Joe Cocker: Mad Dogs & Englishmen

Joe Cocker was a spastic, possessed singer who had so much soul. Mad Dogs and Englishmen is a documentary about the singer and his band composed of many rock and roll greats including Leon Russell, Bobby Keys, Claudia Lennear, Rita Collidge, Chris Stanton and Bobby Jones, to name a few. The film is a creation of its time, capturing the hair and the clothing of 1970 when it was filmed in Berlin.

The hard whiskey and cigarette voice lost some pitch over the years, but he continued to tour. This documentary shows Cocker and his best.

The stage is filled with singers and musicians and I wanted so much to be with them then.

Mad Dogs and Englishmen cover soul and R&B classics and some Beatles music. The covers depart from the originals and become unique interpretations of the songs we thought we knew well already.

Cocker's hard-edged voice and his spell-binding movements made him the brightest light of that moment in Rock and Roll. The songs are still among my favorites.

RIP.