Joe Cocker: The Definitive Collection

By GRAHAM REID

(Herald rating: * * * )

Another Cocker tour, another Cocker compilation, huh? This 18-track collection boasts being "definitive" so you get some of the early hits (She Came in Through the Bathroom Window, a live version of The Letter from '70, Delta Lady, Darling Be Home Soon, Hitchcock Railway), a few from the middle period (notably the zen-simplicity of You Are So Beautiful) and then those career-reviving efforts like You Can Leave Your Hat On, Have A Little Faith in Me, Up Where We Belong with Jennifer Warnes, and Many Rivers to Cross.

Unchain My Heart appears as its 90s remake, there's his bloodless reggae treatment of Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood, and the truly horrible and over-produced Night Calls. Most of these were "hits" (familiar if not chart-threatening) but any Cocker collection without The Moon's A Harsh Mistress, I Can Stand A Little Rain and Cry Me a River falls a little short of being "definitive". Still, this is what the local compilers thought was a good overview timed for the tour.

Label: Universal