Mama Can't Buy You Love: The Official ILM Track-By-Track ELTON JOHN 1978-1988 Listening Thread

the late '70s, thin, sorta-Mod Elton reminds me of someone else, but can't place it.

I could almost (barely, but almost) imagine EC & the Attractions doing this

I used to get Elton and Elvis Costello mixed up when I was a kid- they both wore glasses, frequently wore hats, had names beginning with E, had songs with pianos in them etc.

Some of the facial expressions and mannerism in the video look sort of Bowie-esque, I don't know if that's intentional (c.f. the quote above about Bowie being one of the inspirations for the figure in the song)

I had forgotten this song existed, can't remember what I thought of it at the time; evidently not much. Crazy tempo changes, very rock-theatre. The Sparks/Deaf School comparison is apt.

I admire you guys, but I have no intention of subjecting myself to this if only because I never want to encounter any reason to have to hear "Wrap Her Up" again.

Three months away. Be a man. Bite your lip (get up and dance)!

Over time I think it's important that we wear a succession of slightly worse wigs and technicolor fun shirts

I used to get Elton and Elvis Costello mixed up when I was a kid- they both wore glasses, frequently wore hats, had names beginning with E, had songs with pianos in them etc.

― going out dancing with the girls, her cat. (soref), Wednesday, December 11, 2013 3:54 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I can almost hear an Elton "Alison" in my head--however it ends up being a Bernie opera riffing on the notion of "you that little friend of mine take off your party dress".

I guess I'll go in for this, as I recently picked up some classic era Elton on disc cheap during an Amazon blitz (I even got the expanded Here and There!).

"Ego": I heard this before on a friend's public radio show some years back. He mentioned afterwards that the song was his intro to EJ via the radio, and it was one of the first new music singles he got on 45 (he'd be 8 y.o. at the time). It does have a slightly infectious Sparks feel, not to mention coming off like sped-up Meatloaf/Steinman.

I've never heard this one before. There's some seriously funky chord changes goin' on. Not bad.

But what would Don 'n' Glenn say?

well, yeah

DON: We knew Elton. He and Bernie were songwriters who sold millions of albums. Glenn and I wondered how they did it. We met him a few times at the Chateau Marmont. He was kind enough to buy us a few bottles of champagne, which we were most appreciative of when we were up and coming.

GLENN: Remember that party in '74? Pretty sure he was watching us up and coming.

DON: Well, yeah.

"Chloe" from 1981 is a pretty good minor Top 40 ballad.

I got The Fox as a joke gift last xmas. I'll be happy to oblige in a couple months.

the one I'm bracing for is (my God I hope not Don 'n' Glenn-influenced) Victim of Love

let's have our fingers crossed for Don Felder on guitar though
RIGHT? :D

"Part Time Love", the lead single from A Single Man, would have made a good 3rd or 4th single. But it was the lead single. Always thought it was catchy, but can see why it never went Top 20.

can't wait to discuss it

I got The Fox as a joke gift last xmas.

A lump of coal in the stocking if there ever was one.

Don and Glenn will be making a backing vox appearance in a couple albums.

I think Elton hates The Fox as much as everybody else. Both Top 40 singles, "Chloe" and "Nobody Wins" haven't shown up on any U.S. singles compilation that I can think of.

he looked battered on a repeat of Top Of The Pops last week doing Song For Guy, always liked that one though. the best quote i ever read about his lost years was from EJ himself who said in UNCUT magazine of the coke years "it sounds like a dead person in there".

The only Fox-y tune I remember is the gay thing cowritten with Tom Robinson.

should I do today's, Alfred? I'm awake and have had a cup. I've got all the links, i think

I've got a toot waiting, so go for it.

"Shine On Through"

http://youtu.be/pmeec8smGQ8

http://static.musictoday.com/store/bands/93/product_large/MUDD183.JPG

Backstory in a sentence: Elton wanted to do his own Philly Soul album, so he hires Thom Bell in 1977 to produce one for him. They clash a bit record a bunch of songs, including the first version of "Shine on Through," which has a big gospel outro:

http://youtu.be/MNpkFbO7_ck

but Elton thinks the tracks are "too saccharine" and scraps most of the songs. Then he remakes "Shine on Through" for A Single Man.

I hear hints of "The One" and The Lion King in the melody: big featureless balladry.

these lyrics, ugh. please come back bernie. all is forgiven. noel gallagher might be able to turn a phrase as banal as "shine on through" into a catchy hook. elton, here, seems to be saying why even bother?

he thought the Thom Bell sessions were too saccharine?

speaking off discarded partners named bernie, comparisons between taupin and leadon should be encouraged wherever possible herein.

which Reagan daughter did Taupin date

You get the sense all of these guys spent the '70s trying to make their own "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and never quite getting there ("shine on through" maybe from P. Simon's own blechhy "shine on, silver girl"). This one's dull and ponderous, straight from the opening chords. This was the lead-off track?

& yeah, scrapping the Bell version seems an odd decision. "No, I'm going to do my own version, thank you: with more modest shlock accompaniment." why not go whole hog, Elton?

On this cd reissue of Electric Warrior, there's a bonus radio interview where Bolan says he and Taupin are writing a sci-fi book together.... The mind boggles

I really like this version from the Morecambe and Wise Christmas Special:

http://youtu.be/g-ql5oM_hLA

I think Alfred's busy listening to Beyonce this morning, so let's see, where are we:

"Return to Paradise"

http://youtu.be/eHu_IAACVQs

http://images.45cat.com/elton-john-return-to-paradise-the-rocket-record-company-2.jpg

Ha – was just about to post.

you get the next few

kind of a cross-Caribbean "paradise" here: "island" marimba, Mexican horns. Surprised Carnival Cruises never used it (or did they?)

Those mariachi horns are sad; it's like he wants to evoke the genre experiments of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

I never understood why he was always lumped in with Billy Joel. Sure, there's obvious parallels (playing melodic pop on the piano), but Elton just seemed so far beyond Joel's abilities in all areas. But here, jeez, it sounds like he's trying to do a Joel impression. "If Billy had a hit with stuff like this, then so can I!"

this is the worst EJ vocal performance i have ever heard. what the hell?

A couple behind

I really like A Single Man, the lyrics whatever but his vocals are really beautiful on that track

this Return to Paradise though. What the effing hell. He sounds AWFUL.

we got a lot of awful coming up

I'm ready

...

i think

"I Don't Care"

http://youtu.be/2P_ZPPuezlk

http://img2.timeinc.net/people/i/2007/archive/covers/78/1_16_78_205x273.jpg

hey, this is more like it. Lyrically inane (Gary Osborne, the temporary Bernie T. replacement, can't even get his poor man's lament schtick straight: "more heat than I can use?" not really something to complain about?) and it's crying out for a single edit like no one's business, but it's got a good rhythmic interplay with Elton's piano playing, the strings (Paul Buckmaster in the vein of Thom Bell) and the chorus vocals.

from the People cover above: "He's given up touring and those nutty glasses---but not lasses!" Whew! Got scared for a moment. Ironic headline juxtaposition: "Cocaine in Hollywood"

ugh I can't get with this. It's a simulacrum of joy. "I don't care" indeed.

'juxtaposition'
I wonder what the story was with the lumberjack get-up?

spotif'ied playlist: http://open.spotify.com/user/judgeparker/playlist/5KzQRGivsutcFZYnr8FFIG

Missing you already. Thanks for doing this.

I'm down with A,LS's list, but would also add fcc's picks + most of the Thom Bell sessions + "Nobody Wins" + "Belgium".

Elton in the wild: "Nikita" at Office Max.

Cold War epilogue

i think i would do a paul mccartney one of these if you guys did one! i couldn't do elton. ugh. it just occurred to me that i've probably only heard like 2 or 3 mccartney albums all the way through. i don't know why he had to put out so many records though.

PLEASE DO

Pretty sure col would be. Turrican, Tim Ellison, Doctor Casino for sure.

Might be best to circumscribe a time period though.

i don't want to be in charge of it. i would listen and chime in though...

I've done EJ and Don 'n' Glenn. I'm done.

macca yes!!!!! he's perfect for one of these.

'Venus and Mars' thru 'Press to Play' would work (11-12 years' worth)

no pressure or anything. i just saw this yesterday and i was like man i don't even remember some of these coming out:

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/paul-mccartney-albums-ranked/

now see that's the kind of eccentricity I can get with: Back to the Egg and Flaming Pie in the top ten!

jesus, he's made some bad album covers hasn't he?

you'd think someone in his position would be more....careful? like, if his discography were 6 or 7 really great records of the best tunes he could come up with spaced out over a period of decades...he could be scott walker.

i dunno, i guess he can't help himself. and he can do whatever the hell he wants and that can be a problem sometimes.

He likes to work. Says he takes the tube to his office every morning.

i respect quantity. artists should be ... making art!

plus, i take that back about scott. he's made like 15 albums.

i don't know if i respect quantity. you can be making stuff and not presenting it all to the public. but i guess if you're happy with it, why not? just seems like he's made a lot of records that aren't remembered by a lot of people beyond hardcore beatle/paul people.

i've always believed that the very act of making music and actually releasing it, which is to say forcing yourself not only to make it but to complete it, tends to make your music better. i'm sure there are plenty of exceptions, but in general i've found that the artists i like the most tend to do their best work when they're working fastest.

I ranked top forty hits from a dark time.

Has anyone dipped into the Jewel Box yet?

And a related question: does anyone know what the hell is going on with the ever-changing digital track list for the jewel box? If he was just adding tracks to it, fair enough. But it seems like things get added then lost again (unless you’ve liked/saved the previous version on Spotify) and other tracks are just released as one-offs (like the jazz version of “Come Down In Time”) and not put in the box at all. I’d say “Classic Neil” but wrong thread obv.

AND REACH OUT
FOR HER HEALLLLLLIIING HANDSSSS

^^^ otm