Organic

Performer: Joe Cocker
Artist: Randy Newman; Merry Clayton; Billy Preston; Darryl Jones; Tony Joe White
Engineer: Rik Pekkonen
Producer: Don Was
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Personnel: Joe Cocker (vocals); Dean Parks (acoustic guitar); Johnny Lee Schell (electric guitar); Tony Joe White (electric guitar, harmonica); Greg Leisz (dobro); Sid Page, Peter Kent (violin); Evan Wilson, Denyse Buffum (viola); Rudy Stein (cello); Suzy Katayama (cello, accordion); Randy Newman (piano); Chris Stainton (piano, Wurlitzer piano); Billy Preston (Hammond B-3 organ); Jamie Muhoberac (Hammond B-3, synthesizer); Darryl Jones, James "Hutch" Hutchinson (bass); Kenny Aronoff, Jim Keltner (drums, percussion); Joe Porcaro (percussion); Merry Clayton, Portia Griffin, Myrna Smith, Maxine Sharp (background vocals). Recorded at Ocean Way, Hollywood, California. As the title implies, this album by the veteran British R&B belter forsakes slick, electronic studio sheen in favor of a simpler acoustic approach. Basically we're talking Cocker Unplugged. Squarely aimed at the boomers that are Cocker's prime demographic, ORGANIC features stripped-down versions of some of his biggest hits, including "You Are So Beautiful," "Delta Lady," and "You Can Leave Your Hat On," and new versions of songs by boomer icons like Bob Dylan ("Dignity") and Van Morrison ("Into The Mystic"). It's a marketing man's dream. Don Was, naturally, produced it.

Q (12/96, p.124) - 3 Stars (out of 5) - "...a Don Was-produced album that nudges into the unplugged arena--a place that leaves him plenty of room to move....the main news is that Joe Cocker still misuses his larynx to great effect."

The purveyor of the most blood-curdling scream in pop music history (on his epochal cover of the Beatles "A Little Help From My Friends"), the deeply soulful Joe Cocker is also one of rock's most gifted interpretive singers, with a live show that is the stuff of legend. Cocker's stage trademark is a heaving, herky-jerky style, one cribbed from Ray Charles's passionate motions at the piano. After a breakthrough performance at Woodstock, he enjoyed a wave of success in the 1970s, peaking with the aching ballad (and eventual wedding standard) "You Are So Beautiful." After a brief hiatus, Cocker reemerged, duetting with Jennifer Warnes on "Up Where We Belong," the theme from AN OFFICER & A GENTLEMAN, one of the biggest hits of 1982.

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