Joe Cocker -Sheffield Superstar, Made in Sheffield

Mad Dogs & Englishmen

is what went wrong. Joe was "right royally shafted", as we say in Sheffield, and compelled to undertake a tour that he neither wanted nor was mentally or physically ready to undertake.

Here's the story.

Mad Dogs Diary

11th March 1970.
Joe Cocker flies into Los Angeles with the intentions of recuperating from grueling months on the road and forming a new band to perform with during the coming summer

12th March 1970
Dee Anthony (of Bandana Management) flies into Los Angeles bearing the tidings that a seven-week Joe Cocker tour, to begin eight days later in Detroit, has been negotiated and advises Joe that the Musicians' Union, immigration authorities and promoters involved should be mightily chagrined (to the point of barring him from performing in America henceforth) should he fail to go through with it.

13th March 1970.
Leon Russell, hearing of Joe's plight, offers his services in forming and playing in a band for Joe to take with him on his tour. So great is his prowess on the telephone that, by the day's end, ten musicians have been assembled and rehearsals begun.

14th March 1970.
Some three hundred people turn out to watch the new band (which now includes eleven singers as well as ten players) rehearse for twelve hours on the A&M sound stage

15th March 1970. Another twelve hour rehearsal is held and a private airplane is hired.

16th March 1970. Eleven more rehearsal hours are put under the collective belt.

17th March 1970.
Yet another marathon rehearsal is staged, this one recorded in its entirety, with "The Letter"/"Space Captain" single resulting. The entourage, henceforth known as Mad Dogs & Englishmen, now numbers thirty-six, including the musicians, three sound-men, two secretaries, three roadies, managers, wives, lovers, assorted children and other animals.

18th March 1970.
Someone proposes that the whole tour be filmed. Another, bigger aeroplane is ordered to accommodate the five-man-film-crew-supplemented entourage, which now numbers forty-three.

19th March 1970.
These forty-three crowd into the new Super Constellation and wing to Detroit, where their first live performance occurs the next day.

27th & 28th March 1970. Four appearances later
Joe Cocker, Mad Dogs & Englishmen arrive at the Fillmore East, wherein the Mad Dogs Album was recorded in its entirety, the lion's share coming from the sFriday evening shows.

16th May 1970.
After playing their last show together (in San Bernadino, California) and then kissing, embracing, flashing back sentimentally, and crying the odd tear, Joe Cocker, Mad Dogs & Englishmen go their separate ways, but not before having bestowed upon each of us who saw them or have heard the album or will see the film of their adventures a generous dose of joy.

The Band.
Leon Russell - guitar & piano/
Chris Stainton - piano & organ/
Don Preston - rhythm guitar/Carl Radle-bass /
Jim Gordon - Drums/
Jim Keltner - Drums/
Chuck Blackwell - percussion & drums/
Sandy Konikoff - percussion/
Bobby Torres - Congas/
Jim Price - trumpet/Bobby Keys - tenor sax.
The Choir. Don Preston/
Rita Coolidge/
Claudia Linnear/
Daniel Moore/
Donna Wiess/
Pamela Polland/
Matthew Moore/
Donna Washburn/
Nicola Barclay/
Bobby Jones.

Produced by
Denny Cordell and Leon Russell.

The Album.
Honky Tonk Women/
Sticks and Stones/
Cry Me A River/
Bird on the Wire/
Feelin'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/
Girl From the North Country/
Give Peace a Chance/
She Came in Thru the Bathroom Window/
Space Captain/
The Letter/
Delta Lady.

Acknowledgements.
Grateful thanks to John Mendelsohn, Vendor of the Cosmic Comma and journalist for Rolling Stone magazine for his excellent sleeve notes, on which this Mad Dogs Diary is based.

The Mad Dogs tour played to audiences in forty-eight cities in fifty-six days and whilst it won Joe many new fans, it also caused him to be hospitalised with severe exhaustion.
The live album from this tour is to my mind, one of the finest live recordings of all time with a stunning version of Matthew Moore's "Space Captain", and Joe's live rendition of "Delta Lady" is possibly the best version of this song he has ever recorded.

Made in Sheffield Dot com would like to thank Eddie Platts for his contribution to the website - cheers!s

This weeks featured "Person of the Week" Joe Cocker has been brought to you compliments of
Eddie Platts of Timefactors.com

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