Of course I knew the great hits - Benny, Candle, Saturday Night, the titular track - but somehow I'd never heard the whole album.

What a Sunday afternoon treat!

The trio of Ballad of Danny Bailey, Dirty Little Girl, and All the Young Girls Love Alice is pretty amazing.

I have to say that I hadn't realized The Who's influence on him - the opening 'Funeral...' owes a great debt to Baba O Riley. (I suppose I should look up which was released first, Quadrophenia or GYBR)

Who of you are down with this elegant epic?

Yellow Brick Road and Brown Dirt Cowboy are masterpieces. They don't make'em anymore like that.

This Benny and the Jets pt2, 'Dirty Little Girl' is just a crunching masterpiece!

Among the greatest pop records ever by anyone, IMHO.

There are few artists who had such an amazing run of record after record of incredible work like Elton did from his debut through Captain Fantastic. WOW!

stonesstein

Kick me like you did before
I can't even feel the pain no more
Rocks Off, 1972

I think it is a great album. I love really good double albums from late 60's and 70's. You could say it's EJ's best. Certainly right up there.
I saw an interesting documentary on the making of this album. They had such a working 9-5 attitude. They were down in France, where they had done some other album already. I think they had tried to go to Jamaica (because of the Stones) but couldn't hang.
Bernie brings the written words. Elton sits down at the piano in the a.m. alone, and starts writing. he never mentioned any "inspiration", or "I had this one line that I'd been playing for weeks..". It is all very cut and dry in the way EJ tells it.
Inspiration comes to writers in different ways. Many of his songs are wonderful writing. The changes are very involved.
They'd add the band parts pretty quick and cut the basic tracks. The guys all did the BU vocals on their own.
I never quite liked the way some of his stuff sounded. The actual recording of e.g. the snare; the Bass.
I never quite heard the Who in this album though.

Interesting words PR2000. I'm going to look for a documentary about this album later.

The main Who element that strikes me very obviously is the arpeggiated flourishes in Funeral and a couple of other tracks.

Harmony, I've Seen That Movie Too.........

All the Young Girls Love Alice
Social Disease

stonesstein

Kick me like you did before
I can't even feel the pain no more
Rocks Off, 1972

What's amazing is that it wasn't even the only album he released that year. Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player is terrific as well. No one cranks 'em out like that anymore.

My favorite EJ album and one of my favorites of all-time is Madman. It is a cohesive, inspired work, an odd but effective blend of styles and enigmatic lyrics. It retains its mystery even after all these years. The outtake version of the title song with Mick Ronson is haunting.

I've had Grey Seal stuck in my head the last few days after listening to the early version from 1969 on youtube (B-side of Rock and Roll Madonna single, 1970)
Elton John - Grey Seal [original version, 1969]



And then the Yellow Brick Road version:
Elton John - Grey Seal




The entire album was ingrained when I was young as my older sister had it an played it constantly - not to mention the heavy airplay on the radio.
So many good songs - truly a masterpiece.

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

has huge on this in middle school. first concert i ever went to was rock of the westies tour, so he was still doing plenty of this. still love funeral, harmony, grey seal & of course saturday night's alright for fighing

Killer:
Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding
Candle In The Wind
Bennie And The Jets
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Grey Seal
All The Girls Love Alice
Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting
Harmony

Filler:
This Song Has No Title
Jamaica Jerk-Off
I've Seen That Movie Too
Sweet Painted Lady
Ballad of Danny Bailey
Dirty Little Girl
Your Sister Can't Twist
Roy Rogers
Social Disease

Last post is spot on. If it had been a single album those 9-10 tracks would have ranked as his best. I personally think Captain Fantastic was his best and his last great effort.

Thought I read above someone hoping for a documentary. AXS TV is plating it right now on Classic Albums 7:00-8:00 EST. I’m sure it will be replayed.

Madman Across the Water is the greatest next to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road...............

__________________________

One of the top albums of all time. The hits- Bennie, Saturday Night, Yellow Brick are great. Many of the lesser known are even better.

"Take all the pain...It's yours anyway"

There are several great clips from that time on Youtube. A very good clip of listening to a mix of "Danny Bailey". EJ really was a sophisticated writer of songs. But it is not the clips about some new "Yellow Brick Road" Virtual reality extravaganza.I remember in the doc I saw there was a lot of EJ sitting under a tree telling a lot of stories.

PS Yeah it was on Netflix that I saw it. And I recall one more thing: I always thought Taupin was an idiot; and in the doc he is sweepingly explaining one of his great inspirations, and he comes up with a pronunciation of Solzhenitsyn's name that made my hair stand up.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2018-02-19 10:46 by Palace Revolution 2000.

Quote
stonesstein
Among the greatest pop records ever by anyone, IMHO.

There are few artists who had such an amazing run of record after record of incredible work like Elton did from his debut through Captain Fantastic. WOW!

Totally agree. By the way, it's "fight and fu ck and feed".

Quote
peoplewitheyes
Of course I knew the great hits - Benny, Candle, Saturday Night, the titular track - but somehow I'd never heard the whole album.

What a Sunday afternoon treat!

The trio of Ballad of Danny Bailey, Dirty Little Girl, and All the Young Girls Love Alice is pretty amazing.

I have to say that I hadn't realized The Who's influence on him - the opening 'Funeral...' owes a great debt to Baba O Riley. (I suppose I should look up which was released first, Quadrophenia or GYBR)

Who of you are down with this elegant epic?

Definitely echoes of Quadrophenia which came out in 26 Oct 73 whilst GYBR came out in 5 October 73. But I don't think either would have had an inkling of what the other was doing so it is just coincidence. The opening duet Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding is very prog based as is quite a bit of Quadrophenia, especially the title track.

Another song, quite similar, in its build up and melding of styles if Alice Cooper's brilliant Halo of Flies from his 1971 album Killer.

Elton made back to back shows at Budokan in Feb 1974.
Elton was in a bad temper for the 1st show and made a shortcut show because his bird feathers costume was late for that day.

Next day, he became a good mood in a feather costume.
Fortunately, I saw that show.
He played a lot of Yellow Brick Road songs for 20 songs set.
It was just great.
I remember one of roadies played an electric piano on Crocodile Rock.
I guess Step Into Christmas and Ray Cooper made a major debut at that night.

Nice story, Toru.

Ha ha! Playing Step into Christmas in February!

I saw a documentary last night - Classic Albums was the name, it was pretty good, lots of mixing desk analysis. Would love to see (hear) this for the Stones. Let us have the individual tracks please Sir Mick!

I was also struck by Taupin's mispronunciation (and misuse) of several words in the documentary.

I have to say that I think Taupin got very, very lucky partnering up with Elton.

Quote
Toru A
Elton made back to back shows at Budokan in Feb 1974.
Elton was in a bad temper for the 1st show and made a shortcut show because his bird feathers costume was late for that day.

Next day, he became a good mood in a feather costume.
Fortunately, I saw that show.
He played a lot of Yellow Brick Road songs for 20 songs set.
It was just great.
I remember one of roadies played an electric piano on Crocodile Rock.
I guess Step Into Christmas and Ray Cooper made a major debut at that night.

Thanks Toru, because that explains a question I had on Tube. This thread made me watch some EJ clips on YouTube, and there is a very good show from < I think, '74. I spotted someone playing piano in the semi dark behind Elton, and wondered who that was.

Quote
Palace Revolution 2000

Quote
Toru A
Elton made back to back shows at Budokan in Feb 1974.
Elton was in a bad temper for the 1st show and made a shortcut show because his bird feathers costume was late for that day.

Next day, he became a good mood in a feather costume.
Fortunately, I saw that show.
He played a lot of Yellow Brick Road songs for 20 songs set.
It was just great.
I remember one of roadies played an electric piano on Crocodile Rock.
I guess Step Into Christmas and Ray Cooper made a major debut at that night.

Thanks Toru, because that explains a question I had on Tube. This thread made me watch some EJ clips on YouTube, and there is a very good show from < I think, '74. I spotted someone playing piano in the semi dark behind Elton, and wondered who that was.

There's also this brilliant bootleg - Madman Shakes Tokyo from 1971. Stellar stuff -

Elton played with great musicians like Dee Murray, Nigel Olsson, Davey Johnstone and Ray Cooper at that era.
Especially, Johnstone played a fantastic role on stage.
He sometimes performed a double role like Mick Taylor and Keith Richards.

From Johnstone's interview:
I was a huge Beatles and Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin fan long before I joined Elton.
I mean, Keith Richards influenced me so much.
If you listen to The Bitch Is Back, that is an open G tuning that is similar to what Keith uses on Brown Sugar and other tracks.
Anyway, it just took me a couple of years to really feel comfortable with the electric guitar.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2018-02-19 14:33 by Toru A.

Quote
stonesstein
Among the greatest pop records ever by anyone, IMHO.

There are few artists who had such an amazing run of record after record of incredible work like Elton did from his debut through Captain Fantastic. WOW!

I would add Rock Of The Westies to the end of that list.

"No Anchovies, Please"

Quote
Toru A
Elton played with great musicians like Dee Murray, Nigel Olsson, Davey Johnstone and Ray Cooper at that era.
Especially, Johnstone played a fantastic role on stage.
He sometimes performed a double role like Mick Taylor and Keith Richards.

From Johnstone's interview:
I was a huge Beatles and Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin fan long before I joined Elton.
I mean, Keith Richards influenced me so much.
If you listen to The Bitch Is Back, that is an open G tuning that is similar to what Keith uses on Brown Sugar and other tracks.
Anyway, it just took me a couple of years to really feel comfortable with the electric guitar.

Davey is hughly underrated.

"No Anchovies, Please"

One of my favorite albums. Found it kind of interesting to look at stonehearted's Killer/Filler analysis and realize, at least in this album's case, I'm more likely to fast-forward over a Killer song than I am a Filler song. Mainly, thanks to FM radio, I'm kinda tired of both "Bennie" & "Candle". "Funeral/Love Lies" would possibly make it onto a "desert island mix tape" if I were ever forced to make one.

Peace,
Mr DJA

I've always dug this album. I remember being introduced to it as a young kid, my older brother was 5 years older than me, had this cool reel to reel from radio shack, he constantly played it over and over( when it was released), most of the time late at night...LOL. Just a few years ago when I saw EJ for the second time, he did play some deep cuts from the album....

Quote
Elmo Lewis

Quote
Toru A
Elton played with great musicians like Dee Murray, Nigel Olsson, Davey Johnstone and Ray Cooper at that era.
Especially, Johnstone played a fantastic role on stage.
He sometimes performed a double role like Mick Taylor and Keith Richards.

From Johnstone's interview:
I was a huge Beatles and Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin fan long before I joined Elton.
I mean, Keith Richards influenced me so much.
If you listen to The Bitch Is Back, that is an open G tuning that is similar to what Keith uses on Brown Sugar and other tracks.
Anyway, it just took me a couple of years to really feel comfortable with the electric guitar.

Davey is hughly underrated.

And for those who attend any upcoming shows, all of those guys mentioned above (except for Dee Murray -RIP) are part of the current band.

Elton Band

When I saw Elton a couple of times in the last decade (last time 2011), both Davey Johnstone and Nigel Olsson were part of the band - don't recall Ray Cooper being there, but if he was you'd think I'd remember as I've seen him with others in the past and he's highly animated on stage. Anyhow, one of the main highlights for me was watching Davey Johnstone playing all those memorable guitar parts - that opening Stonesy riff to Bitch is Back blasting out, not to mention everything else that he played on over the years...truly amazing.

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......