I was sitting in my dorm room a few days ago, about to hunker
\ndown and (gasp!) study. I whipped out my iPod and started browsing
\nfor an acceptable album. Along the way, I passed up great works
\nlike
\nAre You Experienced<\/i>,
\nBorn To Run<\/i>, and
\nDark Side Of The Moon<\/i>.
\n[Editor’s Note: Say what?!?]<\/i> When I got down to the “E”
\nsection, I found
\nElton John<\/i>, the debut album that broke Elton John to the
\nworld.<\/p>\n
This is where it all started, folks. This where a pianist from
\nPinner made it as a rock star, and as a result attained fame and
\nfortune beyond anything he could dream of. The funny thing is, it
\nisn’t close to being his best album. However, it was new and
\ndifferent, and that’s what drew the people in.<\/p>\n
Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard were long past their prime.
\nPiano-based rock was a thing of the past — that is, until Elton
\nJohn came along. His playing was fresh and innovative,
\nincorporating various styles. His vocals were said to resemble
\nJagger, Leon Russell, James Taylor, even Jose Feliciano. John
\nLennon proclaimed “Your Song” to be the first “new thing” since the
\nBeatles broke up. Lost in all the hype was the simple undeniable
\nfact that Elton was really that good. However, that is not always
\nevident on
\nElton John<\/i>, and that holds the album back.<\/p>\n
I’m not a big fan of
\nRolling Stone<\/i>, so it pains me to agree with them on a key
\npoint regarding this album. On
\nElton John<\/i>, just as on
\nMadman Across The Water<\/i>, and to a lesser extent
\nTumbleweed Connection<\/i>, Elton’s piano-playing is buried under
\nvarious levels of orchestration. Elton can be a very compelling
\nartist when he plays by himself; just listen to one of his solo
\nshows to find that out. His music doesn’t need all the extra bells
\nand whistles that were given to it. While it gives the music a more
\n“epic” feel, there are some tracks that are weakened by their
\npresence.<\/p>\n
“The Greatest Discovery,” Bernie’s Taupin tale of the birth of
\nhis brother, is brought to life and by Elton’s gentle vocals, while
\nthe orchestration threatens to undermine the song. One of my
\nfavorite Elton songs, “Take Me To The Pilot,” is a barnburner of a
\nrock\/R&B number that because of its brilliance manages to
\novercome the “strings” handicap. For a long time, I thought “Sixty
\nYears On” actually benefited by Paul Buckmaster’s production —
\nthat is, until I heard the version of the song on Elton’s live
\nalbum
\n11-17-70<\/i>. That version blows the studio take out of the
\nwater.<\/p>\n
Don’t let this all fool you though; there is some great music on
\nthis album. “Your Song” is one of the greatest love songs of all
\ntime, and is perfect lyrically, and in its performance. The
\norchestration for “The King Is Dead” is suitably grandiose,
\nconsidering the larger-than-life nature of the lyrics, and Elton
\ndelivers them with a snarl that closes the deal. The pseudo-gospel
\n“Border Song,” the first single off the album, is a plea for of
\nacceptance and understanding of sorts and when combined with the
\nbacking choir, makes for a powerful track.<\/p>\n
It is easy to see why this album made Elton John popular. There
\nis the basis for a great career evident. This first taste was more
\nenough for people to crave more Elton John. They got that, as Elton
\nwould release two more studio albums, one live album and one movie
\nsoundtrack in the following two years. That saturation of the
\nmarket would threaten his popularity, but not destroy it. However,
\nthat situation would not have occurred without
\nElton John<\/i>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":24591,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5678],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-38112","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-elton-john","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38112","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=38112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38112"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38112"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}