Consumer Guide Album

Joe Cocker: Stingray [A&M, 1976]
Yeah, the Stuff guys are funkier than the El Lay guys, but on side two you can hardly hear them for the backup singers (I don't mean you, Bonnie). And there are three Matthew Moore ditties, not to mention six and a half minutes of "A Song for You" (at this point I wouldn't sit still for a ninety-second punk version). Genuine high point: "Catfish," Bob Dylan's tribute to a million-dollar man Cocker still says he's never heard of. C+