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Joe Cocker: Heart & Soul

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Parlophone Records
Released: 2004.10.12
Time:
 50:41
Category: Pop/Rock
Producer(s): Jeffrey "C.J." Vanston
Rating: *********. (9/10)
Media type: CD
Web address: www.cocker.com
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2010.04.29
Price in €: 2,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] What's Going On (Benson/Cleveland/Gaye) - 5:13
[2] Chain of Fools (Covay) - 3:44
[3] One (U2) - 4:33
[4] I Who Have Nothing (Donida/Leiber/Rapetti/Stoller) - 4:01
[5] Maybe I'm Amazed (McCartney) - 3:22
[6] I Keep Forgetting (Leiber/Stoller) - 3:33
[7] I Put a Spell on You (Hawkins) - 4:31
[8] Every Kind of People (Fraser) - 4:18
[9] Love Don't Live Here Any More (Gregory) - 4:14
[10] Don't Let Me Be Lonely (Taylor) - 3:40
[11] Jealous Guy (Lennon) - 4:06
[12] Everybody Hurts (Berry/Buck/Mills/Stipe) - 7:51

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Joe Cocker - Vocals, Executive Producer

Eric Clapton - Guitar
Jeff Beck - Guitar

Bruce Eskovitz - Saxophone
John Miles - Keyboards
Jeff Baxter - Guitar
Gene Black - Guitar
Ray Brinker - Drums
Vinnie Colaiuta - Guitar, Drums
Shane Fontayne - Guitar
Bruce Gaitsch - Acoustic Guitar
Michael Landau - Guitar
Steve Lukather - Guitar
Nick Milo - Piano
Trevor Murrell - Drums
Ray Neapolitan - Bass
Rafael Padilla - Percussion
Dean Parks - Guitar
Lee Sklar - Bass, Bass Guitar
C.J. Vancston - Bass Guitar
Jeffrey "C.J." Vanston - Bass, Keyboards
Laurie Wisefield - Guitar
Michael Hart Thompson - Guitar

Robert Groslot - Conductor
Shelly Berg - Conductor
Alexander Adhami - Santoor
Jerry Goodman - Violin
Chris Botti - Trumpet
Nick Lane - Trombone
Chris Tedesco - Trumpet
Bill Churchville - Trumpet

C.C. White - Background Vocals
Bernie Barlow - Background Vocals
Terry Dexter - Background Vocals
Marjolein Cneut - Background Vocals
Jille Bemelmans - Background Vocals
Liv CanAelst - Background Vocals

Jeffrey "C.J." Vanston - Arranger, Producer, Engineer, Instrumentation
Ray Neapolitan - Executive Producer
Roger Davies - Executive Producer
Marc DeSisto - Engineer
Greg Ladanyi - Engineer
Doug Sax - Mastering
Robert Hadley - Mastering
C.J. Vancston - Audio Production
Jeri Heiden - Art Direction
Dave Carlock - Pro-Tools
Kevin Harp - Pro-Tools
Franck Vander Heijden - Arranger

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


2004 CD EMI Music Distribution 866401
2004 CD EMI Music Distribution 66402

2004 studio album features guest appearances from Eric Clapton & Jeff Beck. Includes well known tunes from the likes of Paul McCartney, Marvin Gaye, John Lennon, & REM to name a few. EMI. 2004.

Since his soulful, slowed-down version of the Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends" put him on the pop-music map, Joe Cocker has been particularly savvy in choosing outstanding material. HEART & SOUL (2005) proves Cocker's uncanny knack for picking listener favorites--and ones that suit hisdistinctively rugged, raspy voice, no less--hasn't diminished over time. Contemporary rock-radio classics take the lion's share of the set here, with an exception made for Leiber & Stoller (Cocker's stirring rendition of "I [Who Have Nothing]" is particularly notable). The emotional depth and pathos inherent in U2's "One" and R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts" are perfect vehicles for the singer's impassioned approach and sandpaper pipes, and Cocker makes every pause and melodic nuance count with his gut-wrenching delivery. John Lennon's "Jealous Guy" and Paul McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed" - two post-Beatles classics - are dusted off and given fine readingshere. His versions of "What's Going On" and "Chain of Fools" effectively go toe-to-toe with the definitive versions by Marvin Gaye and Aretha Franklin, respectively. Cocker holds up admirably, and, in the end, turns in one of his most satisfying releases in years.



When he came to popular attention in the late '60s, Joe Cocker reinvigorated and to a certain extent reinvented the art of interpretive singing at a time when it seemed to have been put in the shade permanently by the rise of singing songwriters led by Bob Dylan and the Beatles. Just when it seemed that no one but the songwriters themselves had the right to sing their songs, Cocker came along giving a gruff, pleading rendition of the Beatles' "With a Little Help From My Friends" that stood in stark contrast to Ringo Starr's happy-go-lucky version. But on his many albums, Cocker usually made sure to balance his carefully selected covers of well-known material with previously unknown tunes so that he was able to originate some material. On Heart & Soul, which marks the 60-year-old singer's return to major-label status (it was released on EMI internationally in October 2004 and on Universal's New Door imprint in the U.S. in February 2005), he doesn't bother with the new stuff; this one's all standards. The songs date from the 1950s, '60s, '70s, and '90s, and are drawn from R&B, pop/rock, and alternative rock stalwarts ranging from Screamin' Jay Hawkins to former Beatles, and contemporary acts U2 and R.E.M.. Producer Jeffrey C.J. Vanston makes a point of referencing the hit versions of the songs in the arrangements, which leave room for the talents of a who's-who of guest guitarists including Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, and Steve Lukather. Cocker's familiar growls and cracked crooning make the songs his own, as usual, and as usual he claims the material without any sense of exclusivity. He never makes you forget the accomplished singers who did these songs before (sometimes more than one of them -- "I Keep Forgettin' [Every Time You're Near]" has had seemingly definitive readings by both Chuck Jackson and Michael McDonald, while "Jealous Guy" is associated not only with its author, John Lennon, but also Roxy Music's Bryan Ferry). Nor does he necessarily improve on those singers; could anyone turn in a more memorable version of "What's Going On" than Marvin Gaye? But that isn't really the point. It's not like his version of "With a Little Help From My Friends" was better than the Beatles', either. It was just different, and it made listeners hear the song in a different way. That's what an interpretive singer does, and it's what Cocker successfully does here, too. At a time when McDonald has enjoyed a career resurgence re-singing the Motown songbook, there is clearly a place for Cocker among adult listeners and on the adult contemporary charts, and that's why he's back on the majors. He does not disappoint.

William Ruhlmann - All Music Guide



While Rod Stewart was busy chasing American songbook classics up the charts in Cole Porter drag, 60's Brit-soul colleague Joe Cocker pursued a more contemporary and compelling set of standards. The material here stretches from the soulful American r&b hits that first inspired the gritty-voiced singer to their modern progeny, emotive ballads like REM's "Everybody Hurts" and the compelling studio/live takes of U2's "One" that bookend the album. Cocker revisits old inspirations Lennon ("Jealous Guy" recast as warm, Caribbean-rhythmed r&b) and McCartney (a grand, if less inspired "Maybe I'm Amazed"), but it's on more vintage material like "Chain of Fools" and Lieber-Stoller's "I Keep Forgetting" and "I (Who Have Nothing)" that Cocker truly invests his considerable interpretative instincts. Jeff Beck solos with tasteful, typically elastic lyricism on the latter, while fellow ax icon Eric Clapton torches "I Put A Spell On You" with his own bluesy fire. But as brilliant as Cocker and his session cohorts (who also include Steve Lukather and Dean Parks) often are, their efforts sometimes skid on C.J. Vanston's way-too-slick production; aiming for the middle of the road, Vanston instead drives material like James Taylor's "Don't Let Me Be Lonely" and Cocker's otherwise lovely read of "Everybody Hurts" towards a ditch.

Jerry McCulley - Amazon.com


Joe Cocker has had an ace up his sleeve ever since he exploded into international prominence in 1969. Possessing a gloriously gritty voice and passionate performance style, this perennial blue-eyed soulster has also always displayed unerring taste in the repertoire he records. Heart and Soul is not only no exception to the rule, it may well be the best example of Cocker’s second-nature discernment when it comes to a just-right song. Here Cocker returns to the mother’s milk of his art: timeless R&B classics and well-crafted pop-rock ballads. Cocker digs deep into a song’s tissue, finding himself in the words and music of others. He visits the turf of Aretha Franklin (“Chain of Fools”), Paul McCartney (“Maybe I’m Amazed”), and John Lennon (“Jealous Guy”); pays tribute to two recently deceased legends, fellow Anglo belter Robert Palmer (“Every Kind of People”) and Nina Simone (“I Put a Spell on You”); and brings his inimitable magic to contemporary favorites like U2’s “One” and R.E.M.'s “Everybody Hurts.” It’s obvious that all these songs, whatever their vintage, are personal favorites. Assisting the ageless singer in this most heartfelt of projects are two other Brit-rock giants: guitarists Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck.

William Pearl - Barnes & Noble
 

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