With a Little Help from My Friends [Remaster] (CD - 1969)

Personnel: Joe Cocker (vocals); David Cohen, Tony Visconti, Jimmy Page, Henry McCullough, Albert Lee (guitar); Chris Stainton (piano, organ, bass); Tommy Eyre (piano, organ); Artie Butler (piano); Matthew Fisher, Steve Winwood (organ); Carol Kaye (bass); Paul Humphries, Clem Cattini, Mike Kelly, B.J. Wilson, Kenny (drums); Brenda Holloway, Merry Clayton, Madeline Bell, Sunny Hightower, Rosetta Hightower, Su Wheetman, Sunny Wheetman (background vocals).

Producer: Denny Cordell.

Reissue producer: Bill Levenson.

Principally recorded at Olympic and Trident Studios, London, England in 1968.

Originally released on A&M Records (3109).

Includes liner notes by J.P. Bean.

Joe Cocker's debut album holds up extraordinarily well across four decades, the singer's performance bolstered by some very sharp playing, not only by his established sideman/collaborator Chris Stainton, but also some top-notch session musicians, among them drummer Clem Cattini, Steve Winwood on organ, and guitarists Jimmy Page and Albert Lee, all sitting in. It's Cocker's voice, a soulful rasp of an instrument backed up by Madeline Bell, Sunny Weetman and Rossetta Hightower that carries this album and makes "Change in Louise," "Feeling Alright," "Just Like a Woman," "I Shall Be Released," and even "Bye Bye Blackbird" into profound listening experiences. But the surprises in the arrangements, tempo, and approaches taken help make this an exceptional album. Tracks like "Just Like a Woman," with its soaring gospel organ above a lean textured acoustic and light electric accompaniment, and the guitar-dominated rendition of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" -- the formal debut of the Grease Band on record -- all help make this an exceptional listening experience. The 1999 A&M reissue not only includes new notes and audiophile-quality sound, but also a pair of bonus tracks, the previously unanthologized B-sides "The New Age of Lily" and "Something Coming On," deserved better than the obscurity in which they previously dwelt. ~ Bruce Eder

Joe Cocker's debut built on the promise of the title track, a hit single the previous year, which had introduced the world to the singer's astonishing blues rasp of a voice and remains to this day one of the finest Beatles cover versions committed to vinyl. The vocal pyrotechnics of that song are muted on the rest of the album, with Cocker demonstrating his fine handling of more subtle material such as Bob Dylan's "Just Like A Woman" and "I Shall Be Released." Backed by his own seasoned Grease Band and session players Jimmy Page and Steve Winwood, Cocker sings with a soulful intensity that shone all too briefly during his wayward career. minimize