Under the resourceful tutelage of label kingpin Chris Blackwell, Joe Cocker has found a new Island home. Without question, Sheffield Steel (recorded in Jamaica) is the gravel-throated singer's most consistently pleasing program of tunes in many years. He's supported by Blackwell's superlative house band, the Compass Point All-Stars (which includes the can't-miss rhythm section of Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare); throughout, they find a solid groove and ride it with tasteful understatement.

Cocker, clearly at ease in these balmier surroundings, lets his voice roll along as naturally as a sailboat in a Jamaican breeze. This is not the jolting, brassy R&B of yesteryear; rather, this is rocking-chair rockin' — Cocker and band let these songs get there when they get there, if you know what I mean. Sheffield Steel has plenty of fine moments: Cocker does Bob Dylan proud on the salty funk of "Seven Days" and covers a new Steve Winwood-Will Jennings composition, "Talking Back to the Night," whose muted urgency is the closest this set comes to out-and-out rock. In Cocker's hands, the reggae classic "Many Rivers to Cross" becomes movingly autobiographical. Not unexpectedly, Randy Newman ("Marie") and Jimmy Webb ("Just like Always") contribute the side-closers, two of the kind of romantic big ballads that Cocker takes to so well.

It's great to hear the most eloquently ravaged voice in rock & roll have his sly, swaggering say again. Sheffield Steel is filled with teasing, skittering melodies, chugging Jamaican soul-funk rhythms and confident singing, proving that you can cook over a low fire and still have your groove turn out well done.

“Help Me”

Joni Mitchell wrote and recorded this song for her album Court and Spark, but she had to switch from her regular band to make the song sound exactly the way she wanted. "I had attempted to play my music with rock & roll players," she told Rolling Stone. "They’d laugh, 'Awww, isn't that cute? She's trying to teach us how to play.'" Mitchell switched to a jazz band, Tom Scott’s L.A. Express, and scored the biggest hit of her career in the process.