I’ve been listening to Joe Cocker this week. Even though there’s some overlap on the songs included on Joe Cocker’s Greatest Hits and Joe Cocker Live, there’s enough variation in the songs and sound to hold my interest.
Joe Cocker’s best-selling song was “Up Where We Belong“, a duet with Jennifer Warnes that was Number One in the US and won a Grammy in 1983. The version on the live album captures that Grammy Winner vibe. Cocker may be best known for “With A Little Help From My Friends” and “She Came In Through the Bathroom Window,” two John Lennon / Paul McCartney songs.
I’m also fond of Cocker’s “You Are So Beautiful,” a Billy Preston and Bruce Fisher song from the early 1970s. Are you a Joe Cocker fan? Do you have a favorite song? GRADE: A (for both)
TRACK LIST:
| With A Little Help From My Friends | 4:05 | ||
| Woman To Woman | 4:26 | ||
| The Jealous Kind | 3:48 | ||
| Black-Eyed Blues | 4:37 | ||
| I Think It’s Going To Rain | 3:55 | ||
| Cry Me A River | 3:50 | ||
| You Are So Beautiful | 2:39 | ||
| Feeling Alright | 4:12 | ||
| Delta Lady | 2:51 | ||
| Darling Be Home Soon | 4:49 | ||
| High Time We Went | 4:25 | ||
| The Letter | 4:20 |
TRACK LIST:
| Feelin’ Alright | 4:39 | ||
| Shelter Me | 4:24 | ||
| Hitchcock Railway | 3:56 | ||
| Up Where We Belong | 4:32 | ||
| Guilty | 2:40 | ||
| You Can Leave Your Hat On | 4:18 | ||
| When The Night Comes | 4:51 | ||
| Unchain My Heart | 5:48 | ||
| With A Little Help From My Friends | 9:10 | ||
| You Are So Beautiful | 2:42 | ||
| The Letter | 4:28 | ||
| She Came In Through The Bathroom Window | 2:26 | ||
| High Time We Went | 7:38 | ||
| What Are You Doing With A Fool Like Me | 4:48 | ||
| Living In The Promiseland | 3:55 |
My favorites are from Joe’s Mad Dogs & Englishmen era where Leon Russell played keyboards and did a lot of the producing: “Cry Me A River”, “Delta Lady”, “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window”, and, of course, “With A Little Help From My Friends”. I think the big irony of Joe’s career was that, while he initially broke through in the blues scene (and had a gravelly blues voice), he ended up being best known for pop ballads like “Up Where We Belong” and “You Are So Beautiful”. So unpredictable are the twists of fate & fame.
Deb, I was surprised to learn Joe Cocker released 22 studio albums before he died in 2014.
Not really a fan. Given a choice between “You Are So Beautiful” and fingernails across a chalkboard, I’d probably choose the latter.
Fred, I usually experience Joe Cocker’s music in small doses.
I love his live version of “The Letter” and the Woodstock rendition of “With a Little Help From My Friends.”
We saw him in concert twice:
May 2008 at Jazzfest in New Orleans, with Beth Fedyn, who is a big fan.
July 2012 opening for Huey Lewis at Jones Beach.
Let me add that, by coincidence, I was listening to another Greatest Hits collerction – THE BEST OF JOE COCKER: The Millenium Collection (20th Century Masters) last week:
Feelin’ Alright
With a Little Help From My Friends
Delta Lady
She Came in Through the Bathroom Window
Cry Me a River (live)
The Letter (live)
High Time We Went
You Are So Beautiful
The Jealous Kind
Many Rivers to Cross
Up Where We Belong (with Jennifer Warnes)
Jeff, I might have THE BEST OF JOE COCKER: THE MILLENNIUM COLLECTION around here somewhere. I’m glad it includes Cocker’s biggest hit: “Up Where We Belong” with Jennifer Warnes.
Jeff, I’m with you on “The Letter.” Plenty of Cocker excitement in that song!
Never listened to him much but I liked what I did hear.
Jerry, like Rod Stewart, Joe Cocker had a distinctive voice that was polarizing–some peopled loved it, others hated it!
As Jeff mentioned, I am a big Joe Cocker fan.
Despite the brutal heat at that Jazz Fest, it was well worth it.
He did CRY ME A RIVER and brought the house down. So good!!!
I’m a big fan too!
As Deb wrote Joe’s Mad Dogs & Englishmen era where Leon Russell played was sensational, especially the Woodstock performance.
I never had the chance to see him live though he did many concerts in Germany but watched many of his shows on TV or DVD or now the internet.
Wolf, Leon Russell was an underrated musician.
Maybe I have the title wrong, but I think it’s “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood,” an Animals cover! I’m surprised it’s not on either album! One of my favorites by Joe!
Bob, I’ll have to check that cover song out!