Have Some Music

12 Comments

1. 

   Mike Dixon on February 8, 2013 at 2:59 am

   In the warehouse where I work they’ve always got this local classic rock station on.  At least twice a month I’ll catch the first few notes and think “holy crap, they’re playing ‘Where To Now St. Peter'” and then it turns out to be “Tiny Dancer”.  

2. 

   donnah on February 8, 2013 at 5:02 am

   That’s the first album I ever bought, right after it came out. I was in seventh grade and I used my babysitting money. I went on to buy every new release he made until his late stuff. All on vinyl, naturally.

   I actually saw him in concert twice. The best was when I was in college and he came to play a concert. I had second row seats, but near the left side. I was dismayed when we got there, but when the fog rolled out and the curtain came up, the piano was directly in front of me. His first “outfit” that night was an all-white cowboy costume, with white platform boots. It was the best show I ever saw.

   Elton and Bernie were an amazing team.

   • 

     BooMan on February 8, 2013 at 9:14 am

     Tumbleweed or Madman?  

     • 

       donnah on February 8, 2013 at 12:31 pm

       Madman Across the Water. I played it constantly. I thought it was amazing then, and I still do.

       I can’t pick a favorite Elton John album. I love them all, for whatever reasons. Sometimes one of his song reminds me of something good in my youth, sometimes it made me feel better when something bad was going on, and sometimes I just loved the music and the lyrics.

       Elton and Bernie went through a lot of transitions in style and subjects and each album has its own feel. I still pull the old stuff out every now and then and listen. Takes me right back.

       Thanks for posting that!

3. 

   pillsy on February 8, 2013 at 7:43 am

   I think it may be a generational thing, but I’m always sort of amazed when I listen to an Elton John song and realize that it’s actually pretty damned good.

   • 

     BooMan on February 8, 2013 at 9:20 am

     You shouldn’t be surprised at all.  He is an amazing artist.  

     Here’s something from Tumbleweed.  

     • 

       centerfielddj on February 10, 2013 at 6:14 am

       Taupin’s lyrics were challenging enough to sing, and Elton pushed the creativity up a number of notches thru his phrasing. In every song he’s making really weird choices, often going off rhythm with his phrasing, but not in the familiar ways of singing a beat behind or ahead. It’s hard to describe what he was doing, but when you sing almost any of his hits and hit every nuance of his phrasing, you appreciate how uniquely he delivered his songs.

4. 

   Sprocket77 on February 8, 2013 at 7:46 am

   I’ve always felt Elton’s 70’s stuff was something approaching genius, and that’s due to Mr. Taupin in a lot of cases. To say they were prolific is an understatement — the ouput was staggering. I was a little too young to have appreciated it contemporaneously, but I’ve felt a special connection to it since I was in junior high. (I’ve always felt that his 70’s band was seriously underrated as well.) Thanks for this post.

5. 

   Beatnik Bob on February 8, 2013 at 11:14 am

   I couldn’t agree more! Bernie is the man in the shadows most responsible for the success of Elton.

   Tumbleweed Connection is so masterful, effective, stylish. There’s nothing else like it in Elton’s repertoire, or anyone else’s.

   Now they’ve found me
   At last they’ve found me
   It’s hard to run
   From a starvin’ family

   Now they’ve found me
   I won’t run
   I’m tired of hearing
   There goes a well-known gun

   From the backup vocal harmonies to the fuzzed-out wah-wah to the cowbell to the staccato rockin’ piano, Sir Elton has earned every accolade he’s ever deserved with his FIRST album. It was an easy ride after that.

6. 

   Chris Bellomy on February 8, 2013 at 11:34 am

   You laud the nonsense lyrics of Bernie Taupin, but pan the legendary work of Ray Davies?

   Worst. Music. Blog. EVAR. It’s a good thing you do politics so well!

   • 

     BooMan on February 8, 2013 at 1:48 pm

     I didn’t pan Ray Davies.  I said that The Kinks are for teenagers.  Like the Go Gos. Or KISS.  I loved The Kinks as a 10 year old.  I wore Low Budget out.  I played their double live album constantly.  I had several more of their albums on vinyl.  I’d no more listen to that stuff now than I’d listen to Duran Duran.  

     I recognize that Davies wrote some great lyrics, but they’re freaking Kinks.  It’s pure adolescence.

     • 

       on February 8, 2013 at 3:41 pm

       “Kinks are for teenagers” sounds suspiciously like “If you’re not a liberal at 20 you have no heart, if not a conservative at 40 you have no brain”. The Kinks catalog is mighty big and those kinds of generalizations are fighting words.