JOE COCKER VISITS MY HOMETOWN! WOW!

JOE COCKER VISITS MY HOMETOWN! WOW!

J. Kordosh

THE W'S: Joe Cocker grew up in Sheffield, which is north of England way. I grew up in Livonia, Michigan, which is like most of America only in that it's west of Detroit. Joe Cocker is my senior by some eight years and has enjoyed considerable success as a singer, particularly during the early '70s. His best-remembered LP is still Mad Dogs & Englishmen.

The years have passed, though. I don't live in Livonia anymore and Joe Cocker (a resident of Santa Barbara) has a 1982-type LP to sell, Sheffield Steel. As things would have it, the album brought us together in my old hometown, at a Holiday Inn that used to make its living as an open field.

It all happened on July 7, when the temperature in Livonia topped 92° and not a one of us seemed interested in being out in the midday sun.

HOW'S JOE LOOKING, ANY WAY?: Well, his hair—what's left of it—is frazzled and thin. He's got a decent paunch. While I interviewed him, he was barefoot and wearing a pair of lawn-green pants that were too short to have ever been in style, unless he used to be in Slade and I missed it. Despite the heat, he was wearing a sweater that was truly and extremely ugly. What I mean to say is that he's looking OK to me.

LETS TALK ABOUT THE PRODUCT: Sheffield Steel's a fine album for your usual doctor's-prescription-variety-ofingredients. Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, well-known Jamaican reggae cats and Grace Jones backers, comprise the rhythm section. The contributing writers (Jimmy Webb, Randy Newman, Steve Winwood, Jimmy Cliff and Bob Dylan, to name a few) aren't quite off The List Of Incompetent Bunglers, either. Cocker's voice is in top form, still gargling Drano, just as you like it.

"We kicked off (making the LP) in '81, in the spring," Joe recalled. "And—well, I'll never know the full story—but we got six tracks done with Chris (Blackwell) being there, and Alex Sadkin—they're the producers.

"Whether Chris fell out of love with the project, I don't know. But Bob Marley'd died and he was very close to Bob...discovered him, more or less, coming from Jamaica. So he sort of left me to do my work and he went and did a film called Country Man. We did a few tracks while he was away—we got some different music - ians in—but we shelved them. Because we picked up the threads again just after Christmas and got the same band together."

"It's alright. I still consider myself a blues singer."

I mentioned that I thought the album sounded a bit subdued.

"Maybe it has something to do with the islands. (Steel was recorded in Nassau.) When we were there we were really there for business, and it's pretty much of a nightlife—we don't see much of the sunshine. But I was really pleased with it. I've gotten a little uptight in the past, working in studios, especially putting on the vocal tracks. With people walking in and out, it's sort of distracting. You start upsetting people and everyone thinks you're a male prima donna. You can understand —you're standing in a booth looking through a glass screen and people are saying, "Hey what time does the food arrive?' or something. And you're trying to hit the big note of this album.

"But, for some reason, down in Nassau ...people just know. They leave the doors open half the time. And that attitude helps. I had a problem with my voice because of the humidity, though. They keep the studio really cold; air-conditioned. I'd sing full-belt for a couple of hours and I'd just have to cut out."

I guess the whole point of this is to show that making an album is the single easiest activity in the world, outside of falling. Naming an album, on the other paw, is pizza.

(I confess an advantage here in knowing that Cocker hailed from Northof, etc. I'd also spent a productive 10 minutes with my encyclopedia and found out that if anything's been done with steel Sheffield's the place where it was probably done first.) "I wonder how many people will get the reference," I wondered. "Y'know, we went to Island Records— there's a guy there who looks after their office on the West Coast. He's a big fan of Paul's, so I said, 'Let's have a listen, then.'

"Um, that's a point. It was Chris Blackwell'S idea. He asked me what I thought and I asked him how he was going to spell 'steel'—with an 'a' or two 'e's.' T'at was a jokei," he noted, probably because I didn't exactly need a squeegee to wipe away the tears of of laughter.

"Generally, when I do interviews, people ask: 'How did you get the title?' I give them this little story how Chris Blackwell came up with it and then when I say it has to do with cutlery they always start me off with another question. Y'know: 'Another thing, Joe... '"

That time I laughed. Read up on cutlery in your encyclopedia, it's an important subject.

THE FIRST BEATLES STORY: "The Beatles...yeah, at that time, when I did ' Little Help,' I got a telegram from them, which was nice. Saying 'good luck with the record.' 'Cause a friend of mine went and played it at a board meeting they had when Apple was really in trouble. They sort of had a weekly board meeting and at the end of it the guy played them the 45. He said they were fair blown away by it.

"And, through that, I got an invite to go there and meet them. Y'know, I was very honored. Paul just sat there at a little upright piano and played me 'Golden Slumbers'—they were just finishing up Abbey Road. He played me 'Bathroom Window' and said: 'Can you deal with that?' (Laughing) 'Suref

"George played me a few tunes, too. I was really taken aback at how brilliant he was, 'cause he just played such simple chords and made a tune around them. And he gave me 'Old Brown Shoe' to work with—I never did anything with it, though."

THE SECOND BEATLES STORY: I have this book called The Encyclopedia Of Pop, Rock &' Soul, which is really lousy, even when you consider its title. Anyway, under "Cocker, Joe," there's the following tidbit: "The Beatles' 1967 hits, 'Strawberry Fields Forever' and Sgt. Pepper LP made Cocker feel audiences might be ready for his style."

"What does this mean, Joe? Does this make any sense at all?"

"Um...I've been inspired through those songs?"

"That's what it says."

"No. Definitely, no. Which encyclopedia is that? Not Rolling Stone's?"

"No. I just wonder where they got it."

"They didn't get it from me, that's for sure."

The moral? Don't believe everything you read, unless it comes under a byline you can trust that's been serving the rock community for...let's see...how long have I been writing now?

THE FIRST CREEM STORY: "Which radio station are you from?" Joe asked after we'd been talking for a good 20 minutes.

"No radio station, Joe. I write for CREEM magazine."

"CREEM? Isn't that the one with all the silly captions? You don't write for Circus, do you?"

"...For some reason, down In Nassau... people Just know. They leave the doors open half the time. And that attitude helps."

"No, I write for the silly one'"

WHAT ABOUT THE CONCERT & WHY WAS IT SO GOOD?: The onstage line-up backing Joe didn't play on Sheffield Steel. The players consist of Cliff Gordon (a guitarist from Boston), Howie Hersch (a bass player from ditto), B.J. Wilson (a drummer you'll remember for his outstanding work in Procol Harum), Larry Marshall (New Yorker, organ player), and Spooner Oldham (Alabama-boy keyboardist). Maxirte Greene and Linda Lawrence toss in the sex appeal, get to sing woo-woo-woo-woo on "A Little Help," and otherwise snazz up the vokes.

Now I didn't write down that list to prove I can remember names or anything. I wrote it down because they're a damned fine band. And, along with Cocker, they put on a damned fine show.

Cocker still has that peculiar gnome-ish persona up there—he doesn't seem to get incredibly involved (or even vaguely interested) in what goes on during instrumentals and song breaks. To me, he looked like he was trying to gather his wits, or maybe he was just drunk.

Whatever. It sure works—JC mixes in £ the old stuff that drives Joe Cocker fans | hydrophobic with the new stuff that sells 1 the new album. Obviously when over ^ 1,100 people pay $11 each to see Joe :»• Cocker they're gonna get a mite excited over "The Letter," "You Are So Beautiful," and other raspy evergreens. As a detached observer (cheap beer), I was happy to hear "Seven Days" (a Dylan tune off Sheffield Steel) followed by "Watching The River Flow" (a Dylan tune that's utterly fab and was on Joe's last LP). In other words: thanks for wowing the audience, Joe, but bless you for remembering people who write for magazines with silly captions.

What's really odd is that I listened to Mad Dogs & So On the next night and I'll swear the sunuvabitch sounds better now than he did then. You go explain it.

LETS HEAR FROM THE PAYING CUSTOMERS: (In response to the $11 question.) PC *1: "He'll always be good." PC #2: "He's one of a kind." Thank both both of you.

THE SECOND CREEM STORY: (In which Joe has a Star's Car adventure.) "This young girl I was with, and myself— they asked us to sit on this van. I was all chipper, thinking this was a freebie for me. Ha ha ha ha. So I asked 'em: 'What's it for? and he says, like, the rock star's cars. And I said: 'But I don't own the vehicle.' So— they never printed it!" Great story, Joe, and wait till you see your captions this time around.

I REPEAT. "ANYTHING YOU READ": "Y'know, the bio that they put out on me from the Island says—in one part—'Joe was in one of his usual depressions.' So every writer, especially from the dailies, just would stay on this. I mean: What are these depressions? Wow. Just like everybody else gets, y'know?" God, I love bios.

LETS GO FOR AN EBONY & IVORY STORY, TOO: "It's caused quite a stir, hasn't it?" Joe said.

"Yeah. People are real upset. Maybe it went to #1 too fast."

TURN TO PAGE 61

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 39

"Fucking McCartney," I murmured. Torturing big fans like that.

"And we weren't allowed to have a listen! He just threw it in the wastebasket. I said, 'C'mon, give it a listen.' And we got no more than three chords before he took the needle across the whole record, wham!"

Fucking McCartney. It would serve him right if every one of the three jillion copies of ""Ebony & Ivory" were returned from whence they were bought. Then he'd be sorry, I bet. Still, the guy must have a helluva sense of humor.

HEY, I ALMOST FORGOT: "Joe, we haven't talked about Ray Charles at all!"

"It's alright. I still consider myself a blues singer."

WE ALSO DIDN'T TALK ABOUT: Leon Russell. Well, I ain't God, after all.

JOE ACTS REAL NICE & THAT'S ALL: After the show, which was a lot of hard work for the band, Cocker sat in the dressing room and signed autographs ad infinitum, treating everyone with respect and even dignity. I tell you, I was practically appalled. I had to get out, plus it was dangerously close to last call.

However, come back to Livonia anytime, Joe. Just don't come in one of your usual depressions, OK?