Category: SACD

Title: Elton John – Elton John (1970) [Reissue 2004]
Genre: Rock
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Elton John is the second album by English singer/songwriter Elton John. However, because it was his first album released in America, many people there assumed it was his first album, as Empty Sky was not released in the US until 1975. Elton John includes his breakthrough hit, “Your Song”, and helped to establish his career during what was considered the “singer-songwriter” era of popular music. In the US, it was certified gold in February 1971 by the RIAA. In the same year, it was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. In 2003, the album was ranked #468 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. On 27 November 2012, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame as an album cited as exhibiting “qualitative or historical significance”.

Empty Sky was followed by Elton John, a more focused and realized record that deservedly became his first hit. John and Bernie Taupin’s songwriting had become more immediate and successful; in particular, John’s music had become sharper and more diverse, rescuing Taupin’s frequently nebulous lyrics. “Take Me to the Pilot” might not make much sense lyrically, but John had the good sense to ground its willfully cryptic words with a catchy blues-based melody. Next to the increased sense of songcraft, the most noticeable change on Elton John is the addition of Paul Buckmaster’s grandiose string arrangements. Buckmaster’s orchestrations are never subtle, but they never overwhelm the vocalist, nor do they make the songs schmaltzy. Instead, they fit the ambitions of John and Taupin, as the instant standard “Your Song” illustrates. Even with the strings and choirs that dominate the sound of the album, John manages to rock out on a fair share of the record. Though there are a couple of underdeveloped songs, Elton John remains one of his best records.

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Title: Elton John – Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy (1975) [Reissue 2004]
Genre: Rock
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy is the ninth studio album by British singer/musician Elton John. It debuted at number 1 on the U.S. Pop Albums chart, the first album ever to do so, and stayed there for seven weeks. It was certified gold in May 1975 and was certified platinum and 3x platinum in March 1993 by the RIAA. In Canada, it also debuted at number 1 on the RPM national Top Albums chart and only broke a run of what would have been fifteen consecutive weeks at the top by falling one position to number 2 in the ninth week. On the UK Albums Chart, it peaked at # 2. In 2003, the album was ranked number 158 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. This was the last album until Too Low For Zero that Elton John and his classic band would play together.

Sitting atop the charts in 1975, Elton John and Bernie Taupin recalled their rise to power in Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, their first explicitly conceptual effort since Tumbleweed Connection. It’s no coincidence that it’s their best album since then, showcasing each at the peak of his power, as John crafts supple, elastic, versatile pop and Taupin’s inscrutable wordplay is evocative, even moving. What’s best about the record is that it works best of a piece — although it entered the charts at number one, this only had one huge hit in “Someone Saved My Life Tonight,” which sounds even better here, since it tidily fits into the musical and lyrical themes. And although the musical skill on display here is dazzling, as it bounces between country and hard rock within the same song, this is certainly a grower. The album needs time to reveal its treasures, but once it does, it rivals Tumbleweed in terms of sheer consistency and eclipses it in scope, capturing John and Taupin at a pinnacle. They collapsed in hubris and excess not long afterward — Rock of the Westies, which followed just months later is as scattered as this is focused — but this remains a testament to the strengths of their creative partnership.

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Title: Elton John – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2010]
Genre: Rock
Format: SACD ISO

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is the seventh studio album by the British singer-songwriter Elton John. Released in 1973, it has come to be regarded as one of his best and most popular albums. In 2003, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The album was ranked No. 91 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and No. 59 in Channel 4’s 2009 list of 100 Greatest Albums.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road was where Elton John’s personality began to gather more attention than his music, as it topped the American charts for eight straight weeks. In many ways, the double album was a recap of all the styles and sounds that made John a star. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is all over the map, beginning with the prog rock epic “Funeral for a Friend (Love Lies Bleeding)” and immediately careening into the balladry of “Candle in the Wind.” For the rest of the album, John leaps between popcraft (“Bennie and the Jets”), ballads (“Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”), hard rock (“Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting”), novelties (“Jamaica Jerk-Off”), Bernie Taupin’s literary pretensions (“The Ballad of Danny Bailey”), and everything in between. Though its diversity is impressive, the album doesn’t hold together very well. Even so, its individual moments are spectacular and the glitzy, crowd-pleasing showmanship that fuels the album pretty much defines what made Elton John a superstar in the early ’70s.

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Title: Elton John – Elton John (1970) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2011]
Genre: Rock
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Elton John is the second album by English singer/songwriter Elton John. However, because it was his first album released in America, many people there assumed it was his first album, as “Empty Sky” was not released in the US until 1975. Elton John includes his breakthrough hit, “Your Song”, and helped to establish his career during what was considered the “singer-songwriter” era of popular music.

Empty Sky was followed by Elton John, a more focused and realized record that deservedly became his first hit. John and Bernie Taupin’s songwriting had become more immediate and successful; in particular, John’s music had become sharper and more diverse, rescuing Taupin’s frequently nebulous lyrics. “Take Me to the Pilot” might not make much sense lyrically, but John had the good sense to ground its willfully cryptic words with a catchy blues-based melody. Next to the increased sense of songcraft, the most noticeable change on Elton John is the addition of Paul Buckmaster’s grandiose string arrangements. Buckmaster’s orchestrations are never subtle, but they never overwhelm the vocalist, nor do they make the songs schmaltzy. Instead, they fit the ambitions of John and Taupin, as the instant standard “Your Song” illustrates. Even with the strings and choirs that dominate the sound of the album, John manages to rock out on a fair share of the record. Though there are a couple of underdeveloped songs, Elton John remains one of his best records.

hraudio | allmusic | discogs

(more…)