Album #88 : Joe Cocker - Fire It Up

Joe Cocker

Fire It Up (2012)

By and large, Joe Cocker has avoided the fate that has befallen many of his hard drinking, hard living contemporaries; namely, turning himself into some second-rate crooner, churning out Christmas albums of songs that have been covered more times than the number of sex workers and waitresses Tiger Woods has banged, and appearing in "spontaneous" staged TV specials wearing expensive, ill-fitting suits and playing with 30-piece orchestras in his lounge room.

(Yes, Rod Stewart, I'm looking at you.)

What Cocker has done is continue to produce soft, adult rock with a bluesy edge, occasionally making forays into balladry and country. Such is the case with Fire It Up, his second album with producer Matt Serletic, and featuring a band made up of session guns (including, rather humourously, Ray Parker Jr. Yep, the bloke who did Ghostbusters.)

The Album

Even after a long, long career, Cocker's voice sounds just as good as it ever has. That gravelly rasp barks out all over the album, and there are no signs of any weakness in his vocal, nor any dropoff in his range. There is, however, one thing that his voice lacks on this album, and that is feeling. Whether it's a reaction to the substandard material he has to work with, or the slick too-perfect production of the album, I'm not sure. But apart from maybe two or three tracks, Cocker is sleepwalking his way through this album...and that's a damn shame.

I don't want to be too critical of producer Serletic either - the album is well produced, none of the instrumentation is too over the top (or too showy, which is a common theme in modern 'popular' music production - we can't have musicians showing that they're good!) and generally, things are in their right place. The problem is that the music is soulless, and Cocker's career-best moments have been where the music and vocals are loaded with soul and feeling.

Positives? Apart from finding out that Cocker still has the goods, I Come In Peace is the album's best track. Penned by Australian rock legends Rick Brewster (The Angels) and Ross Wilson (Daddy Cool, Mondo Rock), it contains occasionally prominent swirls of Hammond organ, giving it an old-school rock feel. There's lots of little layers of piano, acoustic guitar and electric guitar in the mix, and it works well. Additionally, it's one of the few tracks where Cocker puts in a shift and injects some effort into the vocals. Eye On The Prize is another good track, standard smoky blues fare, and again it's made better by Cocker's gravelly snarl. He sounds like he gives a shit and sings accordingly.

Beyond that though, it's all just so by-the-numbers that it disengages the listener. The array of talent enlisted to pen the different tracks is a who's who of professional songwriters, but they are all either country hit makers or pop/rock hitmakers whose stock in trade is bland, inoffensive, radio-friendly staple songs. I really don't feel this befits a gravelly blues/rocker like Cocker. Worse than that, it's like they threw their castoffs to Cocker for this album because most tracks even lack anything remotely resembling a pop hook.

The Verdict

Fire It Up sounds exactly as it should. It's an album slickly produced by a commercial producer, played by musicians who are paid to get in, lay down a basic track and get out again, using songs written by professional songwriters who churn out material for a living. With all that in mind it's no wonder that Joe Cocker has little to work with. Yeah, he sounds disinterested for the most part (actually, that's unkind - maybe it would be kinder to say he's going through the motions) but who's surprised, when the songs themselves sound so nondescript?

At least we know that Joe can still belt out a tune. There's something comforting in that.

My rating: * and a half

Standout Tracks

I Come In Peace

Eye On The Prize

The Letting Go

Tomorrow's album is a power packed New Wave debut by five sassy, talented Californian women.