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Civilized Man

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Civilized Man
Studio album by
ReleasedMay 1984
Recorded1984
Studio
GenreRock, pop
Length36:43
LabelCapitol
ProducerGary Katz, Stewart Levine
Joe Cocker chronology
Sheffield Steel
(1982)
Civilized Man
(1984)
Cocker
(1986)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]

Civilized Man is the ninth studio album by the British artist Joe Cocker, released in May 1984, his first on the Capitol label. It includes a cover of the 1981 Squeeze hit "Tempted", as well as "There Goes My Baby", a 1959 hit single from The Drifters.

Songs for the album were recorded at two different sessions. Side "A", recorded at Village Recorders in Los Angeles, was produced by Gary Katz and features as a backing band the core of the then current group Toto (Steve Lukather, Jeff Porcaro, and David Paich), whereas side "B", recorded in Nashville, was produced by Stewart Levine, and features Music City stalwarts (David Briggs, Reggie Young and Larrie Londin). The album also features an appearance by Joe Cocker's former bandmate Jim Keltner (on "Long Drag Off a Cigarette").

Civilized Man, along with its predecessor Sheffield Steel, marked the beginning of a new era of Joe Cocker albums, giving way to a much fuller style of production and taking more advantage of technology to experiment to produce more contemporary sounding music. Civilized Man expanded on the success of his previous album, selling well in Europe.

Track listing

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  1. "Civilized Man" (Richard Feldman, Pat Robinson) – 3:55
  2. "There Goes My Baby" (Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, George Treadwell, Lover Patterson, Benjamin Nelson) – 3:47
  3. "Come On In" (Bob Telson) – 3:48
  4. "Tempted" (Chris Difford, Glenn Tilbrook) – 4:16
  5. "Long Drag Off a Cigarette" (Larry John McNally) – 2:35
  6. "I Love the Night" (Troy Seals, Michael Reid) – 3:47
  7. "Crazy in Love" (Randy McCormick, Even Stevens) – 3:51
  8. "A Girl Like You" (Troy Seals, Will Jennings) – 3:09
  9. "Hold On (I Feel Our Love Is Changing)" (Joe Sample, Will Jennings) – 3:41
  10. "Even a Fool Would Let Go" (Tom Snow, Kerry Chater) – 3:54

Personnel

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Production

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  • Producers – Gary Katz (tracks 1–5); Stewart Levine (tracks 6–10).
  • Additional production on tracks 1–5 – Daniel Lazerus
  • Engineers and mixing – Daniel Lazerus (tracks 1–5); Rik Pekkonen (tracks 6–10).
  • Assistant engineers – Robin Lane and Phil Wagner (tracks 1–5); Mark Ettel and Lynn Peterzell (tracks 6–10).
  • Additional engineer on tracks 6–10 – Mark Ettel
  • Mix assistant on tracks 1–5 – Wayne Yurgelon
  • Recorded at The Village Recorder (Los Angeles, CA); Ocean Way Recording (Hollywood, CA); House of David (Nashville, TN); Soundworks Digital Audio/Video Studios (New York, NY).
  • Digital maintenance – Mike Morongell
  • Mastered by Bob Ludwig at Masterdisk (New York, NY).
  • Art direction – Roy Kohara
  • Design – John O'Brien
  • Photography – Richard Avedon

Chart performance

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Year Chart Position
1984 Swiss Albums Chart 5
1984 Norway Albums Chart 5
1984 German Albums Chart 7
1984 Dutch Albums Chart 8
1984 Australian Albums Chart 17
1984 Austrian Albums Chart 19
1984 Swedish Albums Chart 20
1984 New Zealand Albums Chart 30
1984 UK Albums Chart 100
1984 US Albums Chart 133

Sales accomplishments

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
Germany (BVMI)[2] Gold 250,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

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  1. ^ "Civilized Man – Joe Cocker". AllMusic. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
  2. ^ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Joe Cocker; 'Civilized Man')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.