 Elton John For those who are paying close attention, Elton John is one of the coolest live artists out there. Because he's such a genuine music fan, and probably himself a humbly huge fan of 'Elton John' as well, he knows how to put together a fantastic set list. Key obscurities played alongside big hits, everything played with passion because you never know for whom in a crowd of 30,000 you might be headlining a life-changing evening. Elton John cares. And he seems grateful to be given the opportunity to play his music, which he seems truly grateful to have been able to write. Unlike, say Paul McCartney, whose insincere faux-humility barely masks an apparent contempt for anyone but himself, Elton John gets it, and that's why, after over 30 years making records and performing live, he still delivers. The trick to appreciating Elton these days is you have to take his recordings with a grain of salt—they're incredibly consistent, but incredibly predictable, and to many ears, long since past the point of real listenability. I wouldn't argue that he's making his best albums these days, but his past few have actually been quite a bit better than his mid-'80s releases, although admittedly they are about as "adult contemporary" as you can get. I pay attention to his albums, but I am much more keenly interested in his setlists at this point. With such an amazing catalog behind him, he can go so many different directions with his concert repertoire: all hits, all recent ballads, whatever. You'd think he'd play it safe, just cranking himself up like a jack-in-the-box and spitting out the classics, but especially in the past few years, he's been dropping many amazing tunes back into the set that you'd never expect. This 3-disc boot covers an entire show from Elton's 1999 solo tour: just Elton and piano (sometimes, a piano/synth MIDI hookup) - precisely the way I prefer "new" Elton. Without a band to "rock the house," you get plenty of fire and passion as Elton proves himself to the audience, song after song. Yet he's not pandering. There are plenty of hits here, but it's the way he plays this stuff that matters. He could drag out some shit from Leather Jackets and the crowd would respond, because clearly he's loving what he's playing, and he's playing it all incredibly well. The depressing thing is that, to the mainstream or casual observer, this side of Elton is not really going down in history. Apart from a fan club CD that has about 10 songs from this set, Elton has not released an official document of this tour, and honestly, I'd say it's every bit as important, vital, and revelatory as the famed 1986 Australia tour was. The live album from that tour reinvigorated Elton's career, and the 1999 solo sets could justifiably be called the best celebration yet of the man's enormous talent. Too bad it's only on boots that we can really see it preserved. Oh well. All Alone in Baltimore (I got a cdr copy) has 28 songs from Baltimore (18 June 1999), plus another 6 from an earlier show in Paris (15 January 1998). The sound is good—it's an audience recording, but since there's no band to muddy the mix, what you get is mainly pure Elton, apart from one sorry jackass trying to harmonize with "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters" from approximately row 6. The set is sterling. Tons of immaculately chosen and hip album tracks: "Ticking" from Caribou, "Better Off Dead" from Captain Fantastic, "Skyline Pigeon" from Empty Sky, "Blessed" from Made in England … and then, a good amount of mid-level radio hits like "Sacrifice," "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That," "Written in the Stars," and "I Guess That's Why They Call it the Blues." The great thing is, he really digs in to these songs, not playing them straight off the original arrangements, but improvising all over the place and generally reevaluating every line. "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That" is a great example, as Elton takes it to nearly seven minutes with tons of stride piano runs that turns what was a fairly solid '80s dance song into some kind of barrelhouse blues. Amazing, visionary, I'm not kiddin'. Think you couldn't sit through "Circle of Life" or "Levon," or "Crocodile Rock?" Think again—this is completely different from Radio Elton, which by now you might just roll your eyes at. If this were an official release, I would certainly give it the highest possible rating. No, I think it would need "Nikita" to get the Orbach Head. And maybe "Bitter Fingers." Oh, and probably "Someday Out of the Blue." Oh, and "Club at the End of the Street." Oh, and "Empty Garden." Oh, and … anyway, I suppose I'm glad this set exists at all. Sadly, his recent live album One Night Only indicates that Elton isn't nearly as hip with his official releases as he is with his setlists. Maybe one day Elton will do like Pete Townshend and Brian Wilson have been doing, and market some smaller-target live releases on his very good website. At least there is this one great boot with over three hours of just Elton and his big ol' piano, until such a day might come. Get it if you see it. Track listing:
Review by Adrian Allspice |