ELTON JOHN

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EMPTY SKY (1969)

(reviewed by Nick Karn)

HIGH POINTS: Valhalla.  LOW POINTS: Sails.

More known in Elton's catalog by me as 'the album that doesn't exist', except in the used bins for $3 and in the collections of about 13 people, in which case I'm allowed to give it a review!  Not that there's really all that much to write about Empty Sky or that you're missing anything classic by hearing it, though, as it's pretty much a just decent 'post-psychedelic' era album.  It's definitely notable for being his first collaboration with lyricist Bernie Taupin, not to mention arguably his most rocking, artsy album ever (no surprise, since this is the same guy who once tried out as lead vocalist for friggin' Gentle Giant and King Crimson!), though quite a bit of his distinctive singing and playing style is definitely here - I don't know about you, but it always sounds weird to me hearing anyone else sing an Elton John song, no matter what the era, and most of this album is no exception to that rule, which says something at least.

It's actually interesting to note that the opening track on his first album is actually not the hugely known "Your Song", but an 8 minute prog epic (well, sort of)!  Oh, not that the title track is all that great a song - it's more or less just a normal buildup pop tune stretched out to that length with really long, lyrically driven harder rocking verses (and a dreamy flute-laden chorus) interspersed with jam sections featuring backwards guitar, organ, and harmonica - but it is actually promising and fun to listen to.  Not that things stay in that direction, though - "Valhalla" and "Skyline Pigeon" are of the elegant 'harpsichord' ballad type (the former of which has the most gorgeous, mystical chorus on here - 'come to Valhalla, seek, and you'll find' - making it the best on the album, and the latter is actually a completely solo venture into that vein, with majestic, colorful lyrics and actual strong single potential, though of course it didn't do jack on the charts), and "Western Ford Gateway" has effective raw vocal aggression, mostly in one speaker during the verses - ah, the days of stereo separation.

Elsewhere, we have... uh, the non-descript "Sails" (the only completely unmemorable and dull tune here), the laid back "Hymn 2000" (which throws in some nonsense about a 'chocolate center' or some crap during the chorus) and the bombastic closer "Gulliver", which turns into a hilariously bizarre jazz-influenced jam section.  Most of the others are more memorable for their singalong choruses ("Lady What's Tomorrow" and "The Scaffold" especially), but actually, I know why that might be - at the very end of the two part "Gulliver / Hay Chewed" suite, short reprises of every song on the album, mostly the choruses, fade in and out (a trick that I've actually never heard on any other album - I'm not totally sure if that idea is really dumb or really neat myself, though I'm leaning toward the former).  In all, decent if unspectacular album that does correctly hint at much better things to come, and it's worth a listen or two if you see it cheap.

OVERALL RATING: 6

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Empty Sky is actually one of my firm favourite Elton John albums. It's just so catchy. It covers a wide range of styles and Elton performs raelly well. He sings and plays well. His songwriting is very good, especially for a debut. Almost every song has a catchy chorus. My favourites are Scaffold, an unusual folk song with a cool electric-piano intro and infectious chorus. Sails is a cool rocker which also has some excellent electric piano and soem excellent guitar playing from Caleb Quaye. Skylien Pigeon is a beautiful ditty, an ode to caged birds. It has a really unusual sound becasue of the harpsichord and organ. Lady what's tomorrow is a fantastic organ-laden ballad with a touching melody and an interesting dress-up lyric. It coems off as a love song but the lyrics are actually environmental. Elton keeps asking the 'Lady' what's tomorrow?, and there are lines about woods being replaced by concrete. Was this song inspired by Tar and Cement. But my choice of single would have been the cathy as baseball mits 'Western Ford Gateway'. 'Val Hala', a beautiful, surreal harpsichord ballad and the Rhtyhm and blues rocker, the opener, aer also standouts. I have the CD with bonus tracks and 'Lady Samantha' is similar to Western Ford Gateway, as is 'Just like strange rain'. 'It's me that you need' is a pretty good pop song, reminiscent of the period it was recorded. the lyrics are an opposite to 'It ain't me babe' I think. That's a Bob Dylan song.

The down sides are the fact I don't like the anti-religion lyrics to 'Hymn 2000' [though I love the part aboutSubmarine Numbers]. The same goes for the occult-ish 'All across the Havens', the fourth bonus track. Another down-side is the fact that a lto fo the songs on this album suffer from bad production. On quite a few of these songs Elton's singing is drowned out by the instruments. I think in music production that there should be an instrument that is central and all the others are inferior to it but fill in the gaps in the background. If all the instruments have the same volume, there is nothign to 'capture' the listener and it becomes an unenjoyable mess. Gulliver, to my mind, is the one that suffers from this the worst. It's actually a great song but even the hi hat drowns out Elton and his piano, not to mention the bass or the guitar.

But, overall, this album comes off as a groovy listen that features a fairly vibrant atmosphere despite it's psychedelic inlinations. Elton uses nto only piano but also uses electric piano, organ and harpsichrod on this record, giving at a good variety/ Elton is able to fuse styles like Rythm and Blues, folk, Pop, Psychedelia, rock, ballad and make it all catchy, which proves him to be a skilled tunsmith.

RATING: 8.5

ELTON JOHN (1970)

(reviewed by Nick Karn)

HIGH POINTS: Your Song, Sixty Years On, I Need You To Turn To.  LOW POINTS: No Shoestrings On Louise.

The album where Elton John's career as most know it begins, since Empty Sky wasn't exactly an overwhelming commercial success.  But with a couple big hit singles, though, that was soon to change with the release of this one.  Even this early in his career, collaborating with lyricist Bernie Taupin and string arranger Paul Buckmaster, he's already found a unique sound here, with a good portion of this material being expertly arranged and melodic romantic songs, with the vocals being the mouthpiece for Taupin's introspective lyric writing.  With the mostly spare arrangements and only occasional uptempo moments, it may not sound as full as a lot of his later work does, but still, there's a fine pleasant tone to almost all of this material, with nice melodies all around, even if quite a few of the songs do sound a bit similar to each other in overall atmosphere and only a couple are truly awesome overall.

The opening track and hugest hit is, of course, one of those fantastic numbers - "Your Song", despite having a couple moments of lyrical stupidity ('if I was a sculptor, but then again, no..' is the most obvious) has very distinctive piano and vocal melodies that give it great emotional power, and it's probably one of the most memorable ballads I can think of, certainly one of the guy's most well-known songs, deservedly.  There are also other big successes in this vein, as "Sixty Years On" boasts beautiful sweeping orchestration throughout (hooray for Buckmaster) that gives that song a sheer majesty lacking in most of the other tracks, and along with the haunting quality to the main melody, lifts an otherwise 'good' song to close to greatness.  "I Need You To Turn To" is another introspective and spare winner, with another fine melody that has a somewhat ominous tone to it.

Like stated earlier, though, there are a few more uptempo, rocking out pieces, where a few fun, energetic hooks come to the forefront.  "Take Me To The Pilot" and "The Cage" really embody that side of Elton here perfectly - both of them have pretty decent verses and piano parts, but both are almost made entirely by their really catchy and simplistically entertaining chorus hooks, 'na na na....' and 'ahhhhh-ooooo-oooo' (to transcribe that one ineptly) respectively.  I guess the other big hit "Border Song" is kind of the bridge between the softer and more energetic side here - it can't exactly be called stripped down, but it's not exactly arena rock either, is it?  But it sure is extremely catchy - see if you can get that hook out of your head ('holyyyy Moses... I have been deceived... dun dun dun da dun dun...')

As far as the other tracks go, the only time the album's songwriting doesn't really work is when Elton tries to branch out into country-ish territory with "No Shoestrings On Louise", as it has an obnoxious vocal delivery and more awful lyrics bringing it down, but the remaining ones are alright.  I'll definitely give Bernie credit for the lyric writing on "The Greatest Discovery", which musically sounds a bit too similar to the softer songs on here, but the words are really beautifully written thoughts on the subject of a newborn child.  And rounding things out are "First Episode At Hienton" (another decent romantic/nostalgic piece that sounds nice while it's on, even if doesn't build much) and the almost epic-sounding "The King Is Dead", which, although maybe not great overall, boasts one of the most memorable and thrilling main piano parts on here, and a powerful ending.  So what's the end result?  A very good album, and a sometimes excellent breakthrough effort that would lead to even greater triumphs in the future.

OVERALL RATING: 7.5

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If you can, get the remastered CD with bonus tracks. The two rockers, 'Bad side of the moon' and 'Rock n Roll Madonna' are excellent. I think that Bad side of the moon is the best of the rockers on the album. I thought the review was fairly spot on. I've never been a fan, personally, of 'No SHoestrings'. My favourite songs of the ballads were the three you mentioned but I'd also mention 'First Episdoe at Hienton' because it has a such a beautiful, haunting melody. Your song is so beautiful. I mean it is piano oriented adult contemporary pop but here Elton was trying to help invent that genre of music! Cage is a great rocker, fairly hauting. IT's interesting to see that ELton was changing his personality form album to album. On Empty Sky he was the unemotional describer of impossible events. Here he's the romantic, sensitive balladeerign troubador [I hope that isn't spelt wrong]. I actually had a listen to Empty Sky last night and I'd update my rating to 9. I'd give the this album 9.5.

TUMBLEWEED CONNECTION (1971)

(reviewed by Nick Karn)

HIGH POINTS: Burn Down The Mission, Ballad Of A Well-Known Gun, My Father's Gun, Amoreena.  LOW POINTS: Talking Old Soldiers.

After the mostly spare piano, vocals and orchestration sound of the last album, I'm not sure anyone could have guessed that Elton could have come out with an effort like this one.  If you're going out searching for the early albums that have all those really distinctive hits on them, listening to this album might come as a total surprise, for a couple reasons.  For one thing, there are no real smash singles here, unlike the surrounding albums, and like implied earlier, this is vastly different in tone than before.  Tumbleweed Connection pretty much goes for a country/blues sound with a heavy 'Old West' atmosphere filtered through the unique Elton style, a vibe that was probably most influenced by both Bernie Taupin's lyrical fascination with that subject matter at the time and maybe Caleb Quaye's guitar style too.  This is, in fact, a more guitar-oriented album than before, which is just fine by me, since Caleb is a fine player.

As a whole album, this may not be the most rewarding listening experience at first, due to the unfamiliar sound and the fact there aren't hits to grab onto, but many of these songs do have very solid hooks and the interesting tone of the album often works to its' benefit.  On something like the opening song "Ballad Of A Well-Known Gun", for instance, the bluesy guitar licks merging with the piano work, the lyrical subject matter and the striking chorus ('there... goes... a well known gun'), it's particularly successful, and even when heavy country elements are incorporated into the music, as on "Country Comfort", the melodic and vocal sense of the material still bears the Elton stamp on it, even though it's probably more famous in Rod Stewart's cover version from Gasoline Alley.  The hook power especially works on the other 'gun' number, "My Father's Gun", whose understated verse works incredibly well with the musically rich and majestic chorus ('sail around the bend...')

There are songs here that serve as exceptions to the 'formula' (if this album can be called that) - the extremely pretty acoustic/harp ballad "Come Down In Time" bears little resemblance to it, for instance, but provides a great dreamy mood after the opening track.  The first ever cover song on an Elton album (Lesley Duncan's "Love Song") is just as far removed from it, but it's a very nice acoustic-guitar driven poppy number on which Duncan actually sings backing vocals during the chorus.  Maybe not very substantial, but nice all the same.  At least it's better than "Talking Old Soldiers", the sole weak track here, the only one that sounds as if it come from the self-titled effort, only without much of the melody that characterized most of those tracks.  It's not really bad, but just kinda bland and unmemorable.

Elsewhere, there's a foray into a gospel-sounding atmosphere in the nice singalong "Son Of Your Father" (which has another noteworthy hook within it) and more timeless piano work and truly memorable pop melody complements the provocative 'do we go to heaven or hell?' subject matter of "Where To Now, St. Peter?".  Speaking of the lyrics, on a Bernie Taupin-related note, this album may be one of his most successful and well-written lyrical efforts - musically, all the songs seem to fit his insights quite nicely, especially on the really colorful and umm... playful imagery of the highly catchy "Amoreena".  This is another excellent piano pop/blues gem, and probably the single most memorable song on the album.

Though it's not quite the best one here - that honor would have to go to the one true epic, the closing "Burn Down The Mission", and the one number that proves that even though the most attractive feature might be the album's sound, the melodic greatness are where a lot of its' power comes from.  The arrangement here is just terrific, flowing from a subtle loungey piano-led melody and from here, the other instruments slowly enter the mix before it rises into a phenomenal climactic chorus (where he belts out 'burn dowwwwwwwwn the missiooooooooon' in a grand, majestic fashion).  And don't forget the breathtaking barrage of fast piano notes merged with thrilling horns and a great orchestrated tone in the background.  It's surely a great end to one unique gem widely regarded as one of Elton's best - it may be, and it's certainly an interesting album, which alone counts for something.

OVERALL RATING: 8.5

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MADMAN ACROSS THE WATER (1971)

(reviewed by Nick Karn)

HIGH POINTS: Tiny Dancer, Levon, Madman Across The Water.  LOW POINTS: All The Nasties.

Elton John goes prog rock!  Or at least into much artsier territory, anyway, since through the arrangements on this album, almost every song on here sees Elton and Bernie seemingly wanting to make some huge musical statement.  The irony of this, however, is for such an ambitious effort, the actual tone of Madman is fairly monotonous, especially coming off of Tumbleweed Connection.  Nearly everything on here is driven by the trademark piano parts that can all sound the same if you're not paying attention, with Paul Buckmaster string arrangements in the background being a constant.  Add this to the usually baffling lyrical content, and you have a potentially disasterous album on your hands.  But the absolute saving grace here, though, is that the songwriting, at its' best, is elevated to simply terrific heights by the mostly high quality melodies and arrangements throughout.  And nothing shows this better than side one here.

The two opening numbers in particular (and also the most well-known radio hits from the album) seem to overshadow everything else in breathtaking quality.  The absolute highlight, of course, is the groupie tribute "Tiny Dancer", later immortalized in the rock movie Almost Famous (which I really recommend seeing, by the way).  The main melody to the song is worthy and moving enough, but the way it gradually builds itself up, with subtle use of steel guitar and changes in the piano part, to one of the most uplifting singalong choruses I've ever heard ('hold me closer, tiny dancer...') is completely epic and overwhelming in drama.  The following "Levon" is nearly as such in character, with religious symbolism (Levon calls his son Jesus, etc.) in the lyrics seemingly adding to the bombast.  While it doesn't quite hit as hard emotionally, it does have numerous great qualities, like the solid melody, Buckmaster's best orchestral arrangement on the whole album and the big anthemic style of the chorus in which Elton takes such a neat tone to his voice when he sings 'and he shall be Levon... and he shall be a good man....'

At this early stage of the album, it already sounds like a total classic, but unfortunately, nothing else really even tries to approach those two highlights.  Well, except for maybe the title track, which is probably the most melodically complex, prog-ish song on the album, and not only are the numerous melodies and mood changes it goes through enthralling, but that great guitar riff/piano part that introduces things (and ends up becoming the main hook) is so ominous and powerful it just about carries the whole song by itself.  But in the context of those tracks, however, stuff like the remaining side one entry "Razor Face" and "Holiday Inn" seem like seriously underwhelming tunes, even though they're quite nice on their own - the former is an interesting character sketch ballad, and the latter one may not be all that special as a song objectively, but the mood it evokes through its' atmosphere is really warm and welcoming (not unlike a holiday inn!) that it's hard not to be taken by it.

The remaining four songs here are of mixed quality, with "All The Nasties" being the only real low point, since it's just a really dull gospel song with next to no solid melody. It does try to save itself with a repetitive coda at the end (which at least has such a nice dark, echoey atmosphere from the drum sound at the very beginning) but the remainder of that portion?  Not so successful.  All the rest of the tracks have good stuff going for them, at least, though.  In fact, I would probably love side two's highlight "Rotten Peaches" if Tumbleweed Connection didn't exist - the 'la la la la...' singalong ending it has is really nice, and the melodies are quite excellent, even if they just happen to sound way too similar to both "Country Comfort" and "Burn Down The Mission" for me to really appreciate the song too much.

Meanwhile, the pretentious historical epic "Indian Sunset" certainly doesn't deserve to be almost 7 minutes long, since the arrangement and atmosphere isn't really all that great, though its' two separate melodies are captivating and memorable enough to hold interest anyway.  The closing "Goodbye", meanwhile, should be well over 5 minutes long, as its' really mournful melody alone could be a starting point for a truly excellent epic, but here, it's only a brief, uncertainly dark 1:48 closure to the album.  Yeah, as I might be implying, this is bit of a frustrating effort that perhaps starts off too strongly for its' own good, but I've got to give it to Elton here: the best stuff is completely classic, and the listening experience is consistently pleasurable regardless of the flaws within the individual songs.  Plus the style of Madman itself is something he never really tried again.  Until Victim Of Love, of course.

OVERALL RATING: 8

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HONKY CHATEAU (1972)

(reviewed by Nick Karn)

HIGH POINTS: Rocket Man, I Think I'm Going To Kill Myself, Honky Cat, Salvation, Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters.  LOW POINTS: None.

It might have been likely that Elton and his friends realized how monotonous Madman Across The Water sounded as a whole, or maybe he just wanted to branch out a little bit from that sound, because this album (with a few exceptions) doesn't bear very many similarities to it.  Sure, Elton's piano sound is still at the forefront, but in a way, this is more of a throwback to the country/blues atmosphere of Tumbleweed Connection, only with more diversity (and I'd also like to add that bassist Dee Murray really stands out on most of these songs).  More importantly, the melodies are at an absolute high throughout, and the songwriting overall is much more consistent than the somewhat frontloaded last effort. And while this may not be as all-encompassing as Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, it manages to be even more thrilling - no misguided overambitiousness or questionable stylistic excursions, and plus it's a single album, too!  In other words, it's really damn good, and probably one of his more immediately likeable albums to boot.

Here's a little game to play - try programming it to play only the odd numbered tracks and see how friggin' awesome the results are.  You'll get a playful, uptempo horn-led opening number "Honky Cat", which is probably one of the more representative displays of the well-developed hooks on this record, and it also has great bass work interplaying with the piano and the lively horns in the 'get back... honky cat...' chorus.  Then would come Elton and Bernie's take on Kinks-ish Britpop in "I Think I'm Going To Kill Myself" - I can only imagine how much the lyrics to this one would have baffled fans (the chorus goes something like 'I think I'm gonna kill myself / cause a little suicide / I'd like to see what the papers say / what a scandal if I died'). But even without that concept, it's a great song - the vocal melody is insanely catchy in a quirky way, and the rest has some really, really neat ideas going for it (most notably the middle break which sounds suspiciously like a funeral march, and the way the chorus shifts to slow acoustic mode during the 'on the state of the teenage bluuuuuuuues....' line)

Following that, of course, would be the hugest smash here, possibly the most well-known Elton song ever, and one of the most perfect matches between music, melody and lyrics I can think of. Bernie Taupin's words, which tell a story of a 'rocket man' who wants to come down from space, seamlessly blend with a completely timeless melody that only Elton could come up with, a vintage piano line, and even synthesizer swoops!  And of course, though Ben Greenstein might argue 'I'm a rocket man... ROCKET MAN!' is an example of a shitty lyric, there's no way you're gonna get me to deny the incredible anthemic power of that chorus.  I'd say it's about the best song here!  But that's not all - there's also "Slave", a country-ish song that was, in its' original form, ridiculously fast (as proven on this version of it included as a bonus track), but once someone came up with the idea to slow it down, it suddenly took off as a rather catchy and warm little ditty!  Plus, that repeating of the last couple words in each line in the verses creates a neat effect.

And finally, to end the EP, there's another fairly large hit in "Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters", which is probably the most representative of the typical 'piano ballad' formula we all know the guy for, though like most of his best work in this area, it has a distinctive hook of its' own that's difficult to leave your head ('Mona Lisas and mad hatters / sons of bankers sons of lawyers...'), plus some interesting lyrical observations on New York City.  Excellent work.  So in all, this could possibly be just about the greatest EP I've he--- hey wait.  I almost forgot - there's 5 other songs here, and while the remaining even numbered tracks definitely make up a less impressive portion of the album (one that does admittedly make the overall quality go down a bit), that doesn't mean they're not good songs or anything.  Even the weakest one here ("Mellow") has an appropriate atmosphere and somewhat pretty chorus despite being a little overlong and slightly dull.

As for the four others, the one that undoubtedly stands out most is the hidden gem on here, the sort of gospel-ish "Salvation" - the verse melody here is very moving stuff (especially during the opening lines 'I'd like to say my friends / this road goes a long long way'), and I really enjoy that guitar riff that appears during the chorus.  Elsewhere, "Susie (Dramas)" is a fairly regular, but still fine, piece of energetic rock that becomes enjoyable once the refrain gets to you, "Amy" is a rather good, quite bouncy, tune with amusing vocal intonations, an entertaining melody and excellent use of violins throughout, and the 'ode to a cat named' "Hercules" is a wonderful slice of Beach Boys-ish, slightly folkish and doo-wop tinged harmony filled pop that provides a satsifying closure to the album, which marks a very high peak for Elton and Bernie as songwriters, and it's also a solid record well worthy of the glorious year of 1972.  It's also a fairly easy album to get into, I think, which is even more of a reason to recommend it.

OVERALL RATING: 9

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DON'T SHOOT ME I'M ONLY THE PIANO PLAYER (1973)

(reviewed by Nick Karn)

HIGH POINTS: Crocodile Rock, Daniel.  LOW POINTS: Texan Love Song, Have Mercy On The Criminal.

Uhh... where the heck did Elton's mind go on this one?  Despite the convincing triumph of Honky Chateau and its' country-ish groove sound as a platform for interesting melodies, diversity and a songwriting peak in the end, it was probably more the commercial success of the album that got to him more than anything else.  Because this album seems to scream out with an almost half-assed vengeance, "Hi, I'm Elton John, look at me... I'm now a radio friendly pop star!  Because of this undeniable fact, success will automatically come to me, but it would probably help even more if I started writing more cheesy pop numbers!  And hey Bernie, there should be an actual song on the album called 'I'm Gonna Be A Teenage Idol', too!"  And of course, he succeeded in advancing his commercial status even further by that point, gaining two smash hit singles in the process as if this was going to hide that the production is perhaps the least convincing and bothersomely flat of his career.

Well, Elton's motivations probably aren't exactly how I made them out to be, but one cannot deny that this is a more pop-styled and mainstream effort than before, which isn't bad in itself, but if you're gonna write great pop, the actual hooks (the entire focus of the songs) have to be really good, and several of them sound effortlessly tossed off.  Like "Midnight Creeper" for instance - is there any strong melody beyond all the glitzy showy horn-filled stuff that I'm not aware of?  I don't remember it - and shouldn't that title imply something... uhh... creepy?  These problems even extend to the ballads - no matter how much neat sitar and guitar interplay can be stuck into "Blues For My Baby And Me", it doesn't make up for the fact that the song is way too unmemorable and slow-paced for me to care (it is decent, though).  And the quite pretty closer "High Flying Bird" very much soars in the chorus like a fine anthemic ballad should - too bad someone forgot to provide a melody for the rest of the song (verses).  Oops.

Melodies (or lack thereof) aren't the only problem this album has, though.  A couple of the songs seem like just pale reworkings of the Honky Chateau styles - the poppy side of this has the self explanatory and pretty non-descript aforementioned "I'm Gonna Be A Teenage Idol", and the ballad side has the just plain hokey and forgettable "Texan Love Song", with these extremely simplistic acoustic guitar patterns interplaying with an absolutely genial burst of no melody and stupid chanting.  Unlike that one, "Have Mercy On The Criminal" does have occasional moments of greatness - the fast orchestra/guitar introduction and the yell of 'JUST TAKE... THESE CHAINS... from around my neck...' in the refrain - but the remainder of this follows the really dull 'Elton slow song' formula, with no life to speak of at all.

Fortunately, this album is marginally lifted from the shadows of mediocrity by a few songs.  Besides the nice features of the flawed tunes I mentioned, there's the uptempo, naggingly catchy "Elderberry Wine" (a formulaic rocker, but a good one), and the lyrically cringeworthy but otherwise fun 50's style "Teacher I Need You", whose majestic harmonies in the chorus really make the song.  And of course, there's the two hits that everyone knows - the opening soft rock ballad "Daniel" is a memorably moving ode to a brother, with very effective flute sounding mellotron, and there's another one.  Let me think.  Oh, one of the guilty pleasure songs of all time for me. Everything about "Crocodile Rock", from that ridiculous falsetto singing, to the incessant synths, the hard rocking transition to the chorus, the lyrics, and the melody, seems incredibly cheesy, but the way in which all these cheesy elements combine together is such an unavoidably catchy pleasure that I can't resist it.  Regardless, when a song like this ends up being the best on an album, it can't ever really be that good for its' quality, and this is a very patchy, though to Elton and Bernie's credit still decent, effort that shows this in spades.

OVERALL RATING: 6

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I thought you were a bit hard on Elton here. I think his melodies are fine, notbaly on Blues for my baby and me. And the rockers are no less melodic than your everyday rocker. Plus thhese rockers' biggest strength are their energy. I've always loved 'Midnight Creepers'. It's a really cool song. The entertainment factor on this album is really high. The lyrics tell interesting stories for the most part. I personally have never liked 'High-flying bird'. Then Have mercy on the criminal is just OK for me. I'm gonna be a teenage Idol is a bit too pretentious in my opinion, althoguh the songs' got a great groove. But that's about it. The first five songs are what I'd call flawless. Than Crocodile rock is so good too. Texan Love Song is kind of denouncing his folk-rock days like 'Madman' and 'Tumbleweed'. I find it more entertaining and enjoyable than most his albums that were recorded around the same time.

GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD (1973)

(reviewed by Nick Karn)

HIGH POINTS: Funeral For A Friend / Love Lies Bleeding, Bennie And The Jets, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting, Grey Seal, Candle In The Wind.  LOW POINTS: Dirty Little Girl, I've Seen That Movie Too, Roy Rogers.

While peaking both commercially and artistically at the time, Elton went and recorded this, an effort that was apparently not planned as a double album, but maybe since he had so much material recorded and wanted to show off the various sides that had made him a star to this point, it seemed like a good idea.  But in the long run, I'm really not so sure.  As far as double albums go, this is one of the most frustratingly inconsistent I've ever come across, with nearly one half of it on a level of sheer brilliance, and the rest ranging from pretty good to decent if uninspiring to just plain obnoxious or generic.  Luckily, the album is a fairly diverse listen, not just covering the familiar piano-based side, but also including touches of glam pop, hard rock, prog, ska, jazzy stuff, and rock and roll, and the first six track stretch is one of the most breathtaking I can think of.  And all of this is more than you can say for the 'sell out' last effort, which this thankfully is an improvement on.

The most breathtaking moment in my humble opinion comes not within the three huge radio hits on album one, but in the opening two part, 11 minute "Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding", about as stunning a lengthy epic as you can find.  The first half in particular is some of the most amazingly emotional and perfectly flowing instrumental music I've ever heard, from the majestic synth buildup to the fast piano barrage to the simply excellent slow guitar breaks which really bring the 'funeral for a friend' image home.  The 'Love Lies Bleeding' portion is almost as great, though, as it turns into a spectacular fast rocker with equally celebratory guitar, vocal and piano melodies.  There are a couple other lesser known gems here as well, in the form of the snappy little 'appears to be filler, but is actually extremely catchy' tune "This Song Has No Title" and the gorgeously fast, funky and majestic "Grey Seal" (whose chorus just soars with power, and I love the way it slows down right before the verses).

Of course, these songs aren't what most know the album for, though, as great as they are.  Listeners might recall the Marilyn Monroe tribute "Candle In The Wind", another melodically and lyrically compelling masterpiece (probably some of Bernie Taupin's best work here).  It may be more famous these days as its' '97 tribute to Princess Diana version, but the moving emotion is still preserved here.  The title track is probably even more powerful, as its' dreamy anthemic atmosphere suddenly explodes into a heavenly refrain.  And who could forget the glammed up, quirky, extremely well arranged and entertaining "Bennie And The Jets", since its' melody, piano part and yells of 'Bennie!  Bennie!  Bennie!' are so incessantly catchy, making it probably the most immediately memorable and fun song on the album?

Unfortunately, it's from this point on that things start to die down considerably.  Well, to be perfectly honest, there's only two or three songs here I could completely live without in this last 11 song stretch, but it's as if a lot of the melodical and musiscal ambition just gets toned down a lot, resulting in a bunch of songs that are good, but not really that much more than that.  The exception here, of course, is the explosive guitar-heavy arena rocker "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting", which, in all of its' energetic riff and crowd-pleasing power, is a true unforgettable classic that overshadows everything else on this part of the album.  I don't know if anyone can argue that the funny, though a little overly novelty-ish, ska influenced "Jamaica Jerk Off", the moving, but mostly just okay, storysong "The Ballad Of Danny Bailey", the uptempo lesbian number "All The Girls Love Alice" or the predictable though nice closing ballad "Harmony" come even close, for instance, even if they are quite decent.

I guess there are a couple other gems on album two, though - "Your Sister Can't Twist, But She Can Rock And Roll" is a wildly entertaining, short rock and roll influenced piece with a really amusing instrumental bridge (nice diversion here), and "Social Disease" is a fun singalong track with a great chorus ('I'm a genuine example... of a social diseeeeeeeeease...') and neat fadein.  "Sweet Painted Lady" is also interesting in that it has bothersome 'prostitute' lyrics, but I really can't deny how nice the melody is.  But I simply can't look past crap like "Dirty Little Girl" - the extreme obnoxiousness of the vocal tone, the melody and the woman bashing lyrics make it an excruciating experience.  "I've Seen That Movie Too" and "Roy Rogers" are also utterly bland and boring numbers, the former a lifeless nostalgic lounge tune and the latter a pointless cowboy number.  Ugh.  Now do you see how I'm so torn over this album?  However, I can still give it a solid 8, since most of it is at least enjoyable, with over a third of it being just about classic, and it probably symbolizes quite a few sides of Elton.  Go get it - just be prepared to experiment with the 'program' feature.

OVERALL RATING: 8

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This is a great double album. The beauty about double albums are that they can be made into excellent single albums. But each person has their own view of what should be kept and what should be left-out so thje double album accomodates all. Some people even listen to the whole album. So ten out of ten from me, for

1. Funeral for a friend/ Love Lies Bleeding
2. Candle in the wind
3. Bennie and the Jets
4. Goodbye Yellow brick road
5. You're sister can't twist
6. Saturday Nights alright for fighting
7. Roy Rodgers
8. Social Disease
9. Harmony

About your comments on some of the songs being boring because they're ballads, it ain't Elton's fault that you have a nanosecond attention span. It may be your mothers though, perhaps she gave you too much red cordial. 'Now we're goign to learn how to program songs out' What a stupid comment.

CARIBOU (1974)

(reviewed by Nick Karn)

HIGH POINTS: Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me, The Bitch Is Back.  LOW POINTS: Stinker.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road certainly showed a trashier glam rock side to Elton John than ever before, but it also maintained his artsier approach for the most part (remember "Funeral For A Friend", just about the best progressive rock epic not actually written by a band in that genre?).  That's not the case with its' followup, though - it's much more in line with the commercial spirit of Don't Shoot Me, with a really campy and cheesy feel all over the place, from the melodies and musical ideas and even extending all the way to the hilariously stupid album cover that's certainly good for a laugh in the unlikely event you haven't actually seen it.  Given that I thought the weaker stuff on either one of those two albums that large portions of the material here seems to take after was creatively... umm... uninspiring, then in theory I should probably bash it into the ground as a worthless pile of mediocrity.

But surprisingly enough, it isn't.  For starters, Elton was still on a roll in terms of smash hit singles, and Caribou contains two of his best.  I'm sure most radio listeners have heard the insanely infectious chugging rocker "The Bitch Is Back", whose horns (courtesy of the "Tower Of Power" horn section) give it an even sleazier feel than it had in the first place, no thanks to our favorite 'women-loving' lyricist, and even more have heard "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me".  The latter track is deservedly known as one of his classic epic ballads - you know, the one with two really long verses featuring all these instrumental embellishments thrown in the mix and a huge climactic harmonized chorus featuring backing vocals from a multitude of guests, most notably Carl Wilson and Bruce Johnston of Beach Boys fame.  Too bad Elton and his band weren't anywhere near as creatively inspired for the rest of this stuff.

Not that these other eight songs are exactly shit, of course, but if you already have the two classics on a hits album and you're not a huge fan or completist, there isn't exactly anything else substantial in the track listing that you'd miss by not picking this one up.  Unless a major guilty pleasure in the form of the mock Italian parody "Solar Prestige A Gammon" (complete with accordian and hilariously exaggerated vocal delivery) can count as such.  Sure, stuff like "Pinky" and "Dixie Lily" is enjoyable to listen to, but the former is a total exercise in stereotypical Elton piano balladry (which isn't a compliment), and the latter is pretty much lightweight country rock stuff that doesn't hold a candle to better efforts on Tumbleweed Connection or Honky Chateau, only having that endearing chorus going for it.  

With that being said, only "Stinker" is a real low point among these remaining album tracks (with its' generic plodding blues rhythm making it live up to its' name), and while not great overall, most of them at least have interesting ideas.  The otherwise just okay rocker "Grimsby" has a really cool quirky riff that sounds just like something Steve Hackett would come up with, "You're So Static" has intriguing synth effects and more exciting Tower Of Power horns, "I've Seen The Saucers" has a mysterious 'under the stars' atmosphere and a fairly good melodic build, and even the way overlong and repetitive closing 7-1/2 minute epic "Ticking" has some exciting piano flourishes and a dramatic melody that holds interest for at least a few minutes amongst storytelling lyrics before becoming dull. But ehh, there's just not too much truly special about this non-hit material.  Consider this more like a decent but unspectacular 6 album raised a point for those two huge classic singles.

OVERALL RATING: 7

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Kind of disagree. It's an entertaining album. Dixy Lily is one of Eltons best country rockers, and is catchy to boot. It tells a gerat story. I have no idea what the Stereotype about Pinky is but it's got a beautiful meldoy and Elton delivers a moving vocal. Solar Prestige has a great groove and some excellent vibraphone playing. Stinker, however, is the song where Elton delivers one of his most passionate, yet semi-serious vocal performances. The song has such an excellent groove. It's the high point for me. The lyrics are cool too. It's my favourite album Elton did in the seventies. Other highlights are The Bitch is back, Don't let the sun go down on me, the psychedelic euro-folk jazz rocker You're static which is one fo Elton's most energetic songs, and Grimsby.

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC AND THE BROWN DIRT COWBOY (1975)

(reviewed by Nick Karn)

HIGH POINTS: Someone Saved My Life Tonight, Bitter Fingers, Tower Of Babel, Curtains. LOW POINTS: None.

Well, this is an unexpected improvement - who knew that Elton had another excellent minor masterpiece left in him after critics had left him for dead with the overly flashy Caribou?  Not surprisingly, it's his last album to be widely regarded as such a great, essential classic, since the next albums were the extremely rushed Rock Of The Westies, the excessive double album Blue Moves, and ehh... you can probably estimate the quality of his stuff after that.  Captain Fantastic is for the most part a much artsier take on his established sound in terms of arrangement and atmosphere, and that feeling doesn't just translate to the music either - Bernie Taupin's lyrics here are probably the most ambitious and conceptually themed of his entire career, well documenting the experiences of their partnership in their very early years when they first met (late 60's), with a lot of interesting imagery to boot.  Plus, there's that complex and really neat album cover.

Not surprisingly, this autobiographical slant means the material hits all the more harder in terms of emotional impact.  But it's also not that easy of an album to get into - while the melodies aren't unmemorable necessarily, the vague twists they take combined with a general muddy sound in the production doesn't make them that attractive.  It's on first listen stuff like the opening title track might sound directionless and confused, but once you actually notice the extremely subtle, somewhat epic manner in which it morphs from a folky anthemic ballad to a energetic singalong rocker, with colorful storytelling throughout its' 5-1/2 minutes, it gets quite rewarding.  Maybe you'll also notice the absolutely beautiful vocal melodies right before the chorus of the slow, orchestral soul/funk of "Tell Me When The Whistle Blows" that makes it seem a lot less plodding and schmaltzy and even more satisfying.

There's some other really intriguing stuff here too on the first side of this, too.  "Tower Of Babel" has a bit of a slickness to the production, but somehow it still manages to get a very eerie, ominous vibe in the way the melody builds, with some of the darkest, most convincingly metaphorical lyrics ever heard on an Elton album (culminating in the closing line 'Jesus don't save the guys in the Tower of Babel').  "Bitter Fingers", meanwhile, has phenomenal, really fascinating contrast in the brilliantly spare, anthemic, and minimalist piano verses (with fast-paced bursts in the intro) and the poppy, uptempo, but still noticeably dark vocal/guitar note interplay portion (after all, the lyrics here are 'it's hard to write a song with bitter fingers / so much to prove so few to tell you why' - more great autobiographical tones!).

But all of this basically pales to the most obvious highlight on the album in the side closing epic "Someone Saved My Life Tonight".  I haven't determined whether or not it deserves a place at the top of my 'favorite Elton John songs' list, but I'm pretty confident it's the most emotionally devastating one he ever wrote.  This is where the 'autobiographical' view comes in most, as the lyrics are directly inspired by Elton's own suicide attempt (done by putting his head in the oven) and how Bernie saved him from death.  The lyrics are brilliant enough in how they convey the perspectives of both of them, but the epic quality of the vocal melody, the piano arrangement and the way the instruments slowly build up seems to convey an 'after the ordeal' atmosphere, as if the character's contemplating the aftermath of the situation and life itself lying in bed during the very early morning hours.  And when that climactic chorus, with backing vocals and all, rolls around for the last time, the song has firmly earned its' 6:45 long place as an emotional masterpiece.  What a shattering song, and I'm extremely glad it was this one that earned the spot of being the lone big hit on the entire album.

There's also a second side to the whole affair (really?!), and while none of the songs are particularly excellent (which keeps this just out of Honky Chateau quality), they're all enjoyable enough as a whole to make this one of Elton's best albums ever, with not a blah tune to be found.  The lone rocker on the album, "(Gotta Get A) Meal Ticket", provides a lot of the entertainment and catchy energy of the entire experience, and along with the really pleasant ballad "Writing" (with a pretty repeating guitar line as the main hook of the song), it provides much needed lightheartedness here.  Also making an appearance is the odd, short march-styled singalong "Better Off Dead" that acts as a good interlude on this half (catchy as hell, too, and I love the fast verse melody here), and an at first dull and unmemorable ballad "We All Fall In Love Sometimes" (which is given a wonderfully climactic ending).

Finally, the closing "Curtains" turns out to be a vast improvement on Elton's last attempt at an extended "Hey Jude" coda ("All The Nasties") in that there's a darkly personal tinge to the main body of the song which is somewhat more memorable than before, and that ending is just one more gasp of brilliance from the whole album - a simple 'ohhhhhh' styled chant with backing vocals added on taken to an epic and unforgettable extreme.  Oh, how I love repeated melodies like that which could almost go on forever.  Too bad Elton's own success couldn't do the same, as his commercial and creative fortunes were all downhill from here (though he was still able to churn out excellent material on occasion, it wouldn't be a common occurence anymore).  Fairly spectacular peak, though, especially in terms of brilliant hit singles and album sales.  And this album?  Excellent!

OVERALL RATING: 8.5

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ROCK OF THE WESTIES (1975)

(reviewed by Nick Karn)

HIGH POINTS: Medley: Yell Help/Wednesday Night/Ugly, Dan Dare (Pilot Of The Future).  LOW POINTS: None.

Now here's an album not that many people talk about much.  For some random reason, just five months after releasing a very lyrics-based concept album of sorts, Elton John and his faithful backing band came out with... an effort that only has one piano ballad, with the rest of the songs being much more on the rockin' side of things.  A good amount of Rock Of The Westies (yeah, real clever pun in the title) definitely has that feel of Elton and the band just letting loose standing on the porch shown on the back cover and having a lot of fun doing it, certainly not sounding like any of this stuff was actually labored over in the studio or anything.  It wasn't the most commercially successful of albums either, spawning just one hit ("Island Girl") and a couple other minor singles that will never be remembered as anything close to this guy's best work, so it remains a small, insignificant footnote in his early-mid 70's catalog.

And that's kind of a shame, I think.  While I agree that there's very little great on here, the amount of energy and entertaining drive not usually found on Elton John albums does push the songs to a higher level than they'd probably reach otherwise, plus the first two songs really kick!  Particularly that opening medley of songs mostly built around its' first part (the supremely funky and catchy "Yell Help"), which later transforms itself into a dreamy ballad with neat synth embellishments ("Wednesday Night") and a sleazy midtempo section ("Ugly"), all coming to a climax with an awesome fast breakaway keyboard/gospel-tinged ending.  Brilliantly arranged and exciting, it is.  And how can anyone resist the pounding funkster "Dan Dare (Pilot Of The Future)", with really cool use of talkbox guitar effects and a hilarious growling chant of 'DAN DARE DOESN'T KNOW IT NO HE DOESN'T KNOW IT'?  I know I can't.

From that point on, things never reach outstanding heights, but for the most part the experience at least remains fun and energetic.  The aforementioned "Island Girl" single particularly scores in this department, with an infectiously bouncy Caribbean-tinged chorus and more proof of Elton's fantastic ability to use his voice with such personality and style.  He also demonstrates how he can use a simple but incredibly catchy hook to turn an otherwise mediocre and unmemorable song into something exciting (the 'ooe-ooe-oo' in the chorus of "Hard Luck Story"), and later on the closer "Billy Bones And His White Bird" turn the most basic rhythm ever invented - the Bo Diddley beat - into an epic-sounding, bombastic beast during the chorus (check out those glorious chord changes over the chanting of 'check it out!' right there).  A very satisfying end we have here!

But what about the rest of the tracks that none of the generic record buying public have ever heard?  Well, they do sag slightly, but they're all perfectly enjoyable anyway.  "Feed Me" is a lightweight, but decent pop/fusion tune, and even the basic power chord rocker "Grow Some Funk Of Your Own" has the rockin' energy at its' most contagious despite the hopelessly dumb hooks within.  Finally, the lone 'generic Elton' ballad "I Feel Like A Bullet (In The Gun Of Robert Ford)" overcomes its' dull atmosphere due to a gorgeous extended guitar solo from Davey Johnstone, while the overly repetitive "Street Kids" may not have much of an excuse to be nearly 6-1/2 minutes long, but I certainly can't resist the huge drive of that riff or the neat tinkling piano bits.  These songs might not seem very noticeable or special (and in a way they aren't, really), but the conviction displayed makes them quite a bit more enjoyable than they have a right to be.  So much so that I consider Rock Of The Westies a very good overlooked effort in spite of its' rushed and sometimes insubstantial nature.  From here, though, you can either hold your breath for the upcoming, umm... not so very good period, or pull a Cap'n Marvel and just pretend Elton died or retired.  Your choice.

OVERALL RATING: 7.5

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''From here, though, you can either hold your breath for the upcoming, umm... not so very good period, or pull a Cap'n Marvel and just pretend Elton died or retired. Your choice.'' What a load of ****. Is it the fact that Elton stopped singing stupid schoolboy tones that you don't like his later period stuff. Or is it because it showed he was a really wonderful songwriter? Okay I'm not too fond of his late 70's stuff, though Blue Moves is very thoguhtful and rather experimental at times. There are also a pack of beautiful melodies. I can tell that Victim of Love which is a great album for a bit of fun. Anyway why should I defend it? You're just making a pop biopic of his career. His 1980-1984 albums were his definite peak. They had various styles, various moods and were heaps of fun. Checkout 21 at 33, there's determination [chasing the crown], desperation [Give me the love], happiness [Little Jeannie], discontent [Never Gonna fall in love again], heartahce [Take me back and Sartorial eloquence] and even some philosophy [Dear God, Two rooms at the end of the world]. Compare to Honky Chateau, stories about the country [Mellow, Honky Cat, Slave, Salvation] Teenage woes [I think I'm gonna Kill myself, Susie, Amy, Hercules], New york [Mona Lisas and Mad hatters] and politics [Rocket Man]. There is very little variety of mood. Lets compare the two for musical variety 21 at 33 has Gospel [Dear God], Rock [White lady white powder, Chasinge the crown, two rooms and they're very different from eachother too], C&W [take me back], Ballads [Never gonna fall in love again, Little Jeannnie] pop [Sartorial Eloquence] and experimentation [Give me the love] and I find the album very enjoyable. Then there's Honky Chateau, all the sogns are very similar, there's not much variety to choose from [if you can get past that nerdy 12 year-old pre-puberty schoolboy wail] but lets look at it anyway, there's 2 country ballads [Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters and Mellow], six country rockers [Amy, I think I'm gonna kil myself, Suzie, Slave, Salvation, Hercules] a jazz track [Hoky Cat] and a staight folk song [rocket man]. Hey, even if the songs aren't al that long you get sick of all the country after a while. There's barely any variety. And Chateau's a million miles in front of the horrific Madman across the water. Oh by the way Rock of the Westies is pretty mediocre. It's okay I spose. 6 out of 10. I like Feed Me and Hard luck story [or should I say Grow some funk of your own part three?, Part two being Street kids.]

[a few days later:]

[Can I do this one again please?, I'm not very happy with what I wrote before]

I agree with you guys on Rock of the Westies. It is an overlooked Gem in his catalogue. It starts out with this cracking Medley, a fusion of a slightly honky-tonk rocker but, like so many of the songs here, features a variety of styles. I mean there's mock-pop with the backing vocals, the honky-tonk conveyed through Elton's voice, some excellent bass solo's from Kenny Passarelli which have a wonderful effect and of-course this Yell Help seagues into the mystical Wednesday Night, we are then taken trhough a bar-room rocker in Ugly, back to Yell help, then another fantastic bass solo, is this Kenny guy better than Dee Murray? into a crazy disco meets hard-rock number. Highly enjoyable stuff. From there on there is an amazing pallette of hard-rock meets various styles, except for "Island Girl" and "I feel like a bullet". The latter is a ballad, which is good on here since most of these songs are rockers and Island Girl is Jamaican, disco and a bit of something else. My favourite two songs have to be Hard-luck story, which is actually anti-misogeny, and Feed Me. I would give it about 8/10. There is a bit of filler, or perhaps just a mis-step, like 'Street Kids' which is repetitious and needlessly dragged out to 6:30. But mostly it's GREAT SHTUFF!!

Now all over the internet people are saying this is his last great album. This is not true. Even for those who think he wasn't as good after this, there is still a lot of worthy material. For any fan who has enjoyed his classic albums, I would recommend you give some of the following a try: The Fox, Jump Up, Too low for zero, and/or Breaking Hearts. They are all very enjoyable albums from his 80's years that deserve to be heard by many.

I personally like 90% of what Elton comes up with, and I'll give a quick run down of his post- ROTW albums:

Blue Moves - 8/10- it's pleasant, relaxing and has some experimental gems like Betweeen seventeen and twenty and Wide-eyed and laughing. It does have a lot of filler like 'Out of the Blue' and 'Boogie Pilgrim' and some mis-steps like 'If there's a God in Heaven' but I think if it were a single album it'd be worth 8/10:

Starter/Tonight/Chameleon/Cage the songbird/Idol/Between seventeen and twenty/Wide-eyed and laughing/Theme from a non-existen TV series/Shoulder Holster [a good wind-down tune].

Thom Bell Sessions - I haven't heard them yet but they are late-70's R&B with a definite Philadelphia sound.

A Single Man - 6.5/10 - It's okay, but I find it not to be one of his great albums. There are some great songs how-ever, like the last three which seems to have a death theme, Part-time love, and Return to Paradise is a hugely under-rated piece of beach-boy-esque islander music. Elton's best vocals performance here, for sure.

Victim of love - 7/10 - It's fun from Born Bad onwards. I think the last four songs are excellent. I think his vocals on the last four songs are hugely under-rated. He absolutely rips of Thunder in the night, going from his falsetto at the beginning of each sentence right down to the bottom of his lower register.

21-at-33 - 8/10, somewhat regains form, as it's better than anything since Rock of the Westies. Hihglights include the Gospel-pop of Sartorial Eloquence, Little Jeannie, a few rockers, the Hillbilly Take me Back and I also like Never gonna fall in love again and Give me the love. It's held back from a higher rating because too many of the songs are needlessly dragged out and there isn't a whole lot of flare here.

The Fox - 10/10 Elton really gets back to business with this great album. highly-enjoyable gospel-rockers like Breaking Down Barriers and Heels of the wind, a beautiful classical music piece called Carla-Etude which is teamed with a really cool synth piece called Fanfare, the country/folk/rock title track and the passionately sung dance track Nobody Wins as highlight. Chloe is my least favourite track. It has a European-edge.

Jump Up - 10/10 Yet another Excellent album, this time in the form of fun-synth rockers. But there's not that much synth. Elton sounds as though he's having a lot of fun recording this one. It also has one of his most unusual melodies, Princess, a romantic ballad, his John Lennon tribute 'Empty Garden' and his some great vocals on 'Blue-eyes'.

Too low for zero - 8/10 I actually thought this was a bit of a slump. I don't like the repetitious Kiss the Bride and the laid-back country-rocker effect which he tried to create on Religion and Whipping Boy doesn't work that well, definitely didn't achieve the effect that he did on the follow-up. And some of these songs, notable Saint, Kiss the Bride and Whipping Boy have silly lyrics without being fun. Still. There are some classics here like I guess that's why ... and I'm still standing, a few experimental gems in Crystal and the titlre track, and then there's One more arrow, sung entirely in falsetto and Cold as Christmas.

Breaking Hearts - 10/10 - A laid-back rock album with a slight C&W inflection. It has a somewhat Australian element, what with a story about mateship [Slow down Georgie] and the insistent beat on Lil Fridgerator, my favourite Elton rocker of the 80's. Then there are a few nice ballads, and a couple of experimental pieces, Passengers and Did he shoot her?

Ice on fire - 5.5/10 - He really started to drop here, IMO. If you've heard 'Nikita', then most of these songs are basically the same as that. The only two ballads, Cry to heaven and Shoot down the moon, are exactly the same, in every way, same synth sounds, same mood, same everything. Still, I do liek Soul Glove, This town and Candy by the pound.

Leather Jackets - 10/10 - I actually like this. Memory of love is such a touching, pleasant and yet unusual ballad, what with high-pitched twangy guitars and an R&B vocal fadeout. It's also possibly Elton's deepest-pitched vocal performance. Along with Paris and I fall apart, it's very auto-biographical. e.g. Paris has references to Elton's nigthmares about cocaine 'Oh! I've gotta last the night' adn the other two refer to his [failing] marraige to Renate. Gypsy Heart, a heart-felt slice of Gospel, and a bunch of interesting up-tempo numbers. Angeline covers every late-50's pop riff, Go it alone give the twelve bar blues a dark twist, I really like the title track, and who couldn't love Davey Johnstone's excellent guitar work on the hipnotic, catchy Don't trust that woman. Hoop .. and Slow Rivers are OK but don't really do it for me. The ballads on here are so unrepetitive, too.

Reg Strikes Back - 8/10 - Typical 80's pop but it's sprited. There's some great songs like Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters part two which has plenty of OOMPH, the pleasant A word in Spanish, but the second side is even better with the energy of Goodbye Marlon Brando and The Camera never lies, the laid-back pop tune Heavy Traffic, the dark poor cow and the Beach-boy-esque Since God invented girls.

Sleeping with the past - 5/10 - An attempt at gospel/R&B. Like Reg Strikes Back, the melodies are simplistic, repetitious and uninventive. But this isn't energetic. And this album is rather depressing. Still, Healing Hands is a gerat song, and my favourite two are I never knew her name and Amazes me, though the latter is a rip-off of Gypsy Heart from '86. The ballads just sound like repetious, miserable reworkings of Memory of love, though Sacrifice has a great vocal, as does the other-wise forgettable Stones throw from hurting.

The One - 10/10 - His best album since Leather Jackets in '86, mainly becuase the melodies are so wonderful. Elton was off drugs now and was writing material very complex yet beautiful. The remastered version has better production and two bonus tracks. I think this album is then too long at 68 mintues but I program out some of the more heavy-hearted one and I really enjoy: Simple Life/The One/Whitewash County/North/When a woman doesn't want you/On dark Street/Last Song/Suit of wolves/Fat boys and ugly girls. 46 minutes, much better. Like the Elton John album somewhat, a few funky fun rockers and unusual but beautiful ballads.

Made In England - 9/10 - Many great songs on here and again beautiful melodies. I really do fancy the Tumbleweed Invocative Latitude, the string-mastery of Belfast, the cute-country rocker Please and the Neil Diamond-esque Blessed. This has great variety too.

Big Picture - 8/10 I give it a high rating because it is experimental. For example, the title track seems to infuse Balladry, hard-rock, classical music and folk music. The same could be said of many of the songs. Great, complex melodies too.

Muse soundtrack - I haven't heard it yet but it's classical musica and a pop song at the end. A short album at 35 mintues.

El Dorado - 1/10 - 1 for '16th Century man'. The other songs are so depressing and have ugly melodies. The trial we blaze and Queen of cities are semi-decent. Elton even sings with a sob in his voice, yuck!

Songs From the West Coast - 4/10 - Another slate of depressing, semi-alive songs. There are some stand-outs and it is better than El Dorado but that's about all we can say. Ballad of the boy in red shoes, Birds, Mansfield, Look ma no hands, Love her like me, they're pretty good, but not excellent.

Peachtree Road - Hasn't been released yet. Due out in Nov 04. Hope it's a good one!

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