Joe Cocker - BBC Sessions, Volume 1: 1968-1969

So many BBC sessions. I wonder if I'll ever post all of the ones I like that are worthy of posting. Joe Cocker is another musician who hasn't had any of his BBC performances officially released. As I mentioned in previous postings about him, I think his peak musical years were 1968 to 1971. It so happens that's exactly when he did his BBC sessions. I've found enough for two volumes. Here's the first one.

Truth be told, Cocker's actual BBC sessions only happened in 1968 and 1969. Like many artists, once he got really famous, he left the BBC behind. Volume 2 will mostly contain performances from other TV shows and such. But this volume is 100 percent BBC radio performances. 

He did pretty much all of his most popular songs from that time period. But he also did some interesting rarities.  "Mr. Bus Driver," "Run Shaker Life," and "Can't Be So Bad" in particular have never been officially released by him in any form.

The sound quality is generally very good, though some songs sound better than others. And for some weird reason, while most BBC recordings from this time period are marred by BBC DJs talking over the starts and ends of songs, that doesn't seem to be the case for any of the songs here.

This album is 44 minutes long.

01 Mr. Bus Driver (Joe Cocker)
02 Run Shaker Life (Joe Cocker)
03 With a Little Help from My Friends (Joe Cocker)
04 Can't Be So Bad (Joe Cocker)
05 Marjorine (Joe Cocker)
06 Change in Louise (Joe Cocker)
07 Let's Get Stoned (Joe Cocker)
08 That's Your Business Now (Joe Cocker)
09 Hitchcock Railway (Joe Cocker)
10 Lawdy Miss Clawdy (Joe Cocker)
11 Darling Be Home Soon (Joe Cocker)
12 Hello Little Friend (Joe Cocker)
13 Delta Lady (Joe Cocker)

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Boy, do I regret picking this photo for the cover art. The photo was taken backstage at a concert in the Fillmore East in 1969. I picked it because it looked to be the best color photo from 1968 or 1969 clearly showing his face. The problem was his eyes were looking down and to the left. I thought I could fix that in Photoshop, as I've done with other photos with similar problems from time to time. But his eyes were so weirdly stoned that I had a really hard time of it. Hopefully, the final result more or less looks like he's looking at the camera (even though he still looks totally wasted!).