Joe Cocker Organic CD

Personnel: Joe Cocker (vocals); Dean Parks (acoustic guitar); Johnny Lee Schell (electric guitar); Tony Joe White (electric guitar, harmonica); Greg Leisz (dobro); Sid Page, Peter Kent (violin); Evan Wilson, Denyse Buffum (viola); Rudy Stein (cello); Suzy Katayama (cello, accordion); Randy Newman (piano); Chris Stainton (piano, Wurlitzer piano); Billy Preston (Hammond B-3 organ); Jamie Muhoberac (Hammond B-3, synthesizer); Darryl Jones, James "Hutch" Hutchinson (bass); Kenny Aronoff, Jim Keltner (drums, percussion); Joe Porcaro (percussion); Merry Clayton, Portia Griffin, Myrna Smith, Maxine Sharp (background vocals).
Recorded at Ocean Way, Hollywood, California.
Following the disastrous failure of his 550 Music debut, Have a Little Faith, Joe Cocker tried what must have seemed like a couple of surefire commercial ideas: first, hire Don Was, who has made a career out of organizing salvage operations on stars of the '60s and '70s, as producer; and second, do an "unplugged" session, albeit under another name. Thus, Organic found Cocker revisiting his interpretations of such songs as "Delta Lady" and "You Are So Beautiful" in more stripped-down arrangements. The remakes made up about half the album, with another quarter consisting of previously uncovered covers like Van Morrison's "Into the Mystic" and Randy Newman's "Sail Away," and another quarter given over to new songs. The old favorites were not given interesting enough re-imaginings to justify the effort; the new songs added nothing to Cocker's repertoire, and the new covers were problematic. You wondered why Cocker had neglected to sing Morrison's material until you heard "Into the Mystic" and realized the reason probably was that Morrison is so much better a singer with a similar style. And Cocker, who is more an emotional singer than an intellectual one, typically sang "Sail Away" without a trace of the irony that gives the song its meaning. So, while Organic was certainly a listenable Cocker album containing many songs associated with him over the years, it failed to redefine the artist in the way it seemed intended to do. And it became his second straight album to miss the charts, which boded ill for his recording career, at least on a major label. ~ William Ruhlmann
As the title implies, this album by the veteran British R&B belter forsakes slick, electronic studio sheen in favor of a simpler acoustic approach. Basically we're talking Cocker Unplugged. Squarely aimed at the boomers that are Cocker's prime demographic, ORGANIC features stripped-down versions of some of his biggest hits, including "You Are So Beautiful," "Delta Lady," and "You Can Leave Your Hat On," and new versions of songs by boomer icons like Bob Dylan ("Dignity") and Van Morrison ("Into The Mystic"). It's a marketing man's dream. Don Was, naturally, produced it.Q (12/96, p.124) - 3 Stars (out of 5) - "...a Don Was-produced album that nudges into the unplugged arena--a place that leaves him plenty of room to move....the main news is that Joe Cocker still misuses his larynx to great effect."