Legends are renowned for surprsing you
when you least expect it. That’s why they’re legends,
l suppose. A dozen years after Woodstock and 10 spent in a drunken
wilderness, this album could justifiably have been called Standing
Here (Just), when it was laid down in 1981, just before his best album
in years (Sheffield Steel) and his No. 1 duet with Jennifer Warnes,
‘Up Where We Belong’. On stage in Denver, Cooker got down
to what he does best, belting out other people’s hits and making
them his own. Tracks included from Sheffield Steel include ‘Sweet
Lil Woman’ and ‘Seven Days‘, but older hits such
as ‘The Letter‘, ‘You Are So Beautiful‘ and,
of course, ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’, stand
out. BJ Wilson (of Procol Harum fame), who’d played on the studio
take of ‘With A Little Help’ joins in live, but the biggest
surprise is the omission of ‘Delta Lady’. Still, the set
marks the phoenix-like rise from the ashes of a British rock institution
and the greatest white soul singer the world has ever known. |
© Joe Cocker & Lucie Lebens - Tous droits réservés
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