CARIBOU  -  ELTON JOHN

YEAR:  1974
LABEL:  MCA/Rocket
TRACK LISTING:  The Bitch Is Back,  Pinky,  Grimsby,  Dixie Lily,  Solar Prestige a Gammon,  You're So Static,  I've Seen the Saucers,  Stinker,  Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me,  Ticking
BONUS TRACKS:  Pinball Wizard,  Sick City,  Cold Highway,  Step Into Christmas
IMPRESSIONS:  Happy 66th birthday, Sir Elton!  Sandwiched as it between between the monumental "GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD" and the much-loved "CAPTAIN FANTASTIC AND THE BROWN DIRT COWBOY", "CARIBOU" may seem like they're lesser cousin.  And in a way it is.  However, it is still a fantastic album filled with some of my favourite Elton songs.  Recorded apparently in a mere nine days under pressure from the record label, "CARIBOU" features my favourite Elton song of all time:  "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me" as well as the boffo hit single "The Bitch Is Back".  However, it also features some of Elton's strongest deep album cuts:  "Pinky" which is simply one of Elton's best ballads (and least known), the "random-shooting-in-a-bar" epic album closer "Ticking" (which is one of my dad's favourites) and even the delightfully silly throwaway (but catchy) nonsense of "Solar Prestige a Gammon".  However, it also contains some of Elton's more forgettable songs:  "Grimsby", "Dixie Lily" and "Stinker" among them.  Naturally, when pumping out an album in 9 days at the insistence of your record label, there's bound to be some filler.  But then, that's why God invented the skip button.
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  The Bitch Is Back,  Pinky,  Solar Prestige a Gammon,  Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me,  Ticking,  Pinball Wizard,  Step Into Christmas
GUEST ARTISTS:  Bruce Johnston (backing vocals on "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me),  Carl Wilson (backing vocals on "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me"),  Dusty Springfield (additional backing vocals),  Toni Tennille (additional backing vocals),  Tower of Power (brass/horn section),  Daryl Dragon (arranger)
FACT SHEET:  CARIBOU is Elton John's eighth album.  The title of the album derived from it having been mostly recorded at the Caribou Ranch recording studio.  The album was produced by Gus Dudgeon.  "Pinball Wizard" is a cover of the Who song written by Pete Townshend.  Elton's band consists of Davey Johnstone on guitars, Dee Murray on bass, Nigel Olsson on drums and Ray Cooper on percussion. 

BLUE MOVES - Elton John

YEAR: 1976

LABEL: MCA

TRACK LISTING: Your Starter For..., Tonight, One Horse Town, Chameleon, Boogie Pilgrim, Cage the Songbird, Crazy Water, Shoulder Holster, Sorry Seems To Be the Hardest Word, Out of the Blue, Between Seventeen and Twenty, The Wide-Eyed and Laughing, Someone's Final Song, Where's the Shoorah?, If There's A God In Heaven (What's He Waiting For)?, Idol, Theme From A Non-Existent TV Series, Bite Your Lip (Get Up and Dance)

IMPRESSIONS: "Here's one from the Blue Moves album!" This is one of Elton's favourites of his own albums and that's probably attested to by the number of times he's hollared the above sentence in concert. In my mind, this album marks the end of Elton's first "golden age" during which he could seemingly do no wrong in the charts. It was released around the time of John's famous interview in which he came out as bi-sexual which surely put a hurtin' on his career. This is a great album although there is a fair amount of padding on it; here is a prime example of a double album which would've made a superb single album (with the perfect track listing appearing below in "my favourite tracks" list. Elton's feverish pace of releasing 11 albums in only 7 years was obviously sending him to burnout city and Elton famously declared at a Wembley concert that "That's it! This is the last one" after which he temporarily gave up touring for a time. Nevertheless, BLUE MOVES carries some of my favourite Elton John songs of all-time: "Tonight", "Cage the Songbird", "Someone's Final Song", "Idol" and "Bite Your Lip".

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: Your Starter For..., Tonight, One Horse Town, Cage the Songbird, Crazy Water, Shoulder Holster, Sorry Seems To Be the Hardest Word, Someone's Final Song, Idol, Theme From A Non-Existent TV Series, Bite Your Lip (Get Up and Dance)

GUEST ARTISTS: David Crosby (background vocals), Ray Cooper (percussion), Bruce Johnston (background vocals), The London Symphony Orchestra, Graham Nash (background vocals), James Newton-Howard (organ, synthesizer, clavinet, conductor, electric piano, mellotron), David Sanborn (saxophone), Toni Tennille (background vocals), Daryl Dragon (arrangements)

FACT SHEET: BLUE MOVES is Elton John's eleventh album. The cover painting was done by Patrick Procktor. "Cage the Songbird" is written for Edith Piaf. "Idol" is written for Elvis Presley. "The Wide-Eyed and Laughing" is used as a lyric in the Indigo Girls song "Joking". BLUE MOVES is Elton's second double album (after GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD) and the first album released by Elton's own Rocket Records Ltd.

SONG OF JOY - The Captain & Tennille

YEAR: 1976

LABEL: A&M

TRACK LISTING: Song of Joy, Lonely Night (Angel Face), Mind Your Love, Smile For Me One More Time, Shop Around, Going Bananas, Butterscotch Castle, Muskrat Love, Thank You Baby, Wedding Song (There Is Love), 1954 Boogie Blues

IMPRESSIONS: Here's another one that reminds me of summer in Egg Harbor with my second girlfriend; what exactly is this sudden gravitation towards memories of Kelly Ann??? I would only see her on summer vacations at my father's house in Egg Harbor and this is when I bought and played the hell out of this album. I was all of 10 years old and we both loved this album. At the time, "Lonely Night (Angel Face)" was my favourite song. Then there's the soaring gospel of the opening title track which still manages to thrill me to this day. Jerry Reed Hubbard's "Mind Your Love" is another barnstormer which should've been recorded by Ray Charles. And the side concludes with the deliriously (and deliberately) silly pseudo-instrumental "Going Bananas" which sounds like exactly that! While side one can still be listened to without any apology, side two is where all the embarrassment resides. However, I've reached an age when the unbelieveable saccharine kitsch of "Muskrat Love" (a tune I didn't like back then) and "Butterscotch Castle" can be enjoyed for this very quality. There's also that "Wedding Song (There Is Love)" squirmer which it seems every wedding during the mid-to-late 70's was required by law to play as the unlucky couple staggered down the aisle.

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: Song of Joy, Lonely Night (Angel Face), Mind Your Love, Shop Around, Going Bananas, Butterscotch Castle, Muskrat Love

FACT SHEET: SONG OF JOY is the Captain & Tennille's second album which proved equally as successful as their debut album and produced three top 5 hits. The title song was written by Reginald Rasputin Boutte and Billy Preston. "Lonely Night (Angel Face)" is another cover of a Neil Sedaka song who continued to be their patron saint after their megahit debut with Sedaka's "Love Will Keep Us Together". "Shop Around" is a cover of the original Smokey Robinson & the Miracles #2 hit which took the Captain & Tennille to #4 on the charts. Finally, their third hit single was a cover of W.A. Ramsey's "Muskrat Candlelight" which they released as "Muskrat Love". The Captain & Tennille was basically a trio on album with Tennille on vocals and Daryl Dragon on bass and synthesizers while Hal Blaine played drums. Backup vocals were by Toni Tennille with her sisters Louise and Melissa.