Joe Cocker!

Joe Cocker’s self-titled second album, released in 1969 just months after his debut, With a Little Help from My Friends, continued with the same winning approach that perfectly cast the British soul man as an expert interpretive singer. It's generally considered to be the finest album of Cocker’s long career. Again, he interprets the Beatles (“She Came In Through the Bathroom Window,” “Something”) and Bob Dylan (“Dear Landlord”). He adds one co-write of his own with Chris Stainton for “That’s Your Business” and chooses liberally for the rest: John Sebastian’s “Darlin’ Be Home Soon,” Lloyd Price’s “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” and Leonard Cohen’s “Bird on the Wire,” among the highlights. Musical director Leon Russell slips Cocker “Delta Lady” and “Hello, Little Friend” and the musical direction in general, aided by Denny Cordell, tends towards the bluesier side with Cocker’s backing group of the time, the Grease Band, filling the groove with a firm yet laid-back authority. The expanded edition includes another Beatles cover (“Let It Be”) and another fine Cocker-Stainton original with “She’s Good To Me.”