(i am however, flattered, that anything i write might be considered taupin-level catchy nonsense!)
― fact checking cuz, Thursday, 22 August 2013 23:28 (ten years ago) link
I'd forgotten what "The River of Dreams" actually sounded like until I played it on youtube just now. Yeah, that's a good song. Also, Joel still had his falsetto in the 90s, which is more than Elton could claim. Still, Elton's singing during his initial run is one of my favorite things.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Thursday, 22 August 2013 23:29 (ten years ago) link
"Grey Seal" instead of "Candle in the Wind" we hope
xpost
― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 22 August 2013 23:29 (ten years ago) link
by the early 90s, joel couldn't hit the high notes in "an innocent man" and he wasn't even trying. he had a female backup singer take 'em.
― fact checking cuz, Thursday, 22 August 2013 23:31 (ten years ago) link
ha!
Billy definitely seems to have less bite in his backing band, i will say that. if he'd had Elton's guys he might've rocked a little more convincingly.
― some dude, Thursday, 22 August 2013 23:32 (ten years ago) link
which made "I Go To Extremes" so hilarious.
― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 22 August 2013 23:33 (ten years ago) link
I Go To Extremes was mostly a victim of its own 1989'ness.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Thursday, 22 August 2013 23:34 (ten years ago) link
fantasizing right now about elton's band doing "a matter of trust."
― fact checking cuz, Thursday, 22 August 2013 23:34 (ten years ago) link
maybe Joel meant he hangs out with Nuno and Gary
― what's up ugly girls? (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 22 August 2013 23:35 (ten years ago) link
Re: Billy's Band, some of this may be Phil Ramone and the general sweet evening sheen of his peak-era records (which btw directly overlap Elton's evaporation, perhaps explaining why so many people and people's parents were fans of both). I love that LA gloss but it's a different thing than the crunchy texture of Elton's pop-rock albums. Joel's band sounds pretty great live on ''Songs In The Attic.''
Great poll, btw, really sorry to have been 12 hours out of sync with the discussion. Thanks JF.
― Doctor Casino, Friday, 23 August 2013 00:26 (ten years ago) link
(Would still give it to the EJ band btw - they're more fun and wayy more adventurous - just saying there may be other factors in play.)
― Doctor Casino, Friday, 23 August 2013 00:29 (ten years ago) link
Davey Johnstone has awful hair though. Always.
― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 23 August 2013 00:30 (ten years ago) link
lol
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 23 August 2013 00:40 (ten years ago) link
but nigel olsson had fantastic hair.
― fact checking cuz, Friday, 23 August 2013 00:55 (ten years ago) link
so anyway when is the billy joel poll???
― fact checking cuz, Friday, 23 August 2013 00:58 (ten years ago) link
:D
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 23 August 2013 00:58 (ten years ago) link
Just checked my ballot, I think the only picks not to make it were ''Curtains,'' ''Lucy in the Sky,'' ''Hercules,'' and ''Grow Some Funk Of Your Own'' (noxious lyric and all - this shit just gets stuck in my head CONSTANTLY). I didn't have much hope for any of those, but ''Curtains'' was my #6 so I thought that might boost it into the lower rankings if it had a few other fans. Oh well. Couldn't be more pleased with the top of the charts... 1-3 were my list too, though I had ''Rocket Man'' at #1 for sheer craft. I don't disagree that ''Someone'' deserves it.
1 Rocket Man (I Think It's Going To Be A Long Long Time) 2 Someone Saved My Life Tonight 3 Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding4 Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy5 Goodbye Yellow Brick Road6 Curtains7 Daniel8 High Flying Bird9 Levon10 Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)11 Hercules12 Holiday Inn13 Philadelphia Freedom14 Elderberry Wine15 Honky Cat16 The Bitch Is Back17 Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds18 Grow Some Funk Of Your Own19 I Feel Like A Bullet (In The Gun of Robert Ford)20 I'm Still Standing
― Doctor Casino, Friday, 23 August 2013 01:00 (ten years ago) link
Would love to run Joel poll if it hasn't been called, although I think VG should get first dibs.
― Doctor Casino, Friday, 23 August 2013 01:02 (ten years ago) link
YES plz do it!! I'm still kinda fearful of poll-running. I signed up to do the Pearl Jam poll sometime in 2020, I need that much time to work up to taking on such a terrifying task
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 23 August 2013 01:25 (ten years ago) link
Tracks:1. Rocket Man2. Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding3. Grey Seal4. I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues5. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road6. Philadelphia Freedom7. Someone Saved My Life Tonight8. The Ballad of Danny Bailey9. Don't Go Breaking My Heart10. Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters11. I Think I'm Going To Kill Myself12. Honky Cat13. Blues For My Baby And Me14. I Don't Want To Go On With You Like That15. I'm Gonna Be A Teenage Idol16. Madman Across The Water17. Bennie And The Jets18. Tiny Dancer19. The Bitch Is Back20. I Want Love
Most Hated:1. Something About The Way You Look Tonight2. Can You Feel The Love Tonight3. Wrap Her Up
Wish "I Think I'm Gonna Kill Myself" would've placed higher (although I don't think I've even heard it in over a decade).
― chris_coolidge, Friday, 23 August 2013 01:43 (ten years ago) link
I still have a lot of Elton listening to do, there's a lot of stuff in these results that I'm still not at all familiar with. I'm so glad we did this, I've gotten a huge kick out of it!
Thanks so much Johnny Fever for stepping in and for rolling it out!
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 23 August 2013 01:48 (ten years ago) link
My pleasure! This last three-ish weeks of EJ listening has been fun for me too!
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Friday, 23 August 2013 01:49 (ten years ago) link
Thank you very much Johnny Fever for running this poll. There will always be a special place for it in the Tower of Babel of my heart.
Here is my ballot. Better Off Dead wuz robbed!
1. Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding2. Tiny Dancer3. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road4. Grey Seal5. Your Song6. Your Sister Can't Twist But She Can Rock n Roll7. The Ballad of Danny Bailey8. Better Off Dead9. Little Jeannie10. I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues11. Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy12. All the Girls Love Alice13. Levon14. Razor Face15. Candle In The Wind16. Rotten Peaches 17. Take Me To The Pilot18. Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting 19. Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters20. Philadelphia Freedom
― kornrulez6969, Friday, 23 August 2013 02:45 (ten years ago) link
good job, here was mine
tracks1. philadelphia freedom2. funeral for a friend/love lies bleeding3. someone saved my life tonight4. take me to the pilot5. all the girls love alice6. street kids7. madman across the water8. amoreena9. i’m still standing10. saturday night’s alright for fighting11. honky cat12. the bitch is back13. goodbye yellow brick road14. tiny dancer15. the last song16. sacrifice17. levon18. sorry seems to be the hardest word19. i don’t want to go on with you like that20. rocket man
albums1. tumbleweed connection2. honky chateau3. captain fantastic and the brown dirt cowboy4. goodbye yellow brick road5. madman across the water
5 worst1. jamaica jerk-off2. lucy in the sky with diamonds3. johnny b. goode4. island girl5. your song
enjoyed shakey's counterpoint, not sure how many other artists such a thing would work for, you'd need a massively successful artist w/ no real critical consensus and ambiguity around just how good they actually are and why. i think of a similar artist like rod stewart (who seems to me a more obv counterpoint to elton though that might just be some linkage formed when they went in the rrhof the same year, plus knowing that elton apparently talked rod out of doing the pinball wizard role in tommy before swooping in and doing it himself) and there the obv great stuff is so obv great that a snarky dismissal of 'every picture tells a story' or whatever would just come off as challops while a snarky dismissal of the obv not great 'love touch' would just be a redundant. the bowie comparison shakey and few others bang on is apparent enough that it came up in the big rolling stone interview (where elton just rolls his eyes at bowie's cattiness and a seeming understanding of 'i am a massive popular artist and a total pro and when you're those things you will use whatever useful thing is at hand'; seems way more apparent in the aftermath that bowie envied elton's sales alot more than elton envied bowie's brilliance), the two big rockers that shakey specifically mentions as bowie rips - 'the bitch is back', 'saturday' - have always seemed to me to be fairly straightforward stones rips, albeit early 70s ergo glam; i can certainly hear bowie's 'let's spend the night together' or 'watch that man' as comparisons but still, same clade. i'll also agree w/ the couple of ppl who noted that they used to never hear 'the bitch is back' and now it's suddenly seemingly one of his most played on classic rock and oldies radio (and w/o the obv reason for the upturn that 'tiny dancer' has).
elsewhere: sincere regrets i didn't vote for 'i guess that's why they call it the blues', sincere annoyance 'street kids' didn't make the countdown or pick up a single other vote despite my campaigning for it even and posting that wonderful 'best vines of the 20th century' style video some dork made. which reminds me that the first time i heard 'funeral for a friend/love lies bleeding' was when my uncle gathered us all into his living room in front of his big screen tv to watch a video he had made (at a time when even camcorders were somewhat exotic, nevermind video editing etc) of him snow skiing soundtracked by it, w/ first just the landscape/daunting scenery/etc and then him bam! skiing when the 'funeral' finally kicks in w/ the tesh. i can still hear my dad approvingly nodding and saying 'ah - funeral for a friend' when the video started. my family will occasionally drag out this audio recording i made when i was six of me singing '9 to 5' and just lol it up but i really do need to mention 'at least i wasn't a GROWN MAN making everyone sit thru some eleven minute home movie of me snow skiing set to some elton john prog epic'.
― balls, Friday, 23 August 2013 03:31 (ten years ago) link
This thread kinda baffles me. I think too many voters grew up in the '80s instead of the '70s, which might explain how a glass of lukewarm piss like "Little Jeanie" made the list. The last few big hits of the '70s--Island Girl, Grow Some Funk, Don't Go Breaking... (but not Sorry Seems to Be...)--showed that his long creative peak was starting to fade, but "Little Jeanie" was the moment he died and zombie Elton John took over.
And another thing... If an Elton-as-bottom-half-of-a-duet song like "Whatever Gets You Through the Night" could get a few votes, where the fuck is "Bad Blood"?!
― Hideous Lump, Friday, 23 August 2013 03:33 (ten years ago) link
80s hardly seems overrepresented to me and tbh i'm somewhat surprised and pleased at the number of album cuts that made it considering just how many damn hit singles you're talking about and how easily or even likely it would be for a person who only knew elton from the radio to whip up a ballot.
― balls, Friday, 23 August 2013 03:42 (ten years ago) link
I basically agree about all the '80s hits, but just put that down to a generational thing: if Elton made a good single after about 1975, I'd lost all interest by then and simply wasn't going to hear it.
(I used to like "Bad Blood" when it was on the radio. I gave it a listen when somebody posted a YouTube link upthread and it didn't hold up for me.)
― clemenza, Friday, 23 August 2013 03:58 (ten years ago) link
I don't think it's even necessarily generational. I just think there are some ilxors who gravitate towards that sound or at least don't reject it out of hand like some of us (ie me) tend to...that's why the voting thread is good because you can read some really considered thoughts about material you'd already dismissed, and then you find that maybe with new ears it's not as terrible sounding as you thought
this happened a little bit with me in the Stones thread as well. I blame Alfred and Ismael, basically :)
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 23 August 2013 04:06 (ten years ago) link
I liked gated drums and wimpy synths when they were cool, then when they weren't, and still do now that they're cool again. It's my comfort zone.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Friday, 23 August 2013 04:24 (ten years ago) link
42 out of 50 tracks were from the 70s, so it's not like the later stuff dominated in any way.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Friday, 23 August 2013 04:28 (ten years ago) link
Yeah, I thought it was cool that they made it to be honest, although I would never have placed any of them so high. But this is one of the most interesting polls I've followed specifically because he's usually regarded by rockists as a lightweight or a pop sideshow, therefore they haven't written a canon, therefore it really is up for grabs. Plenty of stuff in the 20s that you could as easily imagine as the top 5, and tons of album cuts. Great results.
Re: joel, i'm in, partly to make up for my foolish decision to give up 'classic rock canon.' Will put my quarter down when the dust settles on Order & Timing.
― Doctor Casino, Friday, 23 August 2013 04:35 (ten years ago) link
The eighties aren't overrepresented! The entries that made it arw part of his basic canon.
― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 23 August 2013 05:06 (ten years ago) link
We may not like it but "Start Me Up" is part of the Stones canon. I don't see how "I'm Still Standing" or "I Guess That's Why..." wouldn't be represented.
― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 23 August 2013 05:15 (ten years ago) link
there's an obvious answer but imma roll zing-free here...
― resulting post (rogermexico.), Friday, 23 August 2013 06:27 (ten years ago) link
for real though tattoo you's a special case since mick at least knew they were creatively tapped and virtually all of the material is stitched together from like the previous 8 years of writing and recording
― resulting post (rogermexico.), Friday, 23 August 2013 06:29 (ten years ago) link
the bitch is back', 'saturday' - have always seemed to me to be fairly straightforward stones rips
i think that's the first time the stones have been mentioned on this thread, which is weird, 'cause elton borrowed a lot from them. the southern americana of "no shoestrings on louise." the horns on "elderberry wine." and all that guitar stuff like "saturday," of course. but he was obviously listening to bowie too. and bowie was listening to the stones and borrowing from them too. they're both sponges.
― fact checking cuz, Friday, 23 August 2013 07:25 (ten years ago) link
"bad blood" is fantastic. i assumed there wasn't quite enough elton in it to merit a vote in this particular poll. bring on the sedaka poll.
― fact checking cuz, Friday, 23 August 2013 07:27 (ten years ago) link
"i miss the earth so much/i miss my wife" > "tell my wife i love her very much/she knows"
I used heard the former as a comma rather than the slash that's here..
like, "It's got so bad up here I actually miss my wife"
― Mark G, Friday, 23 August 2013 08:13 (ten years ago) link
I hear it as a comma too, and used the slash only to be consistent with a previous post quoting the Bowie lyric.
I just liked the juxtaposition of those two statements, in that order. It puts me in the shoes of the titular character, flying alone for a long time in my spacecraft in a different galaxy, pondering which I would miss more, my spouse or just planet earth in general?
― Lee626, Friday, 23 August 2013 08:42 (ten years ago) link
well, thesedays I don't think elton/bernie actually meant it that way
― Mark G, Friday, 23 August 2013 08:49 (ten years ago) link
hmm, did not know this:
Solo albums[edit source] 1971 Taupin 1980 He Who Rides The Tiger 1987 Tribe With Farm Dogs[edit source] 1996 Last Stand in Open Country 1998 Immigrant Sons
― Mark G, Friday, 23 August 2013 08:50 (ten years ago) link
Well done, everyone. Top 2 spot on.
(Not keen on "Tiny Dancer" but maybe if it had been a hit over here in '71 (the UK was pretty much ignoring Elton circa Madman), I'd feel differently about it. As it is, I'd never heard it until Almost Famous.)
My ballot:Songs
01. Someone Saved My Life Tonight02. Ego03. Are You Ready For Love?04. Philadelphia Freedom05. Honky Cat06. Burn Down The Mission07. Tonight08. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds09. Sixty Years On10. Funeral For A Friend / Love Lies Bleeding
11. Rocket Man (I think it's going to be a long long time)12. Nobody Wins13. Grey Seal14. I Feel Like a Bullet (In the Gun of Robert Ford)15. Better Off Dead16. Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me17. Passengers18. Madman Across The Water19. Take Me To The Pilot20. Skyline Pigeon
LPs1. 17-11-702. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road3. The Union [w/ Leon Russell] <-- placement is trolling but there is some good stuff on this, check it out4. Honky Château5. Greatest Hits, Volume II
1, 4 and 5 above are the first EJ records I bought, within days of each other, so nostalgia's playing a big part here. In retrospect, I should have found room for Blue Moves.
Worst songs1. Candle In The Wind '972. Grow Some Funk Of Your Own3. Circle of Life
Thanks to J Fever for running this, long overdue, poll.
― Jeff W, Friday, 23 August 2013 10:03 (ten years ago) link
"Nobody Wins "!
― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 23 August 2013 11:43 (ten years ago) link
haha oh man I just saw the post where Shakey says it's "kind of a toss-up" whether Elton John or David Bowie is a better piano player
― some dude, Friday, 23 August 2013 12:53 (ten years ago) link
Yeah, A-plus to Shakey for making like two dozen posts in character as OG rockist strawman before anyone bothered to point it out. I do actually agree that some of the slower songs can be on the samey side, but the rest was just bonkers. I say this as someone who's had ''Ballad of a Well-Known Gun'' and ''My Father's Gun'' on alternating mental shuffle for the past eight hours, so I just can't take the criticism as far as ''oh yeah these songs have nothing at all to offer and are boring and forgettable.'' Dude knew a hook, and the arrangements/playing add so much detail and little micro-hooks and surprises. Yeah, they don't usually need to go past four minutes, but there's a lot more in those four minutes than you'd expect to find.
― Doctor Casino, Friday, 23 August 2013 15:07 (ten years ago) link
the chinese piano re: honky cat = pinnacle of shakey ITT
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 23 August 2013 15:38 (ten years ago) link
Note to self, when I have a computer in front of me rather than a phone, write out five-paragraph, line-by-line explanation of why ''Captain Fantastic'' is one of the greatest songs in Elton's catalog.
― Doctor Casino, Saturday, 24 August 2013 13:09 (ten years ago) link
I'd be interested to read it, because that song means nothing to me.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Saturday, 24 August 2013 15:09 (ten years ago) link
Consulting my newly purchased book of Billboard Top Ten charts, I note that Captain Fantastic, after debuting at #1 and staying there for six weeks and returning for a seventh about six weeks later, fell out of the top ten at the end of September 1975. In November, Rock of the Westies debuted at #1: by any standards phenomenal productivity and sales figures. No wonder he burned out a year later.
― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 29 August 2013 01:38 (ten years ago) link