ELTON JOHN: Elton John (ROCK): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Only ten months separate "Empty Sky" from the second album called simply "Elton John". And yet these two records seem to have been recorded years apart, so different are they. If the John/Taupin duo had already shown writing qualities on "Empty Sky", they were missing a producer who knew how to bring them out. His meeting with Gus Dudgeon will fill this gap.

Gus Dudgeon is not a novice. He has just produced David Bowie's 'Space Oddity'. Dudgeon will replace the dilettante and "amateur" production of the first album with a perfectly oiled mechanism which will serve admirably the music of Elton John, mixing subtly electric and acoustic instruments, enriching the melodies of numerous but discreet orchestrations arranged by Paul Buckmaster.

In such a setting, Elton John's refined compositions shine with a thousand sparkles. This one tightened his writing, sweeping away the psychedelic temptations and the bad collages of "Empty Sky" to come back to the essential, songs in the format couplet-chorus without malice but with a quality of writing which forces the admiration. The atmosphere is to the melancholy and the album reserves a large place to the romantic ballads but never mawkish: 'Your Song', 'I Need You to Turn To' on which Elton John finds his harpsichord, 'First Episode at Hienton' unjustly ignored, 'Border Song' and its gospel and Christmas choirs, and the more ambitious and very orchestral 'Sixty Years On', 'The King Must Die' and 'The Greatest Discovery'.

This last title is a model of construction representative of the genius of the trio John/Taupin/Dudgeon: the piece is introduced by the symphonic orchestra and a solo violin followed by a harp. Then, gradually, the electric instruments come in before being eclipsed by a solo piano. Finally the symphony orchestra makes its return to close the track, all with an admirable fluidity.

Elton John has a great time behind his piano, singing with conviction and great sensitivity. It is true that the charm of the melodies which follow one another incites to empathy. It is often said that the second record is the one of confirmation: Elton John passes the test with flying colors, delivering a remarkable record that will open the heart of the general public and the doors of the USA. - Official website

ELTON JOHN

ELTON JOHN

AUTRE LABEL

ROCK