Elton John - When Great Artists Go Bad
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- čas přidán 25. 01. 2023
- "How The Mighty Have Fallen" - In this episode we discuss when great artists have released terrible music and ponder how such an amazing artist as Elton John was able to create some of the worst music ever recorded?
To look back on better days: • The Elton John Band 19...
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I really don’t understand why EJ’s album Blue Moves hardly ever gets mentioned. For me personally, it was a brilliant album and superbly produced too. Again, for me, it all went pear shaped after that.
A message to music fans: It’s okay to criticize any artist. That’s what critics do and they get paid to do it. If your favorite artist releases bad stuff don’t hesitate to express it. As an artist myself I can say that artists don’t want people to tell them everything they do is great. They want honesty.
I feel this way about Rush. They lose their peak of creativity, and they no longer have the pure energy it takes to keep it up. The singing voices tend to deteriorate over time.
You picked two great songs to lead this video. I would add the masterpiece TICKING, last entry on 1974's offering CARIBOU. Almost NO ONE talks about this incredible song. I'm guessing you both know it though.
A song that I just love by Elton is Indian Sunset.
We All Fall In Love Sometimes/Curtains has to be the least discussed EJ masterpiece ever!
Omg yes! I've Seen That Movie Too, is absolutely gorgeous!
Ya know, that guitar solo on "I've Seen That Movie Too" was recorded in reverse. I'm surprised you didn't mention that. Paul Buckmasters' string arrangements on those first few albums still give me goosebumps.
I actually don’t think Reg Strikes Back is THAT bad. If you want Elton at his absolute worst, listen to Leather Jackets or The Big Picture.
I have to disagree overall. I love the progression of Elton John's career. I enjoy much of his post 70's output. While he has a couple of weeks albums overall, he has matured, and style has changed over years. Like any true artists has different periods where the output changes.
Elton's "Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" and "Madman Across the Water" and "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" vs. anything off of VICTIM OF LOVE and most everything off of LEATHER JACKETS. Hard to imagine!
"Come Down in Time" what an amazing song. Pure pop perfection. Thanks for the insighful commentary. I always took Victim of Love with a pinch of salt. He had taken a break from the band and Bernie, and it was really more of an experiment. He also recorded the Thom Bell sessions EP around that time which was a 'Soul Music' experiment. He didn't write any of the tracks, some German disco guy (Pete Bellote)?? wrote the original tunes and backings...Your comment about Elton being easily influenced by disposable pop of the day, was something I had never considered! I would say his worst album is Leather Jackets 1986. The title track is all you need to hear... And tragically Gus Dugeon produced it. His personal life, was just such a mess at the time. As a lifelong fan of Elton, I loved collecting all of his albums and hearing the good, the great, the genius and the crap. There is something fascinating about the whole thing. And there are some gems from the post classic era, Sleeping with the Past (1989) Made in England (1995) and Songs from the West Coast (2001). Even The One in 1992, which has a very ornate 90 production has a few tunes with the most stunning chord progressions (The One being a great example). There's something so autobiographical about Eltons albums. A lovely hidden gem in discography I've recently been listening to is "Carla Etude Chloe" from the Fox album. An album with lots of flaws but the song Chloe has one of the most soulful epic Elton chorus' I've ever heard and it's introduced by the Carla Etude, an Orchestral piano bonanza a bit like "Tonight" from Blue Moves. Because he is so prolific there are some gems lying under the carpet.
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road was the first Elton John's album I heard, and I immediatly fell in love with "I've Seen That Movie Too" (as well as "This Song's Got No Title"). Thank you for recalling it.
You made a great point about Elton being influenced by popular music. I have seen that same thing happen with many, many artists of that vintage. I think they all tried to keep up and stay relevant with current big music trends- and disco was admittedly huge - for awhile. Not too many bands of that era could successfully pull it off. Also, by the '80's, Elton's substance abuse problems were pretty bad, weren't they? Although that was a huge problem with most successful bands of that day, I believe Elton's problem was really significant. Could have had a negative impact on his music. I play piano and have wondered often how those musicians could manage to play so well at their concerts. One stiff rum and coke before going onstage would have been the kiss of death for me, if I were them. Of course, they obviously had a higher tolerance.....! Love your content. So glad I found your channel. Not many are doing what you do.
Piano teachers during the early seventies were doing so well because of Elton.
Sting recorded a wonderful cover of "Come Down in Time" for the 1990 tribute album, 'Two Rooms'. Probably the best song on that album.
Tumbleweed Connection is Elton's magnum opus. A total masterpiece from concept, songwriting, etc.
Great choices. I would add Ticking and Pinky as deep cut favorites.
I liked Elton John back in the early 70s when he was more in the singer/songwriter vein and I was a young teen. Then in the mid-70s when I was graduating high school, EJ decided he wanted to become Liberace. Liberace was definitely not cool to teens at that time.
There was an incredible period from 1969-76 for Elton. However, his music from 1967-69 could be rather pedestrian, as he was learning his craft. And yes, a lot of his '80's stuff could be dismissed, but I would say there are still plenty of peaks to be found in his music since 1976. I wonder if one issue is maybe that his voice has lost some elasticity, and so he can't produce quite the musical range that he once had. But his piano playing is still gorgeous. Particularly on The Diving Board. I have a hard time listening to his voice on that one, but his piano is so warm; it's like he's in the living room. Anyway, I would say that Stevie Wonder is another person who had incredible music in the 1970s and then the 1980s were often unlistenable. But it was really cool to hear Elton and Stevie team up on Finish Line on The Lockdown Sessions. Stevie's voice sounded as good as ever and Elton did a nice job with his voice as well. And The Union, with Leon Russell, I think gives us a lot of really nice music, as well as a few throwaways, which is fine for a 17 track album or whatever the deluxe version is. I really like their blend on Mandalay Again, for example, or on Gone to Shiloh (with Neil Young) or Best Part of the Day.