Joe CockerMad Dogs & Englishmen - The Complete Fillmore East Concerts
Universal
2005
Joe Cocker Mad Dogs and Englishmen turned 35 years old in 2005. Commemorating this birthday was the release of the limited edition Joe Cocker Mad Dogs and Englishmen – The Complete Fillmore East Concerts, documenting the entire four shows (on 6 discs) preformed on Friday, March 27th and Saturday, March 28th, 1970 at New York City’s Fillmore East Auditorium and Dance Hall.
The Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour was a hastily organized appendage to a longer tour Cocker was completing in early 1970 in support of With A Little Help From My Friends and Joe Cocker!, which were released in 1969. The subsequent months had been dedicated to a grueling promotional tour for both albums with his Grease Band, anchored by pianist Chris Stainton.
As legend would have it, Cocker arrived in Los Angeles on March 11, 1970 for some rest and relaxation after the stressful and decadently excessive tour. While in LA, Cocker intended to spend his time resting and putting together a new band. However, on March 12th, Cocker’s manager Dee Anthony revealed other plans for him. Anthony announced that he had booked a seven-week (48 nights in 52 cities) tour set to commence in eight days, on March 20th in Detroit, Michigan. Anthony further explained that should Cocker not agree to the tour, the Musician’s Union, immigration authorities, and concert promoters involved would be disinclined to allow him back in the States to tour in the future. Needless to say, Cocker was caught flat-footed, exhausted, and perhaps a bit burned out.
Seeing an opportunity to help his friend and promote his own growing front-man status, famed producer Leon Russell assembled a group made up of members Cocker’s Grease Band plus several notable studio wonks and became their musical director. After several 10-plus hour rehearsals with his new twenty-person band, Cocker and Company hit the studio, recorded the single ”The Letter/Space Captain” and then took to the road, first in Detroit, Michigan and ultimately last in San Bernardino, California.
The concert tapes that ultimately became Mad Dogs and Englishmen were derived from the four shows performed at The Fillmore East eight days into the tour. The original two-LP set assembled 14 performances from the 61 pieces performed over the Good Friday and Holy Saturday, 1970. Notable in this original release were those songs that were not included. For instance, where was “With a Little Help from My Friends?” Cocker had slayed the Woodstock crowd just eight months prior to Mad Dogs with the Beatles’ classic as well as Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released.” The Beatles’ “Something” was quite a standout from Joe Cocker! but was not included.
Fortunately, these songs have been restored on The Complete Fillmore East Concerts and digitally remastered. Also restored are compelling performances of The Band’s “The Weight,” John Sebastian’s “Darlin’ Be Home Soon,” “Further on Up the Road,” performed by Don Preston and “Let it Be,” performed by Claudia Lennear. Also added are Leon Russell’s “Hummingbird” and “Dixie Lullaby.” These pieces have the added distinction that they were not repeated in the course of the four shows. They are evidence of the loose circumstances surrounding the performances that added to the excitement of the “Rock & Roll Show.” The additional performances of previously released music plus the remaining unreleased material represents an important document of the beautifully decadent state of Rock & Roll in the early 1970s, before the music was antiseptically homogenized and stripped of its inherent danger and romance. This is bracing, exciting music newly presented with pristine sonics and rowdy ambiance.
It has never been a secret that Joe Cocker was no song writer. Save from a few compositions (“Black-Eyed Blues,” “High Time We Went”) the singer produced precious few originals of note. But that is no matter. It is Cocker’s voice, That Voice that does the trick. Cocker is a superb, no, supreme interpreter of other’s music in the same way that Frank Sinatra was, and this is no mean feat. Where Jimi Hendrix might be considered the definitive interpreter of Bob Dylan and Johnny Winter of the Rolling Stones, Joe Cocker can be considered the last word in interpreting Randy Newman, Dave Mason, Jackson Browne, and yes, the Beatles. This is demonstrated by his riveting treatments of “With a Little Help from My Friends,” “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window,” and “Something.”
While Ray Charles needs no interpretation, Cocker served splendidly as an introduction to the Genius with his covers of “Let’s Go Get Stoned,” “Sticks and Stones,” and “Drown in My Own Tears.” Ditto for Sam and Dave and Otis Redding (“When Something is Wrong with My Baby,” “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long”). It was perhaps Cocker more than anyone who reintroduced America to its musical divinity. This is Joe Cocker’s true and indispensable value.
Tracks and Personnel:
DISC 1: ((+) - Previously Unreleased Performance) Honky Tonk Women (+); Let’s Go Get Stoned (+); Sticks And Stones (+); Bird On A Wire (+); Cry Me A River (+); Superstar (featuring Rita Coolidge) (+); Delta Lady (+); Something (+); Feelin’ Alright (+); Space Captain (+); The Letter (+); Girl From The North Country (featuring Joe Cocker & Leon Russell) [from original release].
DISC 2: Honky Tonk Women (+); She Came In Thru The Bathroom Window (+); Let’s Go Get Stoned (+); Bird On A Wire (+); Cry Me A River (+); Superstar (featuring Rita Coolidge) (+); Feelin’ Alright (+); Something (+); Sticks And Stones; Blue Medley: I’ll Drown In My Own Tears, When Something Is Wrong With My Baby, I’ve Been Loving You Too Long (+).
DISC 3: Space Captain (+); Hummingbird (featuring Leon Russell) (+); Dixie Lullaby (featuring Leon Russell) (+); Delta Lady [from original release]; The Letter (+); With A Little Help from My Friends (+).
DISC 4: Honky Tonk Women [from original release]; She Came In Thru The Bathroom Window (+); Sticks And Stones [from original release]; Bird On A Wire [from original release]; Cry Me A River [from original release]; Superstar (featuring Rita Coolidge) (+); Feelin’ Alright [from original release]; Something (+); Space Captain [from original release]; Let It Be (featuring Claudia Lennear) (+); Delta Lady (+); The Letter [from original release]; Blue Medley: I’ll Drown In My Own Tears, When Something Is Wrong With My Baby, I’ve Been Loving You Too Long (+); Give Peace A Chance (+).
DISC 5: Honky Tonk Women (+); She Came In Thru The Bathroom Window [from original release]; The Weight (+); Cry Me A River (+); Further On Up The Road (featuring Don Preston) (+); Darling Be Home Soon (+); Space Captain (+); Superstar (featuring Rita Coolidge) (+); Delta Lady (+); Let’s Go Get Stoned [from original release]; Sticks And Stones (+); Let It Be (featuring Claudia Lennear) (+).
DISC 6: Feelin’ Alright (+); Something (+); The Letter (+); Give Peace A Chance [from original release]; Blue Medley: I’ll Drown In My Own Tears, When Something Is Wrong With My Baby, I’ve Been Loving You Too Long [from original release]; With A Little Help From My Friends (+).
Personnel: Joe Cocker: vocals; Leon Russell: guitar, piano; Don Preston; guitar; Bobby Keys: tenor saxophone; Jim Price: trumpet; Chris Stainton: (piano, organ); Carl Radle: bass instrument; Chuck Blackwell: drums, percussion; Jim Gordon, Jim Keltner: drums; Bobby Torres: congas; Sandy Konikoff: percussion; Daniel Moore, Donna Weiss, Matthew Moore, Pamela Polland, Rita Coolidge, Claudia Lennear, Bobby Jones, Donna Washburn, Nicole Barclay: background vocals.
This review was first published in Blogcrits.org
© Copyright, C. Michael Bailey, 2006
