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.
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).
