Elton John's Seventies Albums Poll

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

Runners Up: Pretty much everything else between Tumbleweed and Caribou.

The real answer, one of the finest of its kind:

http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/bestselling-music-2006/866-1.jpg

I could never vote for that GH. It's got too many singles I can't stand ("Daniel," "Crocodile Rock," "Levon"), and none of the album tracks which make him so weird and compelling.

chuck is OTM, but I'd add Rock of the Westies, to which I listened this afternoon and still love ("Hard Luck Stories," "I Feel Like a Bullet in the Gun of Robert Ford").

tumbleweed! duh!

Tumbleweed. One of my favorite albums, period. Don't care for anything after Honky Chateau.

Well, "Levon" isn't on this GH, but point taken. "Crocodile Rock" is pretty hard to defend.

I like hearing it on the radio once in a while

pretty much everything through GTBR is great. I don't think I've heard anything after it

TC all the way. not a bad note on it.

I'm going with Rock of the Westies for its flawless first side and his best ballad, "I Feel Like a Bullet (In the Gun of Robert Ford)." But he's like Madonna - neither albums nor even greatest hits signify. It's single single singles. Greatest Hits is his unimmaculate collection. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is way too patchy despite moments of genius, esp. the dada flash of "Grey Seal." Etc.

"Captain Fantastic". A more free flowing collection of great songs than anything else he has ever done. Also contains his best ever song in "Someone Saved My Life Tonight".

I don't know -- the revisionism here is interesting. Those pre-HC albums are rough going.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road without a moment's hesitation.

I actually bought a copy of Tumbleweed Connection for $1 a couple months ago. About half of it is pretty dull; about half of it is pretty good, though never as good as, say, "Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" or "Bennie And The Jets" or "Grey Seal" or "The Ballad Of Danny Bailey" or "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting." Best song is, what, "Country Comfort" or "Burn Down The Mission," I guess? Seems, though, that somewhere along the way, TC became the Elton choice for...who? Freak folkers? Nick Drake obsessives? Fans of Dog Day Afternoon's opening credits? Somebody please explain this turn of events to those of us who weren't paying attention when it happened.

Also, if Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is "patchy," what isn't patchy? What don't people like on it, besides "Candle In The Wind" and "Harmony"? (Okay, "This Song Has No Title," maybe. A/k/a "This Song Has No Song.") Seems to me one of history's all-time less patchy albums, but maybe that's just because I first heard it at the right age.

I clearly need to get a $1 copy of Rock Of The Westies one of these days, though. Haven't even thought about that one since I was 15.

I could pass on "Jamaica Jerk-Off".

Thank heaven for Quote marks.

Elton doesn't even sing the best version of "Country Comfort" (that would be Rod Stewart).

The really real answer

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tRg73iZIquM/RijWaJywJvI/AAAAAAAAIbM/EbsN82n_0H4/s400/elton+john+11-17-70.jpg

Srsly, this stomps all over the studio albums. Of the ones on the list, I'm gonna tick Honky Chateau since it's the first LP I bought with my own money.

by the way, the first half of Caribou ("Pinky," "Dixie Lily," "Solar Prestige a Gammon") is excellent stuff.

"Somebody please explain this turn of events to those of us who weren't paying attention when it happened."

Sorry you were too cool to be "paying attention".

y'all mad. Ballad of a Well-known Gun, Son of Your Father, Amoreena, etc etc

i've not heard empty sky or anything after Capt. Fantastic except for singles, but s/t - Yellowbrick Road is a pretty good run. I'm not sure I've heard Caribou, come to think of it.

I like "Sweet Painted Ladies" from Yellowbrick iirc

Sorry you were too cool to be "paying attention".

Nah, probably more like too old.

"Jamaica Jerkoff" seemed pretty funny when I was 13 though, fwiw. (And "Sweet Painted Ladies" and "All The Girls Love Alice" kind of dangerous, or shocking, or something.)

Anyway, a lot of Tumbleweed hits me as an homage to the American countryside and Wild Wild West from a Britisher who's never actually been there. So, distanced by definition. Which is kinda neat in a way, and goofy (and it's not like Elton didn't do that elsewhere -- "Honky Cat" and the song "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" itself have similar themes -- though I dunno, maybe they do have horny-back toads in England), but still more "interesting" than anything that really grabs me. Plus I really really miss his hard rock and r&b sides, which didn't show up til later. Still suspect there's been a recent revisionism about weird early '70s singer-songwriter folkies that's led to people overrating TC and Elton's lamer early albums (where maybe other people used to underrate them?), but I could be way off. (I honestly didn't even realize that some people rated TC so hightly nowadays until I mentioned on another thread that I'd bought it.)

His ersatz rock side >>>> his folkie side

xp Btw also, I have nothing at all against "Crocodile Rock," though I don't have the energy to defend it right now. ('70s rock harking back to '50s rock'n'roll/rockabilly -- see also "Your Sister Can't Twist" -- was pretty cool by definition, though, so probably that's part of it.)

Christgau:

Elton John [Uni, 1970]
A lot of people consider John a future superstar, and they may be right; I find this overweening (semi-classical ponderousness) and a touch precious (sensitivity on parade). It offers at least one great lyric (about a newborn baby brother), several nice romantic ballads (I don't like its affected offhandedness, but "Your Song" is an instant standard), and a surprising complement of memorable tracks. But their general lack of focus, whether due to histrionic overload or sheer verbal laziness, is a persistent turnoff. B

Tumbleweed Connection [Uni, 1971]
Between the cardboard leatherette jacket and the cold-type rotogravure souvenir booklet is a piece of plastic with good melodies and bad Westerns on it. Why do people believe that these latter qualify as songpoems? Must be that magic word "connection," so redolent of trains, illegal substances, and I-and-thou. Did somebody say Grand Funk Railroad was a hype? What about this puling phony? B-

Madman Across the Water [Uni, 1971]
The two decent songs here--I refer primarily to the melodies of "Tiny Dancer" (just how small is she, anyway?) and "Levon"--clock in (with lots and lots of help from Paul Buckmaster) at 6:12 and 5:37 respectively. In other words, they meander. The others maunder as well. Ugh. C

What don't people like on it, besides "Candle In The Wind" and "Harmony"?

Those are both beautiful songs, but I have more of a problem with Elton John when he does those boring The Band-influenced rockers. That is why I like "Captain Fantastic" best, because it contains none of those.

Which is kinda neat in a way, and goofy

^agreed. i do think it's one of his strongest collection of songs, despite the thematic contrivances. i also think the strong gospel presence compliments him well.

Actually, though, Xgau's TC B- clearly seems to be a reaction to more positive reviews; I'm wondering what the critical consensus about that album was when it came out. (First edition of the Rolling Stone Record Guide has Ken Tucker giving it 4 stars, same as Yellow Brick Road, but in the second edition Dave Marsh bumps it to 3 stars, same as Elton John and Madman Across The Water. )

Both editions of the RS guide give Greatest Hits 5 stars, fwiw. For some reason, though, I've never even considered owning that album, and have always liked Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 instead:

http://media.musictoday.com/store/bands/1940/product_medium/MUDD172.JPG

"Nah, probably more like too old."

Too old in 1970? What are you, 90.

The answer for me is that I am genuinely not an Elton John fan, but TC is the only one I can really listen to. Maybe it is the Elton John album for Elton haters. Well Known Gun, Burn Down the Mission-those songs are awesome.

Not quite 90 yet, but getting there. Anyway, like I suggested above, I get the idea that the revivisionism in re: TC is happening with people who weren't even born in 1970 (or maybe even in 1985).

Also, for me, a bad grade from that douchebag Christgau probably means I'm going to love it. See, inter alia, his tone-deaf Black Sabbath reviews.

For me, the early albums seem to be Elton trying on different guises and different ideas. His vocal style isn't consistent, and his piano less so. Once he has hammered down "The Mature Elton John Style", I get off the train because I don't like it. Honky Chateau seems to be where that starts to coalesce, and by Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road it is cast in bronze with a fake patina.

I also love all the early 70s fake Americana, whether from across the pond (Elton, The Kinks, The Stones), or LA kids like Little Feat doing weird Southern country funk-rock. No idea why such a trope ran through the early 70s but I'm glad it did.

This has all been really interesting – I'd no idea the kids revered pre-electric boots era Elton.

I hope I'm not one of the kids - I'm 37!

Of course, the Elton of my youth was "I'm Still Standing", which is not the best first impression (I'd obviously heard classic rock Elton before, but didn't like it then either).

I'm doing an eighties singles poll next, and, yeah, "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues" and a couple of others are far superior to the likes of "Daniel" and "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me."

"Rolling like THUNdah..."

"I also love all the early 70s fake Americana, whether from across the pond (Elton, The Kinks, The Stones), or LA kids like Little Feat doing weird Southern country funk-rock. No idea why such a trope ran through the early 70s but I'm glad it did."

OTM all day

Also, if Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is "patchy," what isn't patchy?

Many, many albums. From that year alone, there's New York Dolls, Countdown to Ecstasy, Call Me, etc. And, um, a certain double album from the year before...

What don't people like on it, besides "Candle In The Wind" and "Harmony"? (Okay, "This Song Has No Title," maybe. A/k/a "This Song Has No Song.")

Well, that's almost one side there. Cut "Funeral for a Friend," some others and now you got yourself the best Elton album.

I'm doing an eighties singles poll next

oh gawd I wouldn't even know what to vote for there. Some enterprising soul should create a (one-disc!) compilation of all the kooky album tracks from Westies on (assuming there's enough to fill one disc).

I look at albums like 21 at 33 and The Fox and wonder who the hell bought these.

Cut "Funeral for a Friend"

Why the heck would you wanna do that?? (Doesn't Matt Ashare look down his nose at "Funeral" in his Marooned essay, too? Sorry, I don't get that. Along with "Love Lies Bleeding" it makes for an awesome, epic track, one of the best things Elton ever did. And I say that as somebody who attended plenty of funerals back when it was on the AOR.)

I'd probably go with "Sad Songs (Say So Much)" in the '80s Elton poll. (But wait, didn't somebody already do one of those, like last year?)

I fucking hate fucking Tiny fucking Dancer. Thank you for letting me get that off my chest. I'm going with "Rock of the Westies," in part to make sure it gets some love, but also because it's a weird and interesting record, more evidence that although I hate to admit it, cocaine is not always a bad idea.

Although voting for HC. slightly over GYBR, let me put in a plug for Rock of the Westies. Its probably his last consistently great album. And it rocks pretty hard. The fact that it only had one big hit, "Island Girl", and a Top 20 followup, "Grow Some Funk"/"I Feel Like A Bullet" might have hurt its place in Elton history, but I think it still sounds good. Elton could rock with the best of them. And the best on Rock of the Westies definitely roll. If we were voting most underrated album, it would be between this and Caribou. I suggest anyone writing on this thread pick up both, or stream both or however you get your music. But do seek 'em out if your interested in prime 70's Elton.

Yeah, I'm with you, jetfan. Stuff like "Dan Dare" and "Billy Bones.." keep it from essential status, but "Grow Some Funk of Your Own," "Street Kids," and "Hard Luck Story" are his best post-"The Bitch is Back" crunchers.

I also love all the early 70s fake Americana

I despise all things American, and do of course always like Elton John best in those moments when he does not sound particularly American. Mainly his ballads, that is.

I despise all things American

Sometimes you need to just keep walking.

"I despise all things American..."

Goddamn, man. Offend much??

Fuck you.

Think that's bad? Check the "best Moron" thread.

I despise all things Geir. But then again, so do lots of people.

Anyway.

Does anyone actually own A Single Man?

In soviet russia, a single man owns you.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Yellow Brick, close second would be the eponymous album or Madman Across the Water, a toss-up.

Rock of the Westies for me. It was the only one I ever bought aside from the first Greatest Hits.

After much consideration...

Madman > Tumbleweed >> Honky Chateau > Yellow Brick Road

but i'm real, real tempted to vote for tumbleweed anyway, so hmm

'Victim of Love' is not only better than any other Elton John album, it's better than any other disco album, pop album, or 70s album

u mad.

Has Goodbye Yellow Brick Road been polled yet?

I will be the lone voice for Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only The Piano Player (but I will say nothing).

'Victim of Love' is not only better than any other Elton John album, it's better than any other disco album, pop album, or 70s album

Contratulations! You just won ILM's "Most contrarian ILM post ever" award. :)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

surprised Honky Chateau placed so poorly

I don't remember if I voted but Captain Fantastic is really great. The vocals are as warm and sympathetic as Rod Stewart's early 70s albums. His voice sounds double-tracked on a few songs, and I'm a sucker for that (cf. Darkness on the Edge of Town). And the closing pair of "We All Fall in Love Sometimes" and "Curtains" are epic in the best sense of the word.

I like "Bitter Fingers" and "Someone Saved My Life Tonight," but Taupin (and John, for that matter) lacks the...discipline to write a concept album.

I think the concept of the album is lost on me, and at 53 minutes it's on the long side, but I'm not sure what I'd cut. I'm listening to the recent 2-disk rerelease of the album and "Philadelphia Freedom" is a divine addition to the first dish. The second disk is mostly live.

neither albums nor even greatest hits signify. It's single single singles.

This makes no sense so "diszgard" the last sentence.

Does anyone actually own A Single Man?

(Alfred, Lord Sotosyn)

In soviet russia, a single man owns you.

― Mark G

I laughed out loud, I did.

'Victim of Love' is not only better than any other Elton John album, it's better than any other disco album, pop album, or 70s album

― Julio Afrokeluchie

I still think this is Dave Queen.

And the closing pair of "We All Fall in Love Sometimes" and "Curtains" are epic in the best sense of the word.

Besides "Someone Saved My Life Tonight", I consider those two songs the best thing Elton John has ever done.

The singing on "Dirty Little Girl", on Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, is pretty terrific. Actually, the second record/second half of the cd has a remarkable amount of snarl, esp. after the sweetness of the first half.

this thread made me realise that Rock Of The Westies has some bloody great stuff on it. why did i take so long to discover it?! maybe the cover kept putting me off. thanks ilx poll!

SO much great Elton on Spotify. man if you haven't ever investigated the guy you really owe it to yourself.