Record of the day: Joe Cocker, “Sheffield Steel”

Joe Cocker
“Sheffield Steel” (Cd Island 842476-2)

After the great successes of the 60s (above all the classic “Mad Dogs and Englishmen”) Joe Cocker found himself in a period of great artistic and personal confusion, churning out mediocre albums to fulfill contracts, drowning himself in alcohol, spending most of his life on endless tours and going through various problems with managers and record companies that almost led him to bankruptcy; in 1978 the album “Luxury You Can Afford” had marked the lowest point of his production, after which several years of silence followed.

In 1981 Cocker fortunately met Island label boss Chris Blackwell, who took him to Nassau to the legendary Compass Point Studios, where he had already made excellent productions for Grace Jones, John Martyn and Gwen Guthrie.
The famous team of resident musicians (including the infallible rhythm section of Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare,
(the keyboards of Wally Badarou, the guitars of Mickey «Mao» Chung and Barry Reynolds, the percussions of Uzziah «Sticky» Thompson) had created the so-called Jamaican Sound, with refined arrangements full of funky grooves, combined with tasty reggae spices performed with a typically tropical relaxed approach.

Together with the famous engineer Alex Sadkin, responsible for the album’s excellent sound quality, Blackwell chose for Cocker’s voice a group of excellent songs by first-rate songwriters such as Bob Dylan, Randy Newman, Brenda Russell, Jimmy Webb, Steve Winwood, Jimmy Cliff, Andy Fraser of Free and Leo Nocentelli of the Meters.
With a wallet of this quality and Cocker’s newfound personal serenity, free from the demon of the bottle in those years,
The result was a great album that brought Joe back into the good graces of the critics but unfortunately did not achieve great commercial success.

It’s hard to understand why the audience remained indifferent given that the songs are catchy, very well arranged, perfect for dancing and sung in an amazing way. Cocker proves here to be one of the best white soul singers ever, reaching peaks of vocal intensity truly worthy of the great African-American interpreters of the genre both in very famous pieces like “Marie” and “Many Rivers To Cross” and in the little-known Dylanian jewel “Seven Days”.

Carlo Boccadoro, composer and conductor, was born in Macerata in 1963. He lives and works in Milan. He collaborates with soloists and orchestras in different parts of the world. He is the author of numerous books on musical subjects.

This text is taken from “Lunario della musica: Un disco per ogni giorno dell’anno” published by Einaudi, courtesy of the author and the publisher.