R.I.P. Joe Cocker

Distinctive U.K. singer dies at age 70
By Peter Lindblad

Joe Cocker - Mad Dogs & Englishmen

"Often imitated, but never duplicated" is one phrase that comes to mind with regard to the life and career of rock and soul singer Joe Cocker.

When he sang, he sounded as if he was gargling gravel. To some, his disheveled appearance was off-putting, and his spastic stage movements made you concerned for his well-being. "This man is obviously having a seizure. Why isn't anybody helping him!?" That's what I thought to myself when I first witnessed Cocker onstage in all his glory.

The truth was, he was helping us. No singer was more affected physically by the material he was interpreting than Cocker, the son of a civil servant born and raised in Sheffield, England. His delivery on a re-calibrated version of The Beatles' classic "With a Little Help From My Friends," which soared to No. 1 in the U.K. in 1968 and led to his seminal performance at Woodstock, made audiences believe he had no chance of getting by without the assistance of those closest to him. Cocker did the impossible. He actually improved songs by The Beatles. later remaking "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" and "Something" with the blessing of Paul McCartney and George Harrison and giving them some grit and raw emotion. It was "With a Little Help From My Friends" that made him a star, though. Watch the video below. It'll send shivers up your spine.

Cocker belted out lyrics with every fiber of his being, his whole contorted body shaking as if he were possessed by demons and was conducting an exorcism right there where all could see. And he played air guitar, if you can believe it! Right there, onstage. Cultivating some flashy image was the furthest thing from his mind. He was completely lost in notes, wandering around melodies, just living inside songs and finding whatever was beautiful and human about them and translating it for tone-deaf listeners who either didn't speak the same language or couldn't see exactly what it was he'd found.

Cocker was a wild man. So was John Belushi. In some ways, they were kindred spirits. Maybe that's why Belushi's impersonation felt so right. It wasn't that he simply mimed Cocker's movements or sang just like him. Belushi captured his spirit, and he was able to do so because he, too, was untamed, unkept and out of control.

There was only one Joe Cocker, though. His death today at age 70 following a fight with cancer has left a great void. Another voice of Woodstock has been silenced. This was a working-class hero capable of taking a glossy schlock-fest like "Up Where We Belong" down into a smoke-belching factory or a garbage-strewn gutter and giving it to the downtrodden, to the hopeless romantic who experiences indignity after indignity on a daily basis and still hopes for better. And he won a Grammy with it and somebody named Jennifer Warnes.

When Cocker, so loveably gruff, grabbed hold of something like Billy Preston's "You Are So Beautiful," which rose to No. 5 in the U.S., he sounded vulnerable and tough, completely disarmed and at the same time protective of his fragile heart. Beloved and respected by other artists, Cocker performed with many of the greats and added a unique touch to stunning covers of handpicked songs that he could mold and shape into something he took ownership of, at least temporarily.

So play Mad Dogs & Englishmen to your heart's content today. Put on "Unchain My Heart" or any of the other myriad Cocker classics. Lift a glass to one of the most soulful and expressive Brit vocalists to ever get on a microphone. The world has lost one of the good ones.

DVD Review: The Rolling Stones – From The Vault – L.A. Forum – Live in '75

DVD Review: The Rolling Stones – From the Vault – L.A. Forum – Live in '75
Eagle Rock Entertainment
All Access Rating: B

The Rolling Stones - From
The Vault - L.A. Forum -
Live In '75

The relationship had been on the rocks for some time. Tired of the rampant substance abuse, a dysfunctional working environment and a sense that his ideas were falling on deaf ears, Mick Taylor broke it off in late 1974.

Into this chaos walked his replacement, Ronnie Wood, the versatile former Faces guitarist a perfect fit from the very start. At least Keith Richards seemed to think so, as Wood's ability to play both lead and rhythm equally well expanded the possibilities for The Rolling Stones, a group needing an infusion of new blood. 

"I've never found it tricky to play with Ronnie" asserts Richards in a quote included in the informative and contextual liner notes to "From the Vault – L.A. Forum – Live In '75," one of two new concert films recently mined from the The Rolling Stones' archives to kick off the band's new "From The Vault" series.

Wood debuted with the Stones on '75's "The Tour of the Americas," a long jaunt that included five nights at the L.A. Forum and a touring band that boasts Billy Preston on keyboards, with his spirited piano fills and propulsive organ, and session percussionist Ollie Brown fleshing out Charlie Watts' drumming with poly-rhythmic groove. "L.A. Forum – Live In '75" documents the fourth show from that brief residency, and although this romp through a deep 25-song set list is as uneven, if also as gloriously shambolic and messy as it is fiery, it's fascinating watching Richards and Wood play off each other, the liberties they take on a medley of "If You Can't Rock Me/Get Off Of My Cloud" performed here indicative of just how in sync and instinctual they've always been as a guitar duo.

Two-and-a-half hours of the Stones at their rip-roaring best and their self-indulgent worst, "L.A. Forum – Live In '75" is marred by maddening inconsistency, as rollicking, feverish versions of "Brown Sugar," "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)" and "Star Star" burn red hot, while Mick Jagger – mostly an energetic, whirling dervish on this night – appears so disinterested with a sluggish "Fingerprint File" that he lies down ostage for a nap before the song fades out.

Although the imagery is rather dark, the film was shot professionally, with multiple cameras adroitly chasing the action but not always framing it perfectly, this footage finds the Stones opening with raucous versions "Honky Tonk Women" and "All Down the Line," emerging onto a lotus-shaped stage that seems straight out of "Spinal Tap." But, they can't hold together ramshackle, breakneck takes on "Happy" and "Rip This Joint" that don't just veer close to going off the rails, they fly from them, break apart and end without satisfaction. And when they arrive at "You Can't Always Get What You Want," the Stones sleepily meander through it, that is until an extended jam workout where Richards and Wood heat up and produce furious, sweaty guitar interplay seems to send volts of electricity through the whole building.

Finishing strong with an inspired triple play of "Street Fighting Man," "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Sympathy for the Devil," it seems as if the Stones were revived by earlier tackling Preston's "That's Life" and "Outta Space," the dynamic Preston and Jagger playfully dancing together during "Outta Space" without a care in the world. In a celebratory mood, as opposed to those times where they play with vicious, cutting intensity and raw anger, this isn't the Stones out for blood. Still, there are moments when they build up a good head of steam, and when they do, they are untouchable. Eagle Rock Entertainment.
– Peter Lindblad