Customer Reviews

Live at Woodstock

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This past August, marked the 40th anniversary of the three day arts and music festival in upstate New York, known as Woodstock. Lots of books and recordings have been released to commemorate the event, and finally, one of the events defining moments, Joe Cocker's complete sixty-two minute set has been released in its entirety. When Joe Cocker arrived at Woodstock, he already had a reputation, thanks to his fantastic debut album "With A Little Help From My Friends", which was released six months prior to the festival, in Feb 1969. Having been on the road and touring, Joe and the Grease band were well rehearsed, which resulted in one of the best performances of the entire festival. The cd captures Cocker giving outstanding renditions of Dylan's, "Just Like A Woman", and "I Shall Be Released", that both have emotional overtones, that few young rock singers of the day could match. His take on the classic "Let's Go Get Stoned", is far superior to even the fine version on the live album "Mad dogs & Englishmen". A real treat here is his 12 minute reading of "I Don't Need No Doctor", which put on display the heart and soul of a singer that Joe Cocker became famous for. Such standard staple are here, like the hit "Feeling Alright", and some tunes like "Dear Landlord", and Hitchcock Railway", that were slated for release on his then upcoming album "Joe Cocker!" The set of course ends with his majestic take on "With A Little help From My Friends', a song and perfomance which essentially stole the movie, and put Joe Cocker on the map as a major rock n roll attraction during that era. When one thinks of Woodstock, almost everyone who was there, or old enough to remember that classic rock era, can still picture Joe Cocker in his multi-colored dyed t-shirt, as the lasting symbol of a truly historic musical event that will be remembered for all times. Today, Joe Cocker is 65 years old, and still making music and touring to rave reviews, but no one in the annals of Rock will ever forget his performance on an upstate farm in the summer of 1969.

After listening to this latest Woodstock release, I was totally blown away. Cocker's voice has always been highly praised, but one cannot overlook the musicianship of his Grease Band. The five that backed him, (Spenner, Stainton, McCullough, Hubbard?, & Rowland) sound like an "R&B Symphony." The recording's fidelity is also striking as I feel like the band is right in the room. Spenner and McCullough's fret work is raw, Stainton fills all gaps with his B-3 and Wurlitzer piano, and Rowland covers the job of a full percussion section. This recording has a more down home feel than Mad Dogs......due to the fact that its not 35 people playing one tune and that everyone actually knows their part in each song. This is the group that backed Cocker on his second album, therefore the intricate grooves of Dear Landlord are right on as are the the rest of the cuts. Cocker's repertoire choice is also spot on. Of all the Woodstock recordings, this one appears the most intimate and a good starting point for those who want to really hear Cocker pull out all the stops. Highly recomemded.

I am so glad this recording has finally been released, and I encourage anyone who loves music to check it out. It's clear that Joe Cocker and The Grease Band had played these songs numerous times before arriving at Woodstock, yet everyone in the band is committed to each note. Their energy builds throughout the set. The Dylan songs are performed with such reverence to the lyric, and the band makes every song their own. The power of " With a Little Help From My Friends" is even more intense heard in context with the rest of the set. Joe and the Grease Band create an unforgettable musical experience in the deliberate pacing of their set. With just the right amount of musical contrast and relief, the audience is treated to one of the best performances of the festival. This performance has passion and power throughout, and stands as a testimony that 40 years ago in a muddy field in upstate New York, a musical performance would stand the test of time.

Wonderful performance and long overdue for release.
Pity they didn't include the jam by the Grease Band prior to Joe coming on stage and that they cut out Joe's intro to Let's Go Get Stoned.

OK, this one's a toughie. What's the best performance from Woodstock? Ten Years After, then-unknown Santana, or Joe Cocker. After listening to this, I'm giving Cocker the honors.

While other great live bands, such as the Grateful Dead, gave such poor performances that you can only obtain them by trading music (and, yes, I am a Deadhead and have the Dead's pathetic performance from Woodstock) or not at all, some acts just blew everybody away. Ten Years After did. Santana certainly did. And Joe Cocker, well, he gives a classic performance that is equal to, if not superior, to his later Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour.

I won't dissect every song, but I must weigh in on some classics. Dave Mason's "Feelin' Alright" is just superb. It's followed by one of the best performances ever by ANYONE of Dylan's "Just Like a Woman." If you're in a funk and you need to get up and movin', crank up "Let's Go Get Stoned," which also is probably one of the best versions of the song I've ever heard.

"I Don't Need No Doctor" is very good, but at 12-1/2 minutes it goes on just a bit too long. But we're rewarded later with a nice "Hitchcock Railway" and a couple of songs later Cocker closes his set with an intense, dazzling cover of The Beatles' "With a Little Help From My Friends" that will have you hitting "back" a few times to play it over and over.

Even the "minor" tunes on this 60-odd-minute set are awesome. For the money, this is a great "trip" (pun intended) down memory lane. Crank it up -- just don't take the brown acid!

It's about time a CD was released of the famous performance--arguable the best of Woodstock. It includes a complete set of songs--even those missing from an edited movie version of the same concert. I really like Joe Cocker for his ability to cover popular songs (and sing some originals) in a style all his own, and here is a performance of him at his top. Yeah, he's drunk off his butt, but that's what you got with Joe Cocker. Since this is a CD and you don't get to see the visuals of the performance (Cocker throwing his arms around, etc.) you are forced to focus on the audio where you will discover a great set of songs. Several performances here are even better than their great studio versions.

After years of just hearing "With A Little Help From My Friends" I had no idea that he performed for as long as he did at Woodstock. This set is amazing as it shows the raw power and style of Joe Cocker that ends with the aforementioned classic that stole the show. One rating on this site gave this a one star rating for poor sound quality which is just flat out wrong. The quality is fine and sounds like it was not tampered with. Not a bad song in the bunch. This is a must-own for any Joe Cocker fan.

This is a must have for a true Joe Cocker fan. If you have never scene him live, This is the next best thing. ("If you have a chance go see him live")

Joe Cocker/ Live at Woodstock: This CD has been so poorly advertised that it was merely by chance that I came to know of its existence. I am so glad I found it. This is a GREAT performance. It is true that much of this has been released in bits and pieces over the years in various Woodstock concert albums, but this is the only place you get the WHOLE Cocker performance and hearing the whole thing is a true revelation. This is a Great concert by Joe and a fantastic CD of that performance.

This a is a great performance by Joe Cocker and the Grease Band at Woodstock but the quality of the audio leaves a lot to be desired. It sounds very muddy like it was from an inferior master tape or mastered from a soundboard recording.

In comparison, listening to Sly & the Family Stone's Woodstock show on Sony Legacy where the entire performance is remixed from the 8 track masters recorded at Woodstock 1969, it sounds like you are sitting on the front of the stage. Too bad this Cocker show wasn't remixed as part of that series. Other W.E. discs are by Jefferson Airplane, Johnny Winter, Santana, and Janis Joplin.