Katie went to the Linda Holmes Book Talk in Boston and got her copy signed!
I am (anoher) someone who likes rather than loves both Allman’s and Cocker’s music. (Recently had a similar conversation with my sister, as to why I wouldn’t recognize a more-obscure Kate Bush song…her work I’ve heard pleasant enough, but I’ve never been moved to buy an album.).
As the Moody Blues and (much better) the Byrds might remind you, synthesizers were certainly around in the Cocker/Allman era, even if they weren’t using them much! Drum machines less prevalent…unless one counted, say, Joe Morello…(precision, though not mechanically in the pejorative sense). Gina Schock of the Go-Go’s perhaps rock’s most obvious example.
Todd, rock and pop music shifted in the 1990s to more synthetic sounds. More synthesizers, more drum machines, more computer generated sound effects. Sometimes I like to hear real music played on real instruments by real artists.
Like them both, without being a huge fan of either. My favorite Joe Cocker memory comes from 1970, when we watched the Woodstock movie in the theater. There was an older couple (undoubtedly younger than we are now) sitting behind us, and as Cocker stagger-strutted around the stage singing “With a Little Help from My Friends,” one of them audibly said, “That poor man.”
Jeff, watching Joe Cocker age was not a pretty sight. He died of lung cancer at the age of 70.