Following his triumphant performance at Woodstock in 1969, Joe Cocker found himself without a band. Turning to the renowned Leon Russell, they formed what became the ‘Mad Dogs and Englishmen’ ensemble of musicians for his 1970 tour. ‘Learning to Live Together: The Return of Mad Dogs and Englishmen’ from director Jesse Lauter follows the Tedeschi Trucks Band as they pull together the remaining original ‘Mad Dogs’ to recreate that experience for a festival in Virginia.
Mixing footage from the documentary of the original tour with the modern rehearsals and the festival performance, ‘Learning to Live Together’ juxtaposes the past with the band members as they are now. As it does so, it breaks off on small tangents to highlight a couple of the significant people, such as Claudia Lennear and Rita Coolidge.
One of the flaws of ‘Learning to Live Together’ though is that for many of the subjects, it is very shallow and doesn’t go into much depth. This is perhaps a side effect of having so many interesting people to cover and nowhere near enough time. This problem isn’t limited to the original ‘Mad Dogs’ either and several of the modern participants get introduced without two much detail. With Chris Robinson for instance, it is just assumed that people know his history with The Black Crowes, and his knowledge is just alluded to. Similarly, Dave Mason, of Traffic fame amongst others, doesn’t really get an introduction.
While that is fine for a musically knowledgeable audience, for the general viewer the significance of some of these people will go unnoticed. Part of that is down to some massive assumptions, which includes the fact that even the Tedeschi Trucks band which forms the core of this isn’t as well known outside of the US as they might hope. But that isn’t to say that there aren’t enough clues for the average viewer to gain at least some inkling that the stand-ins are people of note.
What the film does achieve is to give a sense of what the tour was like and why many of the participants jumped on board. It also manages to show what Leon Russell pulled together and how his band of session players and various hangers-on created a unique group. This is replicated once again, and it does seem as if they have captured some of the spirit from the first time around.
It is undoubtedly primarily a nostalgia trip for many in the target audience, but it will draw in some new viewers intrigued by the sheer number of distinguished players and the cult status of the tour. It will also drive-up interest in the original 1971 documentary, which surely deserves a re-release. Like ‘Standing in the Shadows of Motown’ and similar before it, it also shows the ‘Mad Dogs’ being given another chance to shine, and we’re all the better for it. Sadly, the documentary contains the last interview with Leon Russell before his death, but at least this highlights once again what a great musician and band leader he was. If only Joe Cocker could have joined them to cap off what is a very fetching tribute by some committed fans of the music.
