Word: elton
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...album includes two trashy re-makes of '60s pop songs, "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" and "Pinball Wizard," the latter made for the still trashier film Tommy, itself a pathetic re-working of The Who's rock opera. Elton John's name did nothing for these ghosts from the past except make them sell. The originals were much better. Elton's willingness to perform them only showed that his fire was burning out. "Island Girl," an original, was among the most annoying of AM radio's most played tunes. "Don't Go Breaking My Heart," a vapid, iivv number...
...songs that stand out on his latest set of "greatest hits" are reminiscent of an earlier Elton. They are songs on which he restrains himself from over-orchestrating, holding back the strings, the drums, the guitars and the synthesizers to let his piano and his voice come through. As Elton drove himself to keep putting on a show, he often seemed to forget that he could produce his best music alone. "Sorry Seems' to be the Hardest Word" and "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" recall some of Elton's old power to mellow his audience with simple music, but even...
Beneath the feathered hats and the enormous glasses Elton is known for, apart from the foot-high platform shoes and the carpeted pianos, there has always lurked a moody, but very good singer, songwriter and piano player. Success spoiled him. Somehow the piano player got lost among the glamorous and empty accoutrements of international success...
...always maintained that his best songs were "Daniel" and "Your Song." And now he is returning those roots. He no longer has any songs on the charts, and word is that he now plays simple music in clubs, scorning the charade of strutting for a mass audience. In fact, Elton the piano player wrote a sort of obituary for Elton the glitter king in "Someone's Final Song," on his last regular album...
...king of the outrageous has his farewell on the album. The last song, "Bite Your Lip (Get Up and Dance)" is an all-out exhortation to "move that muscle and shake that fat," and it works. Elton brings in piano, bass, drums, slide guitar, electric guitar, synthesizers, congas, strings, and the Cornerstone Institutional Baptist and Southern Californian Community Choir, to join him in an assault on absolute boogie. The music doesn't really go anywhere, but it's fun while it lasts...