It's been years since anyone expected greatness from a Joe Cocker album. True believers have come to rate Cocker's albums on a bell curve, getting by on the relative terseness of Sheffield Steel or the promising punch of last year's Unchain My Heart. The latter album was too slick and conformist for Cocker, but at least producers Charlie Midnight and Dan Hartman stripped away a few of the fattier elements, giving the old growl some leeway.

Now Midnight has managed to undo everything good that was accomplished last time. Cocker's voice sounds like it was recorded through some sonic gauze, as if his flaws were something to hide rather than revel in. The music meanwhile is recorded entirely without dynamics, as one solid glop of sound.

Some of the material rivals the production for sheer mediocrity. Songs like "I Will Live for You" and "When the Night Comes" (which Bryan Adams had a hand in writing) are catchy in the most tepid, radio-mongering way. At least the more famous covers — like Gladys Knight's "Imagination" or "Fever" — have greater distinction. They're out-and-out awful.

“Youth Knows No Pain”

“Like on 'Youth Knows No Pain' — we are the ones that should demonstrate, because we can take it,” Likke Li said. “We can pierce ourselves, take Ecstasy, dance all night and still go to work at our McDonald's jobs.” Despite the hedonistic sentiment in the song, the Swedish singer also admitted in hindsight her youth had repercussions. “I remember when I was 18-19 and feeling that I know it all,” Li said. “I always feel that I know it all. But that song is about realizing you don’t, and reflecting, ‘Boy, if I only knew what would follow.’”