I agree that Elton in the 80's was a singles artist at best (but I loved some of those songs, its the Elton I grew up with), and outside of "The One" don't like anything he did in the 90's, but I would say his past ten years have been rather stellar.
Since Songs From The West Coast in 2001 he's moved away from AC and top 40 music and has been concentrating more of making singer-songwriter album-oriented music. The four albums he's done in the past ten years, Songs From The West Coast, Peachtree Road, The Captain And The Kid (a sequel to Capt. Fantastic) and The Union with Leon Russell have all been stellar albums. True they're not on par with Honky Chateau or Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, but in all honesty, what is?
Elton took becoming "too old for radio" in stride and in the past ten years has really gone back to the base of what made him great to start with. I hated his 90's AC music but yet those last four albums of his have made him an interesting artist again. His voice has changed and he doesn't rock as hard as he used to, but any fan of Elton's 1970-1976 can at least appreciate the recent albums in a way they couldn't the 20 years before 2001.
^^You make a good case ANF, but I'm comfortable with my Elton John collection as it stands. He will never surpass his early days, and even though he's made a solid comeback as you said since the 2000's, I feel no urge to run out and get his newest albums.
For me it's a matter of time now, I don't have an endless supply so when I want an EJ fix, I'll pick one of his early classics.
And on another subject, here's one of the first CD's I bought back when the digital revolution started. I have to say this CD was done "right", unlike so many other great analog albums from the 60'-80's, it's one example I would use to show how good a CD can sound when they take the time to do a first class transfer. The vinyl was excellent, but the CD was it's equal and much quieter.
I picked up Elton John's "Live In Australia" album last night and I've already listened to it twice. It's a fantastic sounding live album and probably my favorite thing he put out in the 80's, that's probably because I love orchestras mixed with rock music and he resurrects a great number of songs from his self titled album. My only complaint is that it's awfully quiet and times. Still great though.
I know you do, LG, and I think this is an album for you. It has a lot of his biggest hits like "Tiny Dancer", "Sorry Seems To Be the Hardest Word", "Your Song", and "Candle In The Wind" but most of it is put together of lesser known tracks and in ways I almost prefer them to his hits.
So sorry to see the lack of pop rock listeners around here (I really hate that word 'poppy,' what exactly does that mean? Flower-ie? Sooo...) but he is what he is. That's why I enjoy him so much, he has great diversity and distribution. His work with the Spinners for instance is highly overlooked and dismissive, it's probably some of the best vocal work he has ever done, but no one wants to take it 'nice and slow.' His vocals in the 90's was probably the best he's ever sounded, it's interesting how his more feminine voice appears more appealing.
But he's got a lot of specialty in his works, especially with the brilliant application of Gus Dudgeon and Paul Buckmaster, so few see because all everyone wants is 'hard' rock, apparently the essence of a 'good' song. Most of his hits in the 70's are not even close to my favorites, I really could never come up with a top favorite list. Does anyone know that he still writes with Bernie? Sorry, but many I have encountered seem to think that their partnership ended in '75 along with the rest of his career. Of course his earlier work is going to be regarded as his best, that is why he's a 'classic rock' artist. To be fair, most artists of that era have left their best work in that era, but that doesn't mean they don't have later material that is still worth checking out regardless if it sound 'top forty' or not. It's going to naturally go along with the persisting times, so it may lose that edgy 60's/70's sound that everyone is drawn to, their later work actually sound matured. But the 'lesser known songs' don't have to be lesser known if they were listen to more.
Here's a B-side from 1981 called "The Retreat," it's not 'hard' rock, but nonetheless a great song.
MP is right Serena there is a lot of love for Pop artists in here, but if you don't see a thread for someone you really like, then write one yourself.
Back to Elton...I have nothing against his later work, however I simply think his early recordings are his best. I will check out the album Cosmic posted because we've had an ongoing chat about Elton for a long time in here, and I like the Symphony orchestra being part of it.
So why is everyone so dismissive over his later work if they do favor pop music? All I'm hearing is that his early 70's work is best because he 'rocked harder' then and his later work got too 'poppy,' whatever the hell that means.
What I really like is Elton post 1975, which I guess there isn't a thread about and would be pointless to make one since no one wants to talk about it. I guess poor Elton must be wasting his time if after forty years of work, only five of those years are apparently worth listen to. At least he's still making his way through live shows with these earlier songs, which are great shows for the likes of people here, but they are not meant for the rest of us die-hards.
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