In 1970 Joe Cocker fired the Grease Band, his regular backing group with which he had conquered Woodstock a year earlier. Arriving in Los Angeles, Leon Russell persuaded the British singer to go on an American tour with an occasional formation he had formed. This is how Mad Dogs & Englishmen was born, an entourage of forty-two musicians including young talents such as Jim Keltner, Jim Gordon,
… Bobby Keys and Rita Coolidge. The documentary film of the same name reports on the adventures of this colorful hippie company. Not that much happens, there is traveling, some smoking, drinking and chatting and we are witness to a cheerful picnic. Highlights are of course the concert pieces, in which the shy Cocker transforms into the manic and eyes-rolling high priest of white soul and manages to reach and inspire the entire band to the farthest corners of the stage. All this slowly portrayed and although somewhat dated, it gives a fascinating picture of times gone by. (MR)more
