Joe Cocker: Summer in the City

Lovin' Spoonful classic "Summer in the City" entered the 1990's with an electrifying cover by the great Joe Cocker, who turned into a rock/pop song that can make you dance a lot more than the original version (which is also a favorite track of mine, thanks to the third "Die Hard" movie). Cocker's take is curious, fascinating and filled with energy and one of those songs you can't stop listening due to its countless qualities. The video is somewhat interesting, appealing enough to interest viewers who weren't familiar with his works back in the day after two decades on the road.

Here, Mr. Cocker performs the song in his usual style and moves, a deeply potent voice as always and taking the song to higher levels you wouldn't expect it - if you do know Spoonful's version. Along with the singer's act there's a little story concerning a group of young charactes setting up a meeting for late at night, possibly a club with lots of dance and fun - those minor moments are distracting since it keeps interrupting the song at parts when we hear dialogues that are played louder than the instrumental parts. Add to that a great black-and-white cinematography that captures with bright lights of a sunny day where you can get the feeling of what a summer in the city really is, the city in question is New York. It's hot, very hot.

I was fascinated by this version from the very first time I heard it, long time ago actually but a lot later after its release, and only knew about the music video years later so it's not a case of a classic video in my book, the kind of thing I grew up watching up. So, in terms of music videos it isn't so impressive because it's a common routine of presenting a performance rather than developing a good story or artistic concept we can follow.

But it's very good thanks to Cocker's presence and the incredible sound where the are plenty of horns and percussion sounds in it which makes it a more dancing version of the classic song (which is was just fun to hear it with some serious tones). They don't make'em like this these days. 8/10.