Joe Cocker: Hymn For My Soul
Is this Joe Cocker's best work in years?
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Monday, 14, May 2007 05:31
Parlaphone, released on May 14th.
In a nutshell.
Husky, soulful, funky, accomplished, dad pleasing
What's it all about?
The Sheffield born singing sensation returns three years after his last offering with Hymn For My Soul - ten songs and 37 minutes of a variety of soul, blues, jazz and rock number all given the legendary, iconic and unmistakeable Joe Cocker treatment.
Hymn For My Soul sees Cocker team up with the highly respected producer Ethan Johns, who has produced for, among others, Rufus Wainwright, Emmylou Harris, Ryan Adams, Razorlight, Kings of Leon and Ray LaMontague.
Ethan is the son of legendary producer Glyn Johns, famous for working with the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Eric Clapton. Ethan notoriously prides himself in retaining a traditional and raw sound to his work and his influence is certainly noticeable on Hymn For My Soul as Cocker puts his own distinctive touch on classic songs by a number of legendary artists including Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder and George Harrison.
Who's it by?
Amazingly Hymn For My Soul is Joe Cocker's 22nd studio album in a career that is still going strong 38 years after he released his first album back in 1969. Together with the influence of Ethan Johns the pair must have called in a number of favours to assemble one of the finest groups of session musicians seen on an album for quite some time.
Among them is drummer Jim Keltner who has played with Bob Dylan and John Lennon and is universally viewed as the best session drummer in the world. James Gadson, who produced Bill Withers classic albums for soul star Bill Withers also joins the all star backing cast as an additional drummer.
Tom Petty's pianist Benmont Tench, former Jethro Tull keyboard player Dave Palmer, bassist Bob Babbitt and Hammond organist Mike Finnigan who also played with Jimi Hendrix on Electric Ladyland, also all appear on the album.
Completing the A-list line-up on backing vocals are Merry Clayton, once of Ray Charles's Raelettes and the female vocalist on the classic Stones' track Gimme Shelter, and Tata Vega, Julia Walters and her brother Oren Walters.
As an example.
"Ring them bells, ye heathen / From the city that dreams / Ring them bells from the sanctuaries / Cross the valleys and streams," Ring Them Bells
"If I fall short, if I don't make the grades / If your expectations aren't met in me today / There is always tomorrow, or tomorrow night / Hang in there baby, sooner or later / I know ill get it right," Beware of Darkness
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys?
The album ticks all the boxes for the Grammy's of old, yet it is hard to see a place for a blues album amidst all the teenyboppers and R&B stars that tend to dominate the modern awards.
That is not to say this album will not be received well and with a voice like Cocker's he would have to pick some pretty horrific tracks to cover for it not to be critically acclaimed across the mainstream music press.
What the others say
"I can hardly begin to tell you how good I think Hymn For My Soul is. Let's just say it's the most emotional and even spiritual project I've worked on in a long while." Ethan Johns
So is it any good?
Joe Cocker's latest offering is a classy, soulful and accomplished piece of work from start to finish - and despite being a relatively short 37 minutes in length it is without doubt very good value for money.
From the opening bars of You Haven't Done Nothin', complete with a superb saxophonist performance from Tom Scott, all the way through to gospel-esque title track, the album is infectious and Cocker's voice as raw and powerful as ever.
In addition to the above-mentioned tracks the rest of the material on Hymn For My Soul spans the decades. Cocker lends his trademark voice to cover the classic Bob Dylan track Ring Them Bells and George Harrison's Beware Of The Darkness. There is also a fine version of the Credence Clearwater Revival song Long As I Can See The Light.
But the highlight of the album is undoubtedly the sensational version of Daniel Moore's song Just Pass It On, complete with a Swahili backing choir. The resulting four minutes and 39 seconds can only be described as stunning - Cocker's howling vocals are complemented perfectly by the choir singing in their native language. Cocker had originally been handed the song three years ago but shelved it because he felt it was missing something, but with the influence of Ethan Johns the song has been transformed into an uplifting masterpiece.
As well as lending his unique voice to cover tracks written by soul legends Solomon Burke (Don't Give Up On Me) and Percy Mayfield (Rivers Invitation), Cocker also includes a two selections from the recent past - namely those by New Orleans group The Subdudes (One Word (Peace)) and Andy Fairweather-Low (the titular Hymn For My Soul).
Cocker has said that he wanted Hymn For My Soul to be a complete record and not just a string of singles - and with this offering he has certainly achieved his goal. The album is sung, played and produced to a phenomenally high standard, and it is without doubt Cocker's best work in years.
The delicately soulful feel maintained throughout the record makes Hymn For My Soul the perfect album to put on at lazy Sunday summer afternoon barbeque this year, as Joe Cocker demonstrates once again he is stall going strong as he approach's his twilight years.
8.5/10
Jamie Reid