I seem to recall back at the start of freshmen year of college that I felt Elton John\u2019s piano playing was buried under various levels of orchestration, and I docked his eponymous debut a grade for it.<\/p>\n
Today, I wonder why I don\u2019t feel the same way about Madman Across the Water<\/i>, but then it hit me as I listened. The songs are just better. Madman<\/i> was the last album of Elton\u2019s early period before \u201cRocket Man\u201d would send him into the stratosphere (har!) of pop stardom. As such, it sums up what made early Elton so fascinating and intriguing. This is pre-glitter, pre-high heel shoes, pre-Donald Duck costumes, straight up singer \/songwriter at its best, if not a tad ornate.<\/p>\n
Almost Famous<\/i> broke \u201cTiny Dancer\u2019 to a whole new audience in 2001, which should prompt Elton to get down in his knees and thank Cameron Crowe. \u201cTiny Dancer\u201d is quite frankly one of John\u2019s greatest songs, from the soaring falsetto he employs to the brilliant orchestral arrangement. Bernie Taupin matches the musical genius with one of his more simple lyrics, evocative in all the right spots, and you know the words: \u201cBallerina \/ you must have seen her \/ dancing in the sand \/ and now she’s in me, always with me \/ tiny dancer in my hand.\u201d <\/p>\n
What else is here beyond that one? Sure, \u201cIndian Sunset\u201d may follow every stereotype made about the Native American, but damn it if Elton\u2019s dramatic vocals don\u2019t carry the song. One can hardly blame John and Taupin for their somewhat na\u00efve look at Of course, the end-all track for anyone who thinks of Elton as \u201cthe Lion King guy\u201d is the amazing title track. \u201cMadman Across The Water\u201d blows away all preconceived notions of the guy; it\u2019s dark, brooding and creepy as hell. Find me a better use of a Moog synthesizer and you\u2019ll get a shiny nickel.<\/p>\n With Madman Across The Water<\/i>, one gets the sense Elton came in with the intention of writing wide, sweeping, cinematic tracks. While that was not justified on the debut, here the songs just beg to have layers added, from \u201cMadman\u201d to \u201cLevon\u201d to \u201cAll the Nasties.\u201d <\/p>\n At nine songs, Madman Across The Water<\/i> may run a tad short, and at least three of the songs are just filler. However, the high points here more than make up for the shortcomings. Madman<\/i> easily places in Elton\u2019s top five.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":24350,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5678],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-40189","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-elton-john","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40189","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=40189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40189"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}