Honky Tonk Women/Sticks & Stones/Cry Me A River/Bird On The Wire/Feeling Alright/Superstar/Let's Go Get Stoned/I'll Drown In My Own Tears-When Something Is Wrong With My Baby-I've Been Loving You Too Long (Medley)/Girl From North Country/Give Peace A Chance/She Came In Through The Backroom Window/Space Captain/The Letter/Delta Lady
The double live album Mad Dogs & Englishmen showcases Joe Cocker's 1970 American tour, in which he surrounded himself with an entourage of over forty musicians led by Leon Russell. (US:2 UK:16)
"Mad Dogs & Englishmen succeeds mostly on the high energy gospel rock 'n' roll numbers, particularly at the beginning with Honky Tonk Women, Sticks & Stones and Cry Me A River - sounding not too far from The Rolling Stones where Joe Cocker brings some entertaining swagger. But this live set is a hard album to sit through front to back because of the length and inconsistency. There are duds plastered through this album; as great as Give Peace A Chance is, Joe Cocker's vocals are rushed and gets drowned out by the sheer number of singers."
"Joe Cocker's travelling circus, otherwise known as 'Mad Dogs & Englishmen', played the Fillmore East in March 1970 to record this album. The rambling, raucous revue included a choir, a few drummers, a horn section, Leon Russell, Rita Coolidge, Don Preston, Carl Radle, Jim Gordon, and a host of other rock luminaries and topflight studio performers. Cocker has reinvented more songs to suit his distinctive style than Thomas Edison had patents, and nowhere is this more evident than on Mad Dogs & Englishmen. Leon Russell must be given his due as a great arranger for live performances.”
"Infamous coffee table album from the seventies. Apparently, it proved useful as a coaster for hot drinks. Nothing to recommend here. Every track goes on too long. Everyone is on it but yet no one stands out. So boring. If you have a copy, sell it."
"This album is at the heart of the 70s. Joe voice is powerful and when combined with the full force of the near twenty 'Mad Dogs and Englishmen' band backing him the songs are stronger then ever. The greatness of this is you see the disillusioned hippies before they couldn't hold face anymore. Anything goes, and they present music for the sake of itself without worrying about its reception. This sort of idealism is contagious but ironically the strongest part of the album is the darker songs."
"Mad Dogs & Englishmen is the definitive Joe Cocker album, capturing him after his first flush of success when he was genuinely a huge concert draw in America."
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