Happy 40th: Joe Cocker, LUXURY YOU CAN AFFORD

40 years ago this month, Joe Cocker released the one and only album he would ever record for Elektra/Asylum Records.

Produced by New Orleans R&B legend Allen Toussaint, LUXURY YOU CAN AFFORD was described at the time of its release as Cocker’s “strongest album in years,” but for as much success as Cocker had experienced in the early ‘70s, his stardom was decidedly waning by 1978. As a result, it was a hard-fought fight for the singer to secure his deal with Elektra/Asylum.

From the December 14, 1978 issue of Rolling Stone:

“At Elektra/Asylum, Chairman of the Board Joe Smith and President Steve Wax decided to sign him. “It was a tough signing,” said Lang. “It was not the most popular move for a record company president to make. There was a lot of talk that he was wiped out.”
Joe Smith admitted that there were “mixed feelings” about Cocker. “Some people were up for it, some thought it was a futile kind of singing, ” he said. “But we felt he could make it back.”

Lang had put a band — including pianist Nicky Hopkins and old friend/sax player Bobby Keys — behind Cocker for a dryout-tryout six-week tour of Australia in the summer of ’77. Later, there were quick, unpublicized gigs in South America and in the States. Cocker was regaining his strength, and there were video and audio to prove it.

“We saw that he was performing, and not falling down,” said Smith. “It seemed he had pulled himself together. Now it was just a question of putting it on record.” And of helping Cocker repay reportedly hundreds of thousands in debts to A&M, former managers and others. “It was a large financial shot,” said Smith.

But he figured Cocker could join the ranks of Sixties stars who had gone through problems and proved that they could come back —such as Eric Clapton, Dave Mason, the Rolling Stones and the Bee Gees. “Joe was so electric and dynamic. We thought if he could be eighty or ninety percent of that, we had a good chance.”

In the end, it would be hard to say that Elektra/Asylum got everything they’d wanted out of LUXURY YOU CAN AFFORD, since it only made it as far as #76 – six places lower than its predecessor, STINGRAY – on the Billboard 200 before beginning its descent. From a creative standpoint, however, Cocker definitely delivered: when Steve Leggett wrote of the album on AllMusic.com, he described Cocker’s take on Bob Dylan's "Watching the River Flow" as “a perfect cover,” pointedly praises Cocker’s vocal delivery on “I Can't Say No” and "Wasted Years,” and has kind things to say about the album’s first single (“Fun Time”) as well.

In other words, if after 40 years you still haven’t checked out LUXURY YOU CAN AFFORD, today’s a good day to do it.