Product Review

CD reissue of this 1976 album from the British blues/rock vocalist. Stingray, his seventh full-length release, is an album of such power and beauty it affirms, once again, why Joe Cocker had a special place in music. Recorded in Jamaica with the aid of crack producer Rob Fraboni, and a tightly sprung soul band, Stingray moves with an understated forcefulness that simultaneously generates both moonlit loveliness and churning dramatic tension. Cocker's entire range of vocal expression - from his fragile whisper to his desperate scream - comes across with breathtaking urgency. The album features musical assistance from Eric Clapton, Steve Gadd, Patti Austin, Deniece Williams, Bonnie Bramlett, Richard Tee, Albert Lee and many others.