It’s summertime, and that means it’s time to play that funky
\nmusic, shake your groove thing, do the Y.M.C.A,\u2026well do you
\nsee where I am going with this?. Disco lives on.<\/p>\n
When someone hears the word “disco,” strong images come to mind.
\nTravolta in
\nSaturday Night Fever<\/i>, lit-up dance floors, so on and so
\nforth. However, I would bet Elton John does not jump to mind, with
\ngood reason. In the late 70’s, Elton was experiencing a major
\ncrisis, as his popularity was waning both in the US and Britain.
\nDesperate to shake things up, Elton went to Seattle in 1979 to
\nrecord some songs with legendary Philly producer Thomas Bell. The
\nresult was
\nThe Complete Thom Bell Sessions<\/i>.<\/p>\n
It is important to note right off the bat that Elton neither
\nwrote nor played on any of the songs recorded during the sessions.
\nHis contributions were strictly vocal, and Bell was to do the rest.
\nMany would think a union like this would not work, but it did.<\/p>\n
Thom Bell was a legend for “creating” the Philly Sound in the
\nlate ’70s. Groups like the Spinners made a successful living off
\nthis new sound. It was current, and that is why Elton chose Thom
\nBell. The only question was whether Elton could adapt to this new
\nstyle. The answer is yes.<\/p>\n
Elton John had a very good voice prior to the
\nSessions<\/i>. He had an even better one after them. Bell worked
\nwith Elton, and developed his already strong skills. The change is
\nevident on the EP. Elton goes from falsetto’s in “Country Love
\nAffair”, to a deeper, stronger inflection on the hit single “Mama
\nCan’t Buy You Love.” Elton’s range had certainly improved. Check
\nout the gospel stylings on “Shine on Through,” arguably some of his
\nbest vocal work on record. So Elton held up his end of the bargain,
\ncould Bell do the same?<\/p>\n
Was there really any doubt? Thomas Bell was one of the foremost
\nproducers in the country, and his work here reflects that. Every
\nsong has catchy beats and hooks, with disco trademarks like sugary
\norchestral interjections. You won’t be able to help yourself from
\ndancing. And that is before you get to the extended dance breaks
\nthemselves, the best example of which is “Are You Ready For Love.”
\nMore on that particular song next.<\/p>\n
\nThe Thom Bell Sessions<\/i> have gotten some notice as of late,
\nwith Elton’s re-release of a track from the sessions — “Are You
\nReady For Love” — as a single in June of 2003. It debuted at
\nnumber one in Britain, giving Elton his fourth number one single in
\nthe UK since 1990. The differences between that track and the one
\non the
\nSessions<\/i> EP are noticeable. For one, the original mix had
\nElton singing only one verse, with members of the Spinners singing
\nthe others. In 2003, Elton sings the whole song. The whole song
\nitself was remixed, with some new instrumentation. As for which
\nversion is better, I would say the 2003 edit is the superior song.
\nElton is in the forefront, he is not relegated to being one singer
\namong three, and the instrumental break that closes the song is
\ngreatly improved.<\/p>\n
\nThe Complete Thom Bell Sessions<\/i> were not released until
\n1990. Elton, after giving the songs some thought in 1979, decided
\nthey were too “sugary.” Plans to record new songs in Seattle were
\nscrapped. That truly was a shame. Elton’s career was suffering, and
\nthis record might have shaken him out of that funk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":26741,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5678],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-38004","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-elton-john","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38004"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38004"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}