Joe Cocker's comeback album is not the disaster his recent debacle in L.A. (during which he was too drunk to perform) was. Whatever his difficulties as a live performer, on record Cocker is far from a lost cause. Admittedly he is not the singer he once was: His voice is ravaged almost beyond belief. But this is what makes I Can Stand a Little Rain so moving. It is a record about pain and decline which, to make its points, cruelly exposes and exploits Cocker's damaged condition. One example of this is "You Are So Beautiful," a Billy Preston song which, at its end, demands that Cocker reach two high notes he doesn't have a prayer of hitting. He stretches, struggles, quavers and fails; his failure makes the track and the listener hurt, which is precisely the record's intended effect. This is no rave-up in the Mad Dogs and Englishmen manner — the album aches. Far from being a rocker, I Can Stand a Little Rain is slow, moody, depressed and depressing — and deeply affecting. Even the titles of the tracks reflect Cocker's meteoric rise and fall, his confusion and his breakdown: "Performance," "Guilty," "Put Out the Light," "Don't Forget Me." The lyrics are more explicit: "I fell down on my face / I tripped and missed my start / I fell and fell alone." "How come I never do what I'm supposed to do?" "It takes a whole lot o' medicine, darlin' / For me to pretend that I'm somebody else." The painful pertinence of the material is remarkable because it was written by so many different people (Allen Toussaint, Jimmy Webb, Randy Newman, Harry Nilsson and others). Two cuts attempt to recapture the manic Cocker of old, but both founder for want of spirit. "Put Out the Light" (the single) is cumbersomely arranged, and "I Get Mad" literally sounds as if Cocker is vomiting. More typical of the album is the title track by producer/arranger Jim Price and Webb's "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress." The first of these deals with Cocker's bid to return to the limelight and climaxes as Cocker groans,. "And when I'm on my last goround / I can stand another test." Webb's number is the best on the album, an extended metaphor which, if it originally referred to love, in this context has to do with success. Webb's bland piano and the lovely string arrangement are in jarring contrast to Cocker's tormented vocal, and the discrepancy between voice and arrangement further accentuates Cocker's alienation. A note on the jacket, "Special Thanks to Joe Cocker," suggests that Cocker was out of it while the album was being recorded. Indeed at times he seems to have been propped up and plugged into Price's production. But the distance between his vocals and music simply dramatizes Cocker's plight, and the suffering in his voice is so intense that no setting could enhance or dilute it. Tracklist: 01. Put Out The Light (4:10) 02. I Can Stand A Little Rain (3:32) 03. I Get Mad (3:38) 04. Sing Me A Song (2:26) 05. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress (3:31) 06. Don't Forget Me (3:19) 07. You Are So Beautiful (2:41) 08. It's A Sin When You Love Somebody (3:47) 09. Performance (4:39) 10. Guilty (2:46) Total duration: 34:40 Joe Cocker's comeback album is not the disaster his recent debacle in L.A. (during which he was too drunk to perform) was. Whatever his difficulties as a live performer, on record Cocker is far from a lost cause. Admittedly he is not the singer he once was: His voice is ravaged almost beyond belief. But this is what makes I Can Stand a Little Rain so moving. It is a record about pain and decline which, to make its points, cruelly exposes and exploits Cocker's damaged condition. One example of this is "You Are So Beautiful," a Billy Preston song which, at its end, demands that Cocker reach two high notes he doesn't have a prayer of hitting. He stretches, struggles, quavers and fails; his failure makes the track and the listener hurt, which is precisely the record's intended effect. This is no rave-up in the Mad Dogs and Englishmen manner — the album aches. Far from being a rocker, I Can Stand a Little Rain is slow, moody, depressed and depressing — and deeply affecting. Even the titles of the tracks reflect Cocker's meteoric rise and fall, his confusion and his breakdown: "Performance," "Guilty," "Put Out the Light," "Don't Forget Me." The lyrics are more explicit: "I fell down on my face / I tripped and missed my start / I fell and fell alone." "How come I never do what I'm supposed to do?" "It takes a whole lot o' medicine, darlin' / For me to pretend that I'm somebody else." The painful pertinence of the material is remarkable because it was written by so many different people (Allen Toussaint, Jimmy Webb, Randy Newman, Harry Nilsson and others). Two cuts attempt to recapture the manic Cocker of old, but both founder for want of spirit. "Put Out the Light" (the single) is cumbersomely arranged, and "I Get Mad" literally sounds as if Cocker is vomiting. More typical of the album is the title track by producer/arranger Jim Price and Webb's "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress." The first of these deals with Cocker's bid to return to the limelight and climaxes as Cocker groans,. "And when I'm on my last goround / I can stand another test." Webb's number is the best on the album, an extended metaphor which, if it originally referred to love, in this context has to do with success. Webb's bland piano and the lovely string arrangement are in jarring contrast to Cocker's tormented vocal, and the discrepancy between voice and arrangement further accentuates Cocker's alienation. A note on the jacket, "Special Thanks to Joe Cocker," suggests that Cocker was out of it while the album was being recorded. Indeed at times he seems to have been propped up and plugged into Price's production. But the distance between his vocals and music simply dramatizes Cocker's plight, and the suffering in his voice is so intense that no setting could enhance or dilute it. Tracklist: 01. Put Out The Light (4:10) 02. I Can Stand A Little Rain (3:32) 03. I Get Mad (3:38) 04. Sing Me A Song (2:26) 05. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress (3:31) 06. Don't Forget Me (3:19) 07. You Are So Beautiful (2:41) 08. It's A Sin When You Love Somebody (3:47) 09. Performance (4:39) 10. Guilty (2:46) Total duration: 34:40 false 2022-10-16 07:38:59 10 1995 1995-04-16 1995-04-16 35 Blues Blues Rock Jazz Pop Rock Rock Soft Rock 112547 2119177 ecf8cf35-4593-37f8-a046-1ebf93911c47 32f2d6bd-c22b-42cf-a7bc-0c4b48cd2bcb a3452e63-ca41-3d62-80a3-56f01e9d164d /media/data/media5/Music/Joe Cocker/I Can Stand a Little Rain (1974)/folder.jpg Joe Cocker AlbumArtist /config/metadata/People/J/Joe Cocker/folder.jpg Joe Cocker Artist /config/metadata/People/J/Joe Cocker/folder.jpg Joe Cocker Joe Cocker 1 04:13 2 03:35 3 03:42 4 02:29 5 03:34 6 03:22 7 02:45 8 03:48 9 04:42 10 02:47 John Robert "Joe" Cocker (20 May 1944 – 22 December 2014) was an English singer known for his gritty, bluesy voice and dynamic stage performances that featured expressive body movements. Most of his best known singles, such as "Feelin' Alright?" and "Unchain My Heart", were recordings of songs written by other song writers, though Cocker composed a number of songs for most of his albums as well, often in conjunction with songwriting partner Chris Stainton. His first album featured a recording of the Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends", which brought Cocker to near-instant stardom. The song reached number one in the UK in 1968, became a staple of his many live shows (Woodstock and the Isle of Wight in 1969, the Party at the Palace in 2002) and was also known as the theme song for the late 1980s American TV series The Wonder Years. Cocker continued his success with his second album, which included a second Beatles song: "She Came In Through the Bathroom Window". A hastily thrown together 1970 US tour led to the live double-album Mad Dogs & Englishmen, which featured an all-star band organized by Leon Russell. His 1974 recording of "You Are So Beautiful" reached number five in the US, and became his signature song. Cocker's best-selling song was the US number one "Up Where We Belong", a duet with Jennifer Warnes that earned a 1983 Grammy Award. He released a total of 22 studio albums over a 43-year recording career. In 1993, Cocker was nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Male Solo Artist. He was awarded a bronze Sheffield Legends plaque in his hometown in 2007, and received an OBE the following year for services to music. Cocker was ranked number 97 on Rolling Stone's 100 greatest singers list.