The third day of the historic "Three Days Of Peace & Love," otherwise known as The Woodstock Festival, August 15 to 17, 1969, found Joe Cocker and The Grease Band greeting the new day and several hundred thousand atten... more »dees with nothing less than a rousing, electric set. The singer performed songs mostly from his first two albums (With A Little Help From My Friends and, due 3 months hence, Joe Cocker!). And, of course, the incredible impact vocally and visually of Joe's performance that bright Sunday afternoon of the debut LP's Lennon-McCartney title song became his first international calling card. However, the other ten songs of the singer's legendary show that day, including covers of Bob Dylan, Ashford & Simpson, Ray Charles, and a pair of originals, remained unreleased until now, in celebration of the 40th Anniversary of Woodstock. A wrong rectified.« less
All Artists:Joe Cocker Title:Live at Woodstock Members Wishing: 7 Total Copies: 0 Label:A&M Original Release Date: 1/1/2009 Re-Release Date: 10/6/2009 Genres:Pop, Rock Style:Blues Rock Number of Discs: 1 SwapaCD Credits: 1 UPC:602527152851
Synopsis
Album Description
The third day of the historic "Three Days Of Peace & Love," otherwise known as The Woodstock Festival, August 15 to 17, 1969, found Joe Cocker and The Grease Band greeting the new day and several hundred thousand attendees with nothing less than a rousing, electric set. The singer performed songs mostly from his first two albums (With A Little Help From My Friends and, due 3 months hence, Joe Cocker!). And, of course, the incredible impact vocally and visually of Joe's performance that bright Sunday afternoon of the debut LP's Lennon-McCartney title song became his first international calling card. However, the other ten songs of the singer's legendary show that day, including covers of Bob Dylan, Ashford & Simpson, Ray Charles, and a pair of originals, remained unreleased until now, in celebration of the 40th Anniversary of Woodstock. A wrong rectified.
CD Reviews
Historic Joe Cocker Performance!
Anthony Accordino | Massapequa Park, New York United States | 10/06/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"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."
What a performance!!!
2LovelySwans | Sedona, Arizona, USA | 10/19/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"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."
Awesome -- perhaps THE best peformance from Woodstock
J. Polsgrove | Baja Arizona | 11/24/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"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!
"
Finally a Great CD has been released.
J. L. Todd | md | 04/25/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"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."
Track Listings (11) - Disc #1