Who would ever have thought that Joe Cocker would still be recording and touring 35 years after the release of "Mad Dogs and Englishmen. This 35th anniversary edition DVD has one big advantage over the original release, and that is superior sound and picture quality. This film captures the frenzy and energy of one of the greatest rock tours ever. Cocker and a 43 member entourage stormed across America for several weeks, playing to packed houses and rave reviews. Although this event nearly ruined Joe Cocker, it never the less captures a young Joe Cocker in his wired prime, belting out such favorites as "The Letter", "Feelin Alright", "Delta Lady", "Space Captain", "With A Little Help From My Friends", "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window", "Honkey Tonk Woman", and a heartfelt rendition of George Harrison's "Something", just to name a few. This film captures a hippie commune circus with back stage footage, interviews etc. To music fans today, this will seem somewhat dated, but to us baby-boomers, this was cutting edge rock music of the times, when we had a proliferation of AOR radio playing this music everyday. I highly recommend this Dvd to all classic rock fans, as well as the companion 35th anniversary cd, which is loaded with 10 bonus tracks, which has now displaced the original recording as obsolete. Hopefully, the Rock n Roll Hall Of Fame will wake up, and realize that COCKER POWER is alive and well, and induct this deserving rock legend.

In 1970, Joe Cocker's Maddogs and Englishmen was one of the biggest rock n roll events of the year. This rockumentary of that tour, is a time capsule not to be missed. Cocker, along with a forty piece band, which included Leon Russell, Chris Stainton, and Rita Coolidge, stormed across America in 2 1/2 months, playing to packed houses and rave reviews. The movie was made in the same format as Woodstock, utilizing split screen visual techniques. Cocker is caught in his absolute young prime belting out tunes like the "Letter", "With A Little Help From My Friends", "Space Captain", Feelin Alright, "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window" and "Delta Lady" just to name a few. The tour from a personal point of view, was a diaster for Joe Cocker. The tour entourage was too big to support playing 3000 seat venues. Joe and Leon Russell were not getting along by midway into the tour, and it is quite obvious in the film that Cocker was becoming very withdrawn from it all. One can see all the hanger ons who were there for a free ride sponging off of a young Joe Cocker who could not say no to any of them. That put aside, this rock film captures the frenzy, of one of the most exciting tours in rock history. This dvd picture and sound quality is good but not spectacular. Keep in mind this was filmed over 30 years ago, so this is as good as it gets from that era. Joe Cocker continues to make music and tour at the age of 60, the same cannot be said for many people who were with him during that time period. After watching this film, you will understand why Joe Cocker is truly a rock n roll survivor.

Back in the day there were two theatrical-release rock concert films--Woodstock, and Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs. If ever there was a candidate for full screen DVD digitization, this is it. Don't waste you money on the VHS scan and pan Mad Dogs. You won't get half the effect of the original film, much less the multiple screen images of the fabulous band, put through their paces by Leon Russell and Chris Stainton. In the meantime, while you're waiting for them to rescue the original print, clean it up, and stamp out the DVDs, you can get a sense of the film's great soundtrack with the Mad Dogs CD, though with a slightly different selection of songs by Joe and a supporting cast of around forty.

Entertaining and informative documentary on the way it was for this pioneer and his band. The video was originally made by the artist's recording company to boost record sales. It did not work since the video was not immediately released. It can now be view as a documentary on a band that helped start a new revolution in music and its fans. This video is definitely a must for the true music fans collection. It will make you feel alright!

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.