Joe Cocker in Concert

Well, what can you say about an hour-shy, filmed for German TV concert, featuring that noted mad dog (and Englishman) with the trademark spastic arms, Joe Cocker, that doesn't include "With a Little Help From My Friends"? Or "High Time We Left," "Feelin' Alright," "The Letter," "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window," "Cry Me a River" or "Up Where We Belong"? Not much, I'm afraid. In this 1996 production, the white Ray Charles nimbly works his way through a 14-song set that does include "Delta Lady," "You Are So Beautiful," "Many Rivers to Cross" and a muscular rendition of Blind Faith's "Can't Find My Way Home," but the combination of forgettable tunes ("High Lonesome Blue," "Dignity"), a near complete absence of his greatest hits, and unremarkable filming, make this a very optional purchase. Viewers would be better served by Image Entertainment's Joe Cocker Live: Across From Midnight Tour. Not a necessary purchase from a musical point of view, the DVD also includes a downright annoying purported mini-doc on "Sound Tuning" which reveals itself as a full-blown ad for Monitor products after the first minute. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)