Joe Cocker: Hard Knocks version on CD in Standard edition. This particular edition was published in Europe in publishing company Columbia SevenOne Music on 26. October 2010.

"It has been a major player in the international music business for more than forty years. He has released 21 studio albums and 4 live albums. His voice is a musical trademark. He has had huge hits all over the world and his records have sold millions of copies. He is a Grammy, Golden Globe and Oscar winner. He was even recently awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE). There is no doubt that Joe Cocker is not only a musical legend, but also one of the most commercially successful and popular singers of the last four decades. But despite his many awards and millions of dollars in sales, he still sympathises and identifies with those less fortunate in life: the underdogs and the outsiders. So it's no great surprise that when asked his opinion of TV competitions like "American Idol" (where he has appeared twice so far, once in France and once in the US), he is not at all unhappy that these show formats didn't exist when he was young. "When you think of all the losers who just disappear into nowhere..." he muses. "I think it would be a much bigger disappointment to me if I entered a competition like that and lost than if I worked in a pub and made it that way." It's hard to believe, but this man, an icon for generations of music fans and musicians, still can't imagine himself a winner. His new album, his first for German label Sony Music Columbia, is called "Hard Knocks". "I've probably spent more time on the road than at school," explains the 66-year-old Brit. "Fans who have been around long enough to remember my life story will probably identify with the title." Contrary to the oppressive atmosphere the album title suggests, however, Cocker's admirers (who, after all, have had to wait three years for new material) need not worry that their favorite singer is offering new, musically ... (Columbia/SevenOne) "The ten new songs on Hard Knocks were recorded under the direction of Matt Serletic. This is the first collaboration between the two. The Californian first came to prominence in the mid-1990s with his work for alternative rock band Collective Soul. He later produced bands including Matchbox Twenty, Rob Thomas, Blessid Union Of Souls and Carlos Santana. "By the time I met Matt, I was also meeting other producers," says Cocker. "We talked for a while in his studio. I told him I wanted to make a modern record, but not too modern. I realize I'm up against twenty-five-year-old kids today, but I'm not Green Day! I felt with him that we could develop something together, that something was different." (oe3.orf. at) Review "Not only is there only one cover version on his at least 21st studio album, but the sound and interpretation sound considerably fresher and more independent than anything Joe Cocker has released in the last 20 years... It makes you want to hug him and congratulate him on this great exclamation point in his discography." (computerbild. de) "A wonderful blend of first class music. Pop rock songs and ballads find in it a unique harmony. Joe Cocker's stern voice continues to fascinate. The songs are neither dusty nor stale. The ballads have an impressive modern style." (cd-bewertungen. de) "The title song from the pen of Marc Broussard rings out with the power of a rock band with horns, "Get On" and "Runaway Train" rock out, "Unforgiven" is a Cocker ballad, and overall producer Matt Serletic has done everything to make the sixty-six-year-old Cocker a classic." (wdr. de) "The studio team is top notch as always and the electronic effects are also open. Cocker sounds more modern than ever." (www. audio. de, 11 / 2010) "Joe Cocker can still do it." (stereoplay, 11 / 2010)

Album spans genres Rock and Classic Rock. Super Jewel Case.