Across From Midnight
Filmed in Berlin in 1997, this good-looking production finds the aging  bluesman mixing his classic covers with more recent material, all for an  appreciative audience in a startlingly dramatic venue. Warming up with "Could  You Be Loved" and "Feeling Alright," Cocker soon finds his footing and launches  into the Scotch whiskey soul of "Have a Little Faith," the kinky comedy of "You  Can Leave Your Hat On," and the gospel-flushed agony of "When the Night Comes."  A take on Van Morrison's "Into the Mystic" is welcome, while "Don't Let Me Be  Misunderstood" mines the old Animals chestnut for further blues testimony. The  crumpled valentine of "You Are So Beautiful" is touchingly familiar and  dedicated, on this occasion, to the late Princess Diana. In all, Cocker is in  very good, professional form here, a tempered force of nature, perhaps, but an  expressive stylist of mature conviction.--Tom Keogh