 Elton John Another late-period surprise from Elton John, who hadn't surprised anyone in awhile, and seemed to be coasting on the mainstream success of the Lion King soundtrack and the Duets album (no one's going to nominate that as their favorite Elton album of all time). The Made in England album has been called a "return to form" and all that, and it is easily his strongest album of the decade (in fact, aside from Live in Australia it may be his best album since the mid-70s), but actually the EP of Believe (the lead single from the album) is what I listen to more. It's a by-now tried-and-true formula to have Elton belt out some classics by himself, just Elton and keyboard, for instant reassertion of his stature as one of pop's great performers. The Australia album revived his career in a huge way, so it's not surprising to see releases with live tracks crop up to counter-balance the increasing burden of MOR pap. But just because it's obvious doesn't make it a bad idea, and in fact, if Elton and keyboard is the best kind of Elton, then bring it on. The EP starts with the studio version of "Believe," which is a strong song, another in the line of great singles, actually quite a bit more challenging than his material has been in the past 20 years. The real draw to the EP, though, are the four live tracks: "The One," "The Last Song," "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word," and "Believe" (again). They form a gorgeous suite of downbeat Elton classics that make you wish he'd done a full-length release of solo material like this. As journeyman as he has been throughout his career, he sure can play. "The One" benefits here in a big way—the studio version is relatively forgettable, one of those '90s Elton singles that seems like every other one, but stripped down to this arrangement it really comes on strong. "The Last Song" is even more so—a better performance than the original version, and really driving home the message of the song in a tremendously heartbreaking way. "Sorry," as I've said before, appears on every Elton release, so it's not surprising to find it here, and it's a great performance, although it would be nice to see something like "Roy Rogers" be plucked from obscurity. The live "Believe," like the other tracks, draws a lot of passion and meaning out of the song, not necessarily besting the studio version, but done exceedingly well. It's an awesome EP. I could spend a couple of fun hours coming up with dream track listings for an Elton-and-his-keyboard live album. "Bad Side of the Moon," "Empty Garden," "Little Jeannie," "Tower of Babel," "Sacrifice," "Amoreena"—I could go on and on. He could even include "Circle of Life" and all those '90s ballads. Yikes, how about a 2-disc set? My jesus, that would be good. *Sigh* Well, this is a start, at least, I can imagine the rest. I wish I could just do regular masturbation like everyone else. Much easier than devising track listings for albums that will never be made, and uses up much less paper.
Review by Chan-Chan Charles |