When you’ve got a voice that could make the proverbial phonebook sound soulful, the theory is that you only need the right producer and musicians to come up with the goods. Ironically, the man at the helm this time around, Ethan Johns (Ryan Adams, Ray LaMontagne), is doing something his illustrious dad Glyn never managed to.
He does it well enough. The likes of Jim Keltner, Benmont Tench and Bob Babbitt handle the instrumental chores, while the allimportant backing singers were recruited at Billy Preston’s funeral and include Merry Clayton of Gimme Shelter fame. After a stumbling start on Stevie Wonder’s You Haven’t Done Nothin’, joltin’ Joe gets back on track and turns out a cohesive album that ticks most of the boxes for Cocker fans. Highlights come late in the album in closing pair Ring Them Bells and Andy Fairweather Low’s title song.
The fact that Cocker reached his 60s is a surprise. This album isn’t. Then again, any obvious change at this stage of his career is likely to be detrimental, so be grateful that this is business as usual.
