Joe Cocker: Mad Dogs and Englishmen

Rating:
Summary: With a Little Help from his Friends.
Review: This Brazilian version is beautiful. The sound and picture are glorious. Get this while you can....and enjoy the ride....musicianship, unabashed shenanigans, warmth of the sun, people watching, and on and on....captured in a wild style, maverick motion picture..I did not want the movie to end.

Rating:
Summary: COCKER POWER!
Review: This video is FABULOUS. This is Cocker at his peak. His gravelly voice was never better than during this period in his career. And what is most entertaining, his spasmodic style of performing was never more pronounced. Even if you are not a Cocker fan, or have never really heard him, I would bet you will enjoy this greatly. Even if you hate his music, just watch this video with the sound off- you'll laugh the entire time!

Rating:
Summary: COCKER POWER!
Review: This video is FABULOUS. This is Cocker at his peak. His gravelly voice was never better than during this period in his career. And what is most entertaining, his spasmodic style of performing was never more pronounced. Even if you are not a Cocker fan, or have never really heard him, I would bet you will enjoy this greatly. Even if you hate his music, just watch this video with the sound off- you'll laugh the entire time!

Rating:
Summary: Memories of the early '70s
Review: While I was struggling to get recognition for the 1950's rock and roll originators on my college radio show, I still often delved into the more "contemporary" music scene of the Stones, Richie Havens, Melanie, and Joe Cocker and Leon Russell, the main stars of this movie. Their "roots" approach drew me to this documentary then and now.
The music is great, sometimes nearly-great, and there's alot of atmosphere. Close to 30 years later, the film brings out one curious point which I missed at the time - Joe Cocker's *backstage* personae - unlike his ecstatic stage image, it's totally low-key and uninteresting. For those of us used to the present day, in-depth, VH1 approach it's strange to have a superstar just blend into the dressing room wallpaper. Not one pearl of wisdom!
A big disappointment in the video is the deletion of the final scene which really underscores the whole enterprise - when it was all said and done, the tour yielded (as I recall) less than $1,000 in profit - euphoria led to depression and a bittersweet message: it's great to rock but we gotta eat, too.
Along with other rocumentaries of the time ("Gimme Shelter", "Isle of Wight", etc.), a certain after-era malaise is projected. Flower Power was really over. The manufactured sound was just around the corner.