After starting out as an unsuccessful pop singer (working under the name Vance Arnold), Joe Cocker found his niche singing rock and soul in the pubs of England with his superb backing group, the Grease Band. He hit number one in the U.K. in November 1968 with his version of the Beatles' "A Little Help from My Friends." His career really took off after he sang that song at Woodstock in August 1969…
Greatest Hits features most, but not all (no "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" or "It's a Sin When You Love Somebody"), of his biggest hits from the early '70s. Nevertheless, there's plenty of fine music here, making the record a solid compilation.
The Album Recordings 1984-2007 is an impressive Joe Cocker 14CD box. The new collection comprises all of Cocker’s studio albums released from 1984 – 2007 [along with 'Live'] and a newly compiled bonus CD of ‘Related Recordings’ that includes rarities, additional content from European deluxe discs, US Album versions and songs found on tribute albums for the likes of Elton John and Bruce Springsteen. The Album Recordings 1984-2007 is packaged as a clamshell box containing a 16-page booklet. All CDs come housed in replica cardboard sleeves. The albums included in this box are: 1. Civilised Man (1984) 2. Cocker (1986) 3. Unchain My Heart (1987) 4. One Night Of Sin (1989) 5. Joe Cocker (Live) (1990) 6. Night Calls (1992) 7. Have A Little Faith (1994) 8. Organic (1996) 9. Across From Midnight (1997) 10. No Ordinary World (1999) 11. Respect Yourself (2002) 12. Heart & Soul (2004) 13. Hymn For My Soul (2007) 14. Related Recordings (Exclusive Bonus Disc).
Calling something "The Ultimate Collection" is fraught with problems – usually of omission. Certainly over these two discs – containing a total of 30 tracks – there are plenty of fine moments from some of Joe Cocker's earliest material, such as "The Letter," "With a Little Help From My Friends," "Delta Lady," "She Came In Through the Bathroom Window," etc. Also present are virtually all of his later hits and some that should have been: "Up Where We Belong," "You Are So Beautiful," "Many Rivers to Cross," "Leave Your Hat On," etc. But there's just too much that isn't here. Where are "Bird on a Wire" and "Hitchcock Railway," for starters? Nonetheless, given the length of Cocker's career, this is not an unusual complaint. One thing that is unique about this set – other than the fine sound – is the sequencing that crisscrosses over the breadth and chronology of Cocker's discography.
The turbulent life of soul and blues singer, the late Joe Cocker. A former gas fitter from Sheffield , catapulted to world stardom in 1969 at Woodstock with his legendary performance of the Beatles song,"A Little Help from My Friends". But in the early 1970s, Joe Cocker's inner demons nearly killed him…
After his one-album stint at Asylum Records with Luxury You Can Afford in 1978, Joe Cocker was without a record label until 1981, when he signed to Island Records. Island head Chris Blackwell took him to the Compass Point studios in the Bahamas, where he recorded a 12" single, "Sweet Little Woman"/"Look What You've Done," released in May 1981, then continued working on a full-length album. When that album, Sheffield Steel, appeared a year later, listeners could be forgiven for imagining, during the instrumental portions, that they were hearing not a Joe Cocker disc, but rather a Robert Palmer record.