Joe Cocker and Bob Dylan

December 22, 2014 | Posted by Peter Jakobsen | Modern Music, Ulalume | 0 Comments |

Image courtesy of Eddie

Christmas 2014 – and what have you done?  Gluttony, jealousy, wrath…getting drunk and falling down…presents, presents, presents.  P is listening to (& loving) his new vinyl (!) record, ‘Lost on the River: the new basement tapes’, featuring various artists adding melody and shape to some lyrics of Bob Dylan stuck in a drawer since 1967.  Best so far: ‘Down on the Bottom’, ‘Kansas City’, ‘Liberty Street’, ‘Florida Key’ and the title track (# 12).  Maybe a review in the fullness of time (at least 20 more listens first).  Abject lesson to all: don’t throw away your turntable!  Never discard your records! Not even those of ex-lovers!

It will be the first Xmas since 1943 without Joe Cocker on this earth (20 May 1944-22 December 2014), the arm-flailing gas fitter from Sheffield with the gravelly blues-soul interpretative genius.  When he came to Adelaide, we are reliably told he liked a pie floater (which he’d come down and get from the pie cart, minders in tow) before lighting up with some sort of cigarette. TVC regrets the vagaries of time and space that caused it to miss the ‘Mad Dogs and Englishmen’ tour and live versions of his great songs of the 60s and 70s, most notably Leon Russell’s “Delta Lady”.  When in doubt, see ’em live before they pass.  Vale.

 

Vale Joe Cocker

Vale Joe Cocker

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