Customer Reviews

20th Century Masters: Millennium Collection (Eco-Friendly Packaging)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Joe Cocker maybe more famous for his near fits on stage than for his music. If that is so, it's a shame because the man can really sing and make a song a masterpiece for many generations. Once again "20th Century Masters" makes a pretty cool retrospective for another legendary music artist. This one for Joe Cocker is somewhat. Mostly early works of the late sixties to the mid seventies. Most of his truly signature tunes are here. "You are so Beautiful" is are really simple and short piece with manly just a piano and Joe's vocals in pure admiration of this lady. The catchy big ballad with Jennifer Warnes "Up Where We Belong" is a nice little sentimental tune of love rising above problems. Another big wedding song along with "You are...". His other huge hit is the cover of the Beatles "With A Little Help From My Friends". What a frenzy of solid soulful rock this one is. This version just blows the silly little ditty of pop the Fab Four did. No offense, but that was one of their least pleasing singles and this is a landmark of music when Joe does it.

The other songs are really good and full of emotional high points. It's a hot combo of soul and rock with background singers, hot guitar sounds, etc. This set is flawed with the fact that it was to have some tracks are live (although they are full of energy) and by a too short track list even for his early stuff. These "Millennium Collection" aren't always perfect, but this one represent Joe Cocker pretty well.

This is the best single-disc Joe Cocker anthology available. All of his best tracks from the '60s and '70s are included.

The only reason it doesn't deserve 5 stars is that the lesser-known "Jealous Kind" and "Many Rivers to Cross" are entirely unnecessary and should have been replaced with a couple of Cocker's '80s classics like "Night Calls" or "You Can Leave Your Hat On."

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this eleven-track Milliennium Collection is actually somewhat worth it! Granted, some Millennium Collections are very bad ideas (listen to those by the Who and B.B. King, for instance--better yet, don't). But somehow, this one works. I don't know, maybe the presence of With a Little Help From My Friends (Cocker's best song) has clouded my visions, but this is actually somewhat GOOD!!! Granted, I would've loved to have heard the versions of Bathroom WIndow and Delta Lady from Mad Dogs and Englishmen, as well as a couple other selections from that LP (namely LEt's Go Get Stoned) but I already own Mad Dogs in the first place, so why am I complaining? Especially when it's got Cry Me A River and the Letter from that concert? Not to mention the flat-out rocker High Time We Went and Traffic classic Feelin' Alright.
Sadly, there are a couple tunes that don't work. You Are So Beautiful is the most overproduced thing Joe pulled off...possibly ever. His vocals are a big plus, though, And Up Where We Belong never really did much for me. But this collection isn't half bad!

The obvious negative is that this CD has only 11 songs of fairly standard length, which is an especially lousy practice for a greatest hits album. They could have and should have added at least 1-2 more, like maybe "Let's Go Get Stoned." On the positive side, it had every song I wanted by Joe Cocker, including his lesser known hits from around 1970, like the radio versions of "The Letter," "Delta Lady," and "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window."

Joe Cocker is different. In this case, different is good. Cocker has a distinctive voice and music that sticks in your brain. This CD has all his best stuff - even if you think you haven't heard it before, you probably have. Good stuff!

Somehow there's nothing like cranking up "Feeling Alright" to take the stress out of the day. I keep it in my office!

Most of the songs associated with JOE are featured here,so this might not be all his best,but it comes close.You've got a TRAFFIC cover:FEELIN'ALRIGHT;BEATLES:WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS and SHE CAME IN THROUGH THE BATHROOM WINDOW;CRY ME A RIVER recorded by many artists like DINAH WASHINGTON, and you get a few of his originals like HIGH TIME WE WENT a perfect song for him and DELTA LADY.This is soul magic delivered by one of it's best white performer.Get it and enjoy the heat of the night.

Although I have a couple Joe Cocker albums, and I love 'Mad Dogs and Englishmen,' I still regard myself a newbie. This album is a great start, and 'The Letter' makes up for any shortcomings. I can't believe that song doesn't get the airtime it deserves. However, but the last couple tracks are pretty cringe-worthy compared to the soul of the first six, mainly because of the limp accompaniments.

This was the only place I could find this particular version of She Came In Through The Bathroom Window. Anybody know when/where this performance was? I also have the versions from Mad Dogs and Woodstock, of course, but this version has a special place in my heart becuause it's the one I heard on the radio growing up. Same with With A Little Help From My Friends. And this was the ONLY place I could find High Time We Went. What a gem, forgot how tastey that one was!

when i ordered this cd, I knew what I was getting into. I contacted seller to make sure this was of the original songs joe Cocker came out with. when I got it in mail, I listened to it and it was just what i ordered. it tells you right up front the amount of songs you get. not a problem. i remember when my older brother listened to him on an original 33 1/3 lp. try a little help from our friends was a master piece. if any of you got to see the movie about woodstock in the late 60's, you would have got to see him perform in his early days. quite a musician.