Joe Cocker’s finishing up work on his 21st album, Hard Knocks, which is now set for release on November 22, 2011. Cocker’s new album will feature 9 brand new songs plus a cover of the Dixie Chicks’ “I Hope.” Hard Knocks was recorded at Matt Serletic’s Emblem Studios in Los Angeles with Ray Parker Jr., Tim Pierce and Joel Shearer on guitar, Josh Freese, Matt Chamberlain and Dorian Crozier on drums, Chris Chaney on bass and Jamie Muhoberac on keyboards, says Cocker’s label, 429 Records.
Former American Idol judge Kara Dioguardi and Marc Broussard contributed songs to Hard Knocks.
“I don’t really know what you would call this album: ‘rock/pop’? It’s a little more pop than I’ve been into for quite a while so it would scare me sometimes,” Cocker said in a press release. “I would do the basic tracks and then Matt would go away and do some of these overdubs and he had all these electronic things on there. It was sometimes like ‘Oh, my god!’. But I wanted to work with Matt very much. And I always knew what kind of record we would be making.”
Hard Knocks Track List
– Hard Knocks
– Get On
– Unforgiven
– The Fall
– So It Goes
– Runaway Train
– Stay The Same
– Thankful
– So
– I Hope
Source: 429 Records – August 31, 2011
