Ultimate Collection

Performer: Joe Cocker
Artist: Bryan Adams; Randy Newman; Jimmy Page; Clarence Clemons; Billy Preston; Jimmy Cliff; Rita Coolidge; Sly & Robbie
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Personnel includes: Joe Cocker (vocals); Jimmy Page, Brenda Holloway, Leon Russell, Rita Coolidge, Bonnie Bramlett, Jimmy Cliff, Adrian Belew, Sly Dunbar, Robbie Shakespeare, Clarence Clemons, Billy Preston, Bryan Adams, Randy Newman. Producers include: Denny Cordell, Leon Russell, Jim Price, Wilton Felder, Chris Brackwell. Compilation producer: Bill Levenson. Recorded between 1974 & 2000. Includes liner notes by JP Bean. This anthology does as fine a job of covering the peaks of Joe Cocker's career as any single disc possibly could. Things kick off with Cocker's studio version of the Beatles' "With a Little Help From My Friends," which helped make him a star via his Woodstock performance. Thereafter, Cocker made his name as a gritty, soulful interpreter of material from the pop/rock world. With the guidance of then-bandleader Leon Russell, the Boxtops' "The Letter," the Fab Four's "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window," and others were transformed into sweaty, soul-drenched wonders. In the 1980s, hard-living Cocker cleaned up his act both personally and musically, scoring a hit with the romantic pop ballad "Up Where We Belong," a duet with Jennifer Warnes that was the theme for the film AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN. He hadn't lost his tawdry touch, though, as proven by his popular '86 version of the randy Randy Newman tune "You Can Leave Your Hat On," also featured in another successful '80s film (9 1/2 WEEKS). ULTIMATE COLLECTION closes with a 2000 version of Leonard Cohen's "First We Take Manhattan," proof that over 30 years down the road, Cocker hadn't lost his knack for picking great material.

Q (2/04, p.112) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[T]racks like 'Your Are So Beautiful' and 'You Can Leave Your Hat On' are very statuesque indeed."

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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