Customer Reviews

Mad Dogs & Englishmen - Joe Cocker

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Who would ever have thought that Joe Cocker would still be recording and touring 35 years after the release of "Mad Dogs and Englishmen. This 35th anniversary edition DVD has one big advantage over the original release, and that is superior sound and picture quality. This film captures the frenzy and energy of one of the greatest rock tours ever. Cocker and a 43 member entourage stormed across America for several weeks, playing to packed houses and rave reviews. Although this event nearly ruined Joe Cocker, it never the less captures a young Joe Cocker in his wired prime, belting out such favorites as "The Letter", "Feelin Alright", "Delta Lady", "Space Captain", "With A Little Help From My Friends", "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window", "Honkey Tonk Woman", and a heartfelt rendition of George Harrison's "Something", just to name a few. This film captures a hippie commune circus with back stage footage, interviews etc. To music fans today, this will seem somewhat dated, but to us baby-boomers, this was cutting edge rock music of the times, when we had a proliferation of AOR radio playing this music everyday. I highly recommend this Dvd to all classic rock fans, as well as the companion 35th anniversary cd, which is loaded with 10 bonus tracks, which has now displaced the original recording as obsolete. Hopefully, the Rock n Roll Hall Of Fame will wake up, and realize that COCKER POWER is alive and well, and induct this deserving rock legend.

I didn't know what to expect from this DVD; the reviews have been mixed at best. I was half expecting this to be an essential part of my collection, watched once then placed on a stack of DVD's that I would point at, impressing others with the completeness of my collection. I had heard the sound was bad (compared to the Concert for Bangladesh) and that it was horribly dated. I was then pleasantly surprised to find that the sound if not excellent, was very good, and the overall quality of the DVD was just a fraction below the aforementioned Concert for Bangladesh at half the price. Fans of Joe Cocker should consider this essential, and those who just like a wild, raw, show should consider this as well.

I was keen to see this film in its newly re-issued format but was horrified with the sound quality. So many rock doco's of the past have been beautifully remastered (eg Concert for Bangladesh, Elvis - Thats the way it is, to name just two) and yet this opportunity to blast what was a spectacular musical journey right into the new millennium fails to deliver.

The CD soundtrack gets it right (sort of) but the DVD is poor and there can surely be no excuses. I feel for Joe Cocker because this event whether he enjoyed the experience or not captured him at his peak and this re-issue should have been a modernised legacy of what a great showman he was in his prime.

I put this on expecting my surround sound to fill the room with this great music but regrettably it simply doesnt have the spark.

Buy it for novelty value but dont expect the Space Captain to fill your room with a wall of sound.

I will admit, it was the original album that I heard, and never saw this film until now. When he's on stage, I can almost forgive the poor video quality, and so-so sound because of the energy that's on stage. When he is not on stage, it's dull, boring, confusing, and out-dated. I wish A&M would have made a Concert Only mode (I would have enjoyed 80 or 90 minutes of concert over 30 or 40 minutes of fans, roadies, band members, and groupies). Also the soundtrack is better soundwise, and also has more songs (Cry Me A River is one I can think of that's missing from the film that's on the soundtrack). All & all, the film is not as good as the soundtrack CD. I also agree with the gentleman that mentioned Concert For Bangladesh.

If you are looking for ultimate sound and vision, this is a bad choice. If you are happy to forego those things, this is still a great record of an era and of a great talent's hey day. As has been observed by other reviewers, some notable performances from the LP/CD soundtrack are absent (Superstar and Cry Me a River for example) - disappointing. Is this really approaching 40 years ago??? I feel so old.

We're not babies (Baby Boomers) any more, but we like to reminisce and revisit our memories. Well, this is it. There are the long hair/beards, electric guitars, and the rich melody of the rock of those days. This is a must have, gang. While you're shopping around for nostalgia make sure to get this one, and while you're at it, pickup George Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh as well (1971).

Fantastic movie. I've pulled off one star because of the horrible picture quality. Sound is ok.

As for history and for the best of Cocker's career this movie shows the best of this era .
as for dvd released it's really awful picture and sound does very little to show the best of Joe's super band
Let's pray for a real remaster in blu ray and in WIDESCREEN

Buying all his early LP's being one of those young kids enamored with the blue eyed soul bands like the great Rascals,Animals, those great Box Tops singles and then Joe, this later day Woodstock legend from Sheffield UK that burst out fusing the persona of a manic spastic standing drunken Ray Charles with a voice of gravel, fire and honey delivering brassy rock gospel panache with a hippie entourage of dreamers,rock icons, passionate musicians who were clearly into jazz and good roots music cutting his 1st 2 studio albums with the then great musicians like Jimmy Page,Stevie Winwood,Leon Russell,Chris Stainton and then on Mad Dogs capturing a wild travelling minstrel show of hippie gypsy life on the road barnstorming through America is all captured here on this wonderful DVD showing you why Joe was one of the greatest at his game who unfortunately due to whatever excess, psychological and chemical who like most musicians that live the down and out portraits of their music become a self fulfilling prophecy.
I later saw Cocker on the "Stingray" tour and he had to be escorted off the stage in a drunken stupor nonetheless I was glad to be there.
As to the film itself, it is a treat..it's 1960's early 1970's imagery,improvisational dialogue,camera using 3 views simultaneously of the concert portion is all highly entertaining,never boring as the music is all driving soulful renditions of songs transformed by Cocker into a vehicle all of his own with a loose band of entertainers combining folly and intensity that worked very well.
Too bad, that despite the likes of his then relationships with Leon Russel,Rita Coolidge, members of this large choir, noted rock horn men, his contacts and a@R men, how this driven exuberant performer like Cocker was a wanderer enduring without a steady band of his own,not being known as a major songwriter but a talent covering classics in his own fashion , groping through the rest of his career with various sounds and noted musicians whether reggae tinged,Randy Newman style tin pan alley,is all best summed up on his wonderful box set "Long Voyage Home" and like this film and the 2 CD deluxe edition of the soundtrack is your ticket into essential Cocker and into this highly sensitive man who did a lot to bring great jazz,soul music into the the white mainstream while covering the Beatles,Leonard Cohen,Traffic,Animals,Dylan,Box Tops,Lovin Spoonful(J.Sebastin),Rolling Stones.Jackson Browne,...

I have to admit: I missed Mad Dogs and Englishmen on its original theatrical release in the early Seventies. But I remember hearing several of the tunes from it on several FM radio stations and, based on what I had heard, went out and bought the LP. This album, with its mix of Rhythm and Blues and Gospel influences quickly became one of my favorite live recordings. The music that I heard then turned me into a fan of Joe Cocker, Leon Russell, and Rita Coolidge. So, I was really looking forward to the DVD release of the film. Now, don't get me wrong. The DVD has its moments (which is why I'm rating it a 3 rather than a 2). Cocker's versions of The Letter, Feelin' Alright, Sticks and Stones, and Honky Tonk Woman really rock. And I loved Joe going one on one with Lawdy Miss Clawdy. How much you enjoy the other tunes comes down to one's personal tastes. To my ears, Let It Be and Something both drag. I think that the Woodstock version of With a Little Help From My Friends overshadows the rendition heard here. And, no offence to Joe Cocker who always puts 100 percent of himself into every tune, his version of John Sebastian's Darlin' Be Home Soon is simply awful. The overall sound quality varies from terrible (especially at the beginning of the film) to average. It sounds as though the corporate execs felt that the market for this film wasn't large enough to merit spending a lot of time on quality remixing. So, the sound is definitely a disappointment. In the interests of fairness, perhaps the problems with the soundtrack are traceable to inadequacies in the source material. Having watched the show from beginning to end, I think part of the problem is that the film itself tends to drag. The running time is close to two hours and so, when the band is not performing (and it's truly a great band), we get backstage glimpses and interviews and airplane shots and fans and groupies (in other words, a lot of padding). We get a lot of split screen shots, which was an innovation in its day. Unfortunately, the combination of letterboxing and split screen cinematography means a smallish image unless you're watching on big screen TV. Mad Dogs and Englishmen comes off poorly in comparison with other "rockumentaries" of the period such as Monterey Pop and Woodstock. Now, I know some of you may say, "But what about Michael Wadleigh's use of split screen techniques for Woodstock." Point well taken - on the other hand, Woodstock isn't limited exclusively to one group for its full running time. I feel that the producers of this DVD missed out on something that would have provided some perspective. Besides Joe Cocker, several of the performers from the Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour are still around. How come nobody thought about putting together a 30 minute mini-documentary featuring interviews with Joe Cocker, Leon Russell, Rita Coolidge, Jim Keltner, and Bobby Keyes (whom I just saw this year performing with the Stones)? If you have to choose between the CD or this, go with the CD.