"Hymn For My Soul" is one of the finest albums Joe Cocker has ever released. And, he has found the perfect producer for this stage of his career - Ethan Johns. Together, they have created a masterpiece. It is my hope that this partnership will remain in force for a long time.

What makes this album great is a back to basics approach. The album was recorded on tape, with Joe and the musicians all in the same room, and Joe singing live with the band. This brings out the best in Joe's voice. All the nooks and crannies are there, and there is great warmth and presence in the sound. There are no computers, no multi-layered arrangements, and there isn't the slick adult contemporary feel that has been present on recent albums. What we have is Joe singing R&B and ballads as only he can. His voice remains powerful, yet at the same time he is capable of great sensitivity. That is what sets Joe apart from all of the pretenders.

Joe puts his imprint on songs from Stevie Wonder (You Haven't Done Nothin'), Bob Dylan (Ring Them Bells), George Harrison (Beware Of Darkness), John Fogerty (Long As I Can See The Light), The Meters (Love Is For Me), Percy Mayfield (River's Invitation), Solomon Burke (Don't Give Up On Me), The Subdudes (One Word - Peace), old friend Daniel Moore (Just Pass It On), and the title track by Andy Fairweather Low. These are, in many cases, unexpected and inspired song choices.

Some will complain about another "covers" album, but they don't get what Joe is all about. While he has put out a lot of memorable original material, he is at his best when he takes a great song introduced by someone else and sings it his way. After all, isn't that what great interpretive singers do? Would anybody criticize Sinatra for not writing his own material? Others will muse, "there are no true rock songs". Well, Joe has never been a pure rocker. He has always mixed rock, ballads, R&B, even a tinge of country, going back to his days in Sheffield. What is important here is that Joe is singing great, the musicianship is fantastic, and the album is beautifully recorded. At 63, he is showing that he still has it, and has a lot left in the tank.

Right now, HFMS is available only as an import, and will probably released in the US late this year. Hopefully, this album will be the one to catapult Joe back in to the spotlight in the US, and compel the Rock Hall Of Fame and the Grammys to finally give Joe Cocker the recognition he deserves.

Finishing up his fourth decade of recording, the original Mad Dog and Englishman, at times better known for performances masquerading as epileptic fits and a growl with enough grit to use as sandpaper, Joe Cocker has survived and thrived as an ultimate interpreter of other people's songs, bringing to them a power and vulnerability that few singers can match.

He's back again with a new collection with less grit but no less passion wrapped in crystal clear production that shows off his still compelling voice off to it best advantage. Every selection either has a bluesy, elegaic, or gospel tone and is done well.

As usual Joe shines with his cover versions and there are plenty here to carry on that tradition - Stevie Wonder's "You Haven't Done Nothing," George Harrison's "Beware Of Darkness," and Percy Mayfield's "River's Invitation." John Fogerty's "Long As I Can See The Light" is re-imagined as a religious dirge and Andy Fairweather Low (of Amen Corner and later back-up guitarist/vocalist for Eric Clapton) provides Joe with the tour de force title tune "Hymn 4 The Soul."

There's more treasure to be dug here, particularly "One Word (Peace)" which, if I had my way, would be playing on every radio station from here to Timbuktu. It is a fervent plea for peace in a world where war and terrorisn is now in everyone's backyard.

For Joe Cocker fans and people who like the blues and brilliant interpretors.

I've never been a fan of Joe Cocker, beginning from his Woodstock days. My husband has always been a big fan of his, especially since Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs & Englishmen album. I had to listen to that one over & over, ad naseum, etc. I saw Joe in August on The View, promoting his new "album". He was very charming, & performed his title song of this "album", as I guess I'll always call it. "Hymn for my Soul" is just a beautiful song--I fell in love. My husband's birthday was coming up, so I ordered it for him. I am now a certified fan of Joe. The version of "Come Together" is definitly the best I have ever heard, even better than the original. Sorry I've dissed you all these years, Joe. You are a true artist, & my husband was right from the beginning.

"We are amazed but not amused by all the things you said to do," Joe Cocker blasts amid a punchy horn arrangement on a Stevie Wonder song that starts one of Cocker's best CDs. "You Haven't Done Nothin'" is simply one of the best tracks Cocker has recorded. He plucks George Harrison's "Beware of Darkness" from the

] album and fully embodies the track with its now familiar melody and transforms the meditative song into a slow soul crooner, "The hopelessness around you, in the dead of night, beware of sadness." Percy Mayfield's "River's Invitation" is another pearl with Benmont Tench's piano giving the perfect accent to the bouncy arrangement about a guy about ready to throw himself into the river, "I'm trying to find my baby that no one has seen around, You know which way I'm headed if my baby can't be found." The Beatles' "Come Together" that Cocker sang in the film and on the soundtrack of

] concludes the set as a bonus track. Other songs like Daniel Moore's "Just Pass It On," John Fogerty's "Long As I Can See the Light" and Bob Dylan's "Ring Them Bells" are also exquisite. Joe Cocker does what he does best on "Hymn for My Soul," fills the music with power and conviction that mesmerizes the listener. Bravo!

The minute that old gravelly voice comes through the speakers it makes you just want to smile. The fact that one of Rock's classic voices is still in such fine form is reason enough to appreciate and buy this CD. I could only wish that the song selection created a feeling that there were some classics here that will stand the test of time. The haunting rendition of Creedence's "Long as I Can See the Light" comes closest, and is a tremendous bluesy take on an original swamp classic. The rest just don't seem to measure up to the best of Cocker's interpretations. Mediocre song choice, but Oh, how that voice still sends chills up your spine!!!