Joe Cocker
Fire It up

But how can the review of the swan song, or rather the Lion of Sheffield, be missing? It is indeed with pleasure that I fill this gap by recounting one of Joe Cocker's best albums, without any hesitation regarding his heavy Absence.

Released at the end of 2012, just over two years before his death and given the nature of the illness that took him away forever, it is certain that Joe was well aware that this could be the final work of his long and fluctuating career, and evidently he put his total effort into it as a man in his late sixties worn out by a very demanding life.

I preface by limiting my comments to the eleven tracks of the European edition, perhaps leaving to others that of the "premium" version designed for the American market, to which Joe, having moved overseas for some time, had always shown a greater favor, although honestly that market had never particularly smiled upon him and he had received greater recognition, even commercially, on this side of the ocean.

It starts with the title track, very catchy rhythm, somewhat predictable sound but voice still intact (a marvel!), rock rhythm that remains in "I'll Be Your Doctor," a bit more in line with Joe's classics from the early '70s, complete with supporting chorus. Certainly more pop and solemn is "You Love Me Back," always quite well-paced by Matt Serletic, who evidently is not content with just the role of producer and wants a part as a keyboardist as well. Another Cocker classic is "I Come in Peace," not particularly original but always engaging, contrary to "You don't Need a Million Dollars," which instead seems like a west-coast track adapted to our hero's qualities.

Finally, with "Eye on the Prize," we return to the steady R&B, Cocker's best specialty, always in search of the track capable of relaunching him like "You Can Leave Your Hat on" or "Unchain My Heart," a pursuit that continues with the excellent "Younger" by Gary Burr. The inevitable seduction track "You don't Know What You're Doing to Me" and who knows what it's doing to him to be so passionate, oh well; one thing is certain that in the last ten/twelve albums, Joe has faithfully followed an almost unchanged script that evidently suited his fans very well, decidedly older like the writer, who packed his sold-out concerts well in advance. Concerts that will continue incredibly throughout 2013, taking this high-quality product worldwide, in addition to the "classics" that made him famous.

We return to normality with "The Letting Go," neither good nor bad, while more interesting and engaging is "I Walk in the Sunshine again" with an excellent guitar riff, probably one of the best tracks also for its appreciable synthesis: maybe Joe at the end learned that "dragging" tracks for a minute or more didn't benefit either the tracks or his qualities.

Very good finale: "Weight for the World," which leaves us almost suddenly, just like his life, suddenly leaving a vast space for Silence.

Serenely, "Fire It up" deserves 4 stars, usually having the graphics as a minus and the excellent technical rendering as a plus, but how not to give 5 stars to Joe Cocker's Career? A career that spanned over 50 years and fascinated millions of fans, starting from the pubs of his hometown, through Woodstock to filling stadiums worldwide, without ever being that Prima Donna that characterized many other greats of our time and which for me represents an undeniable human plus of our Lion, beyond denying him a few more positions in the ranking of the most important singers of all time. R.I.P. Joe.