Quando nel 1968 un 24enne vocalist di "Rythm'n Blues" proveniente dal nord dell'Inghilterra fece irruzzione all'interno della scena musicale londinese dell'epoca, nessuno avrebbe potuto immaginare quanto veloce sarebbe stata la sua scalata verso la fama. Joe Cocker (questo il nome del giovane vocalist), fa il suo esordio discografico nell'anno successivo con un album denominato "With A Little Help From My Friends" dal titolo del celebre brano dei Beatles di cui è presente una cover all'interno del disco.
Oltre alla Grease Band, formazione capitanata da Cris Stainton (bassista, organista nonchè coautore insieme allo stesso Cocker delle 4 songs inedite presenti nell'lp) e completata dal pianista Tommy Eyre e dal batterista Clem Cattini; Cocker si avvarrà per le registrazioni delle 12 tracce del disco dei più quotati e richiesti turnitisti-studio (all'epoca dei fatti) presenti in terra anglosassone. Alle chitarre si alterneranno nei vari brani Jimmy Page (Led Zeppellin, New Yardbirds, The Firm etc....), Albert Lee (che diventerà negli anni il più richiesto chitarrista country- rock del globo nonostante la sua cittadinanza inglese), Henry McCullough (Jesus Christ Superstar, Wings, Pink Floyd etc..) ; all'organo hammond Stevie Winwood (Traffic, Blind Faith etc..) e Mattew Fisher (Procol Harum).
Fra le 12 tracce dell'album, oltre alle 4 firmate dal duo Cocker-Stainton, trovano spazio ben 8 cover di brani portati in precedenza al successo dai più importanti autori ed interpreti dell'epoca. Nonostante ciò, il frontman di Sheffield coadiuvato dai prestigiosi musicisti di cui sopra, non mancherà di vestire ognuno di questi classici dei sixsties di nuove atmosfere ed arrangiamenti personalizzati, riuscendo talvolta nell'impresa di stupire l'ascoltatore distaccandosi decisamente dagli originali e donando quindi un'anima e un taglio nettamente soul-blues ad ogni brano, elemento quest'ultimo che contraddistinguerà l'intera discografia di Cocker che da qui in poi avrà i suoi migliori momenti in qualità di interprete.
Davvero difficile stilare delle preferenze per un estimatore del sound anglo-americano dei tardi '60, riguardo le songs presenti in questa storica incisione. Si va dalla title-track "With A Little Help From My Friends" dei Beatles riarrangiata in 3/4, per una versione carica di feeling e tensione blues (in cui giocano un ruolo fondamentale i "nervosi" interventi solistici di Jimmy Page e i backing vocals delle 3 coriste di chiara appartenenza gospel) alla catartica "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" di Nina Simone (che qualche anno più tardi conoscerà il successo di massa attraverso una versione dance dei Santa Esmeralda). Non sfigurano assolutamente anche i due brani attinti dal repertorio del miglior Bob Dylan: "I Shall Be Released" resa molto intensa anche dal sapiente playng di Stewie Winwood all'organo e la strappalacrime "Just Like A Woman". Interessante anche la rivisitazione dello standard datato 1926 "Bye Bye Blackbird". Merita di essere messa in risalto fra i brani firmati da Cocker "Sandpaper Cadillac", brano che una ventina di anni dopo l'italico Fornaciari non mancherà di deufradare traendone ispirazione (eufemismo) per la sua "Menta e rosmarino". Bella anche la scanzonata traccia di apertura "Feeling Alright" (Dave Mason), anche se si discosta nettamente rispetto alle atmosfere che verranno respirate più avanti nel disco.
Grazie a questo esordio discografico, Joe Cocker si guadagnerà nell'Agosto del 1969 la partecipazione al Festival di Woodstock in cui il suo live set risulterà essere fra i più memorabili ed intensi. A parer mio "With A Little Help From My Friends" può essere annoverato tranquillamente ed fra i 10 dischi più importanti ed influenti della Woodstock generation. Disco da possedere.
Bye.
Elenco tracce testi e samples
02 Bye Bye Blackbird (03:30)
Pack up all my cares and woes
Feeling low here I go
Bye bye blackbird
Where somebody waits for me
Sugar sweet so is she
Bye bye blackbird
No one seems to love or understand me
And all the hard luck stories they keep handing me
Where somebody shines the light
I'll be coming on home tonight
Bye bye blackbird
Nobody seems to love or understand me
And all the hard luck stories they keep on handing me
Where somebody shines the light
I'm coming on home tonight
Bye bye blackbird
03 Change in Louise (03:25)
Still taking pictures of people at rest,
smiling at men who are never impressed,
always working hard down on bended knee,
who else but me can see the change in Louise?
Ride Louise, ride (yeah) let me be your guide
I'll take you any place you wanna go, (yes I will)
Ride Louise, ride (yeah) let me be your guide
and I'll show you all the things you want to know (if I can)
Livng her life at a speed all her own,
talking to people where ever she goes,
always working hard she won't disagree,
who else but me can see the change in Louise?
Ride Louise, ride (yeah) let me be your guide
I'll take you any place you wanna go, (yes I will)
Ride Louise, ride (yeah) let me be your guide
and I'll show you all the things you want to know (if I can)
04 Marjorine (02:16)
(Joe Cocker/Chris Stainton)
Marjorine, where have you been?
Did you meet the queen, Marjorine?
Let me know. Why did you go?
Why don't you show, Marjorine?
Oh, down by the sea, searchin' for me, Marjorine.
I want you back, but you will not get in the sack, no!
Each I go to town I see your face in a crowd and,
when I come back home, I call your name aloud.
Marjorine, life is too short.
You'll just get caught, Marjorine.
Hard to find. What's on your mind?
Won't be unkind, Marjorine.
Oh, clouds start to form, keeping you warm, Marjorine.
Life can be clean. Where have you been, oh, Marjorine?
07 Sandpaper Cadillac (03:19)
Riding along in a sandpaper Cadillac
Somebody\'s strikin\' a match on the back
Brimstone lines marring the body so fair
Brimstone lines marring the body so fair
Slowly, my mind and dream change into woe, now
My car is dead and gone, Lord
And I just can\'t carry on
Changing, my thoughts become so clear to me
My car wants to be free, I know
And it\'s calling out to me, yeah
Walking along with a gold-plated *****cat
Somebody\'s pouring blood on its back
Paint that has pierced all the pores in his hide
Paint that has pierced all the pores in his hide
Slowly, my mind and dream change into woe, now
My cat is all alone, I know it
And it hasn\'t got a bone
Changing, my thoughts become so clear to me
My cat begins to sleep
And it\'s sleeping \'round with me
Don\'t you know I need that thing so bad
My car and my cat are going bad
And I need everything I can, Lady
Aaaaa! Oh, no no, this can\'t be the same, no
They\'re gonna meet me once again, yeah
They\'re gonna meet me once again, Lord
09 With a Little Help From My Friends (05:14)
What would you do if I sang out of tune?
Would you stand up and walk out on me?
Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song
I will try not to sing out of key
Oh baby I get by
(Get by with a little help from my friends)
All I need is my brother
(Get by with a little help from my friends)
I say I want to get high with them
(Get high with a little help from my friends)
Whoah, yeah
(Ooh, ooh, ooh)
What do I do when my love is away?
(Does it worry you to be all alone?)
No, no.
How do I feel at the end of the day?
(Are you sad 'cause you're on your own?)
I tell you I don't even say it no more.
(Get by with a little help from my friends)
Gonna get by with my friends
(Get high with a little help from my friends)
Yeah, yeah, yeah I'm gonna try
(Try with a little help from my friends)
Keep on getting high oh, oh
(Ooh, ooh, ooh)
(Do you need anybody?)
I need someone to love
(Could it be anybody?)
All I need is someone
Know just where I'm going, yeah
Somebody knows what I'm showing
Baby
(Get by with a little help from my friends)
Said I'm gonna make it with my friends
(Try with a little help from my friends)
Oh, oh I'm gonna keep on trying, yeah, yeah
(Get high with a little help from my friends)
I'm gonna keep on trying, now babe
(Would you believe in a love at first sight?)
I'm certain it happens all the time, yeah
(What do you see when you turn out the light?)
I can't tell you, but it sure feels like mine, now
(I get by with a little help from my friends)
Don't you know I'm going to make it with my friends?
(Try with a little help from my friends)
I promised myself I'd get by
(Get high with a little help from my friends)
Said I'm gonna try it, but not too hard
(Ooh, ooh, ooh)
(Do you need anybody?)
Whoah
Yeah, yeah, yeah
(Could it be anybody?)
Oh, it's gotta be somebody
Gonna treat me right
Somebody take me there now
Oh yeah, yeah
(Get by with a little help from my friends)
Said I'm gonna get by with my friends
(Try with a little help from my friends)
Oh yes, I'm gonna keep trying now
(Get high with a little help from my friends)
Keep on trying with my friends
(Get by with a little help from my friends)
Oh, ain't nothing gonna stop me anymore
(Try with a little help from my friends)
I'm gonna keep on trying now
(Get high with a little help from my friends)
I'm getting high
I'm gonna make time, no no
(Ooh, ooh, ooh)
Gonna get by with my friends
Oh, I'm gonna get on by
Yes, I'm gonna get on by, yeah
Gonna take 'em all along with me
I'm gonna take 'em all along, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah
I'm doing this in every way I feel it in the morning sign
Oh, I'm gonna take my friends along with me
I get by with a little help from my friends
10 I Shall Be Released (04:35)
They say ev'rything can be replaced,
Yet ev'ry distance is not near.
So I remember ev'ry face
Of ev'ry man who put me here.
I see my light come shining
From the west unto the east.
Any day now, any day now,
I shall be released.
They say ev'ry man needs protection,
They say ev'ry man must fall.
Yet I swear I see my reflection
Some place so high above this wall.
I see my light come shining
From the west unto the east.
Any day now, any day now,
I shall be released.
Standing next to me in this lonely crowd,
Is a man who swears he's not to blame.
All day long I hear him shout so loud,
Crying out that he was framed.
I see my light come shining
From the west unto the east.
Any day now, any day now,
I shall be released.
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Altre recensioni
Di pier_paolo_farina
La performance veramente col cuore in mano del cantante di Sheffield, il sapiente e potente stravolgimento della primigenea canzonetta pop in qualcosa di autenticamente intenso e coinvolgente.
Questo brano rende epocale una canzone altrui, e per una volta defrauda i Beatles della memoria storica a riguardo di una loro creazione.
