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3. Tumbleweed Connection (1970) Album Review
11 Plays14 days ago
You can just taste the Americana....wait! Isn't that a train station in Sussex?! Elton's third album is a concept album...but what do Anthony & Dominic make of the 'concept'? Get listening, to find out!
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Welcome to Elton v Elton: The Album Battle! This is the podcast where two pals (Anthony & Dominic) & Elton fans rage over which of Elton's albums we think is the best. We'll be keeping score as we go, as we delve into each of Elton's solo studio albums, discussing the tracks individually, the musicians involved, the album art, random trivia, cover versions & anything else in between!
We'd love to hear from you with your ratings, opinions and any other insights into Elton's work you have. Drop us an email via eltonveltonpod@gmail.com
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Thanks go to everyone involved in bringing Elton's work to the bigger stage, James Cook (http://www.jamescookcomedian.com/) & Paul Savage (https://www.instagram.com/savagecomics_/) who inspired the format of this show and Zapsplat.com for the SFX. Research for the show was done using songfacts.com, https://sir-elton-john.fandom.com/ , eltonchords.com, https://www.eltonography.com/ and Elton’s autobiography 'Me'.
You can find Dominic on https://www.facebook.com/dominicberry/ and on his poetry website https://dominicberry.net/
You can find Anthony on two other podcasts: Enough of the Falafel (featuring the Vegan Week & Vegan Talk shows) and The Brambling Along Podcast
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Until next time it’s goodbye from Captain Dom-tastic & the Brown Dirt Ant-boy!
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Transcript
Introduction and Setup
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey everyone, we're really looking forward to sharing this podcast with you. There's occasionally tiny little bits where Dominic's microphone cuts out ever so slightly for a second or two. We've listened back, we really don't think it gets in the way of you enjoying the show. If you need things to be perfect then we're probably not the podcast to listen to, to be honest. So yeah, sorry that that's the case, we did try hard to rectify it but um Every now and then it will happen, but we don't think it gets in the way. And I'm going to stop talking so you can enjoy the show. Enjoy the show.
00:00:33
Speaker
Super. Right, i'll put that at the start.
Focus on 'Tumbleweed Connection'
00:00:36
Speaker
It's the day before Halloween, 1970. Elton John has just started his first US tour the day before, and the next day he's only gone and released a new album. That's right, in this episode we're discussing Elton's third solo studio release, Tumbleweed Connection.
00:00:53
Speaker
I'm Dominic. And I'm Anthony, and you are listening to Elton vs Elton. The album battle! Ho ho ho ho ho!
00:01:06
Speaker
Thank you.
00:01:19
Speaker
Welcome everyone. This is episode three of Elton versus Elton, the album battle. And that is because we are looking at Elton's third studio release, because that's the format of our show. We're two pals. We love the music of Elton John and we rage over which of his albums we love the best. So obviously we're indebted to everyone who's brought Elton's music to the wider stage and as well to two I'm going to say lesser known podcasters ah like ourselves, James Cook and Paul Savage. They did a show a bit like this, but looking at the men's football World Cups where they rate them and give them scores. So nod to those two too. If you want to hear a bit more about Dominic and myself, our backgrounds, what led us to do this project, we have got a trailer episode and we've got episodes one and two.
Listener Engagement and Teasers
00:02:06
Speaker
But i think it's fair to say, Dom, people don't have to listen to these in order, do they?
00:02:10
Speaker
They can not they Not all. Yeah, yeah, it's nice if you want to go chronologically, but maybe you're someone who's like, Tumbleweed Connection is my favourite one. If that's the case, you can dive straight into this one. That said, we do have a teaser question that we do at the end of each one. So we are going to reveal the answers to the one we did in the Elton John by Elton John podcast. So we asked you last time, in 2003, Rolling Stone magazine listed the 500 greatest albums of all time.
00:02:42
Speaker
But which was number one? Now, I recall saying that Elton John was in there. Elton John by Elton John. That was, can read notes here. It was 468. But what, Anthony, was Rolling Stone's alleged best?
00:03:01
Speaker
ah um well yes dominic will say alleged because the answer is sergeant pepper's lonely hearts club band which before you switch off listeners all he said in the past is that it's an overrated album which all you've got to do to believe that it's overrated is think that it's not the best album of all time so i think but you know give dominic some credit there i I question anything that contains the song When I'm 64 as being the best album ever. I think that's... a but If you do love the album, if you love that kind of old style musical, I think it's a really varied record. I mean, the title track of Sgt. Pepper is so alternative rock. It's... I am less keen on albums are full of hugely wide variety. i think
Preceding Albums and Contemporary Events
00:03:53
Speaker
it's fair to say that Tumbleweed Connection is fairly consistent in tone and lyrical theme, whereas Elton John by Elton John itself, and I did say on our previous podcast, I subjectively was a bit less keen on the wide, wide variety. Anthony, tell us a little bit more about Elton John by Elton John. Yeah, so that was released about six months before
00:04:16
Speaker
this album that we're going to talk about today, Tumbleweed Connection. Interestingly, they were both recorded in early 1970, but they were released in this order. So Elton John's self-titled album came out first. It did pretty well. It reached number five in the UK, number four in the US and number two in Australia.
00:04:36
Speaker
and in the Netherlands too. There's tracks that a lot of people will have heard of, Your Song, Border Song, 60 Years On, Take Me to the Pilot, lots of cover versions of a lot of songs, including some of the lesser known album tracks.
00:04:58
Speaker
But we've moved six months on in the world, not just with Elton's music, but in the world. what What's going on in sort of October-ish 19th in the world? Sure. Let me give you some global context to the state of the planet in which this album was released. in ah the On the 10th of October 1970, Fiji gained independence from the United Kingdom. And then six days later, Andrew Lloyd Webber collaborated with the lyricist Tim Rice, who indeed would later write words with Elton John for the Lion King soundtrack. But this was way before Lion King. This was the Jesus Christ Superstar concept album, which I owned and loved as a lad alongside Empty Sky, a record that was very influential in the
00:05:49
Speaker
the word writing of Dominic Perry. On the same day as Tumbleweed was released, Black Sabbath made their US concert debut infamously blowing out the power at their show in New Jersey. So this album was released at the time when the US s number one was the Jackson 5 with I'll Be There. And the UK number one was Matthew's Southern Comfort, Woodstock. Woodstock being originally by Canadian artist Joni Mitchell. Are you familiar with the the original version, Ant?
00:06:27
Speaker
Not the original, but i'm I'm aware of the Matthew Southern Comfort version. Don't really care for it. I mean, i wasn't alive I wasn't alive when Woodstock was happening, so perhaps it would ah strike a chord with me if I was. And I will say i I'm not really a fan of I'll Be There by the Jacksonville. It's a bit syrupy. It's no ABC or I Want You Back, is it? um You know the Joni Mitchell song, Big Yellow Taxi?
00:06:52
Speaker
So Woodstock is on the same album and might even be the preceding song on on the record. So I think the hope and...
00:07:04
Speaker
euphoria of Roodstock when contrasted with ah the the sort of cynical contemporary view of Big Yellow Taxi is is is it's a song that sounds great within the context of ah of the consistent album, consistent in a way that Sgt Pepper isn't. How dare
Elton John's Rise to Fame
00:07:23
Speaker
Rolling Stone rate Sgt Pepper higher than they would rate ah Ladies of the Canyon by Joni Mitchell, or indeed Tumbleweed Connection. um What was happening in Elton's life at the time of Tumbleweed Connection being made, Anthony? Well, I mean, there's that that's a different question to when it was released in that when it was made, he'd he'd not achieved any fame or or anything at all. Whereas by the time
00:07:50
Speaker
Tumbleweed Connection is released. He's been to America for six days and had a placement at the Troubadour Club in which he's he's got a really great review that he later said himself that saved him a year's work that kind of moved him forward in people's eyes and and sort of how well known his work was just from that one review in that six-day stint that he had in LA. And when this album was released, as Dominic said, right at the top of the show, he's just setting off to the US on a much longer tour. So yeah, things have really taken off for him. that's There's been lots of gigs that have been arranged for him and the band. um I'd really recommend listeners reading or listening to the audio book of Elton's autobiography called Me. He describes in there how they've got this eclectic range of concerts just knocked together really quickly. Some of them, they're not necessarily the most appropriate venues or other bands that they're playing with. So it's a bit hit and miss, but they were responding to, goodness me, this album is is being well received. And you've got hits like your song on that previous album that's catapulting him forwards. He's not publicly come out as gay at this point, but almost to the month that this album, Tumbleweed Connection, is released, that's when he says he started his relationship with John Reed, who was also manager of the band.
00:09:20
Speaker
Goodness me. And if you watch the movie Rocketman, the... sort of semi-autobiographical tone of that. The John Reid-Elm John relationship is a remarkable point of that
Musicians and Collaborators
00:09:34
Speaker
movie. However, back to this album, there are so, so many musicians who feature on this album. If I was to read full list to everyone who was on it,
00:09:45
Speaker
It would be a a long old time. I will say that ah the ah group who were at number one with Woodstock, the ah ah steel guitar on one of my favourite tracks on this ah country comfort, that's played by ah Gordon Huntley of Woodstock fame. Caleb Quay had been on every album up to this point. and He's still on lead guitar. and We've got Paul Buckmaster on orchestration.
00:10:13
Speaker
ah Is it true that there's a little bit of backing vocals by Dusty Springfield, Anthony? Is that the case? Yeah, tracks one and five. So that would be Ballad of a Well-known Gun. And My Father's Gun, clearly Dusty was a trigger-happy backing singer, only wanting to sing on those ones.
00:10:33
Speaker
I'm sure that, yeah, I'm sure that probably everyone listening knows Dusty Springfield. If you don't, she was a huge singer in the 1960s, but her own sexuality was a massive thing in ah being shunned from from public eye. and by the time of this album recording she was not in the best place in her life so it's good see her and Adeline Bell is also on the album who had Dusty Springfield backing singer for a large number of her recordings. Leslie Duncan is a backing vocalist and writer of Love Song. Now Leslie Duncan is a singer-songwriter who had really crippling stage fright, found it terribly, terribly difficult to be on stage. There is a version elsewhere of Love Song, which is her singing it with Elton. It's a solo version that we will be hearing. And as I say, Leslie is on backing vocals on a large number of songs. We also have on drums, Nigel Olsen and on bass guitar, Dee Murray. So these are two folks who would go on drums. to be very prominent in the Elton John band.
Album Concept and Themes
00:11:48
Speaker
We do also have a little bit of drumming from Roger Pope, and those who you listened previously know what a big Kiki D fan I am, and Roger Pope did a lot of drumming with Kiki D, he's on this record too. Yeah, lots of stuff, lots of people, lots of instruments, congas, oboe, harp, harmonica. Not all at once though, thankfully. So this album, I think it's fair to call this a concept album. You'll hear that when you listen to it. I think it's worth saying for all of the albums that we review, give it a listen first. You know, because there'll be some bits that are nice surprises and things like that. And you you don't want to hear those surprises first from me and Dominic. You want to hear them from the Elton John band.
00:12:26
Speaker
This album, Tumbleweed Connection, in 2012, it was number on Rolling Stone's magazine list of the greatest albums of all time. They update the list every years or so. The album peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart and number five on the US Billboard 200 Chart. The lyricist of the album, Bernie Taupin, said of this album, everyone thinks that I was influenced by Americana and by seeing America firsthand. But we wrote and recorded the album before we'd ever been to the States. It was totally influenced by The Band's album, music from Big Pink and Robbie Robertson's songs. When he says The Band, he doesn't mean the Elton John Band. There is a band called The Band, rather unhelpfully for our purpose. He goes on say, I've always loved Americana and I loved
00:13:22
Speaker
American Westerns. Of the album, Elton has remarked, lyrically and melodically, that's probably one of our most perfect
Personal Connections to Music
00:13:31
Speaker
albums. I don't think there's any song on there that doesn't melodically fit the lyric. And you will hear whether Dominic and I agree on that statement. What are your personal sentiments for this album, Dominic? I think it's fair to say that between the two of us,
00:13:49
Speaker
There's quite a difference in how long we've known about this album or certainly since we first heard it. Very true. So apologies for repeating what I've said in previous podcasts. The first album, Empty Sky, I had as a kid and listened to repeatedly and adored. The second album, Elton John by Elton John. I heard for the first time through a group of friends and I do a listening party where someone brings an album, a bit like you bring a book to a book club. And a few years ago, my friend Gwyneth brought Elton John by Elton John. And I heard it then and liked it. Didn't like it as much as Empty Sky, but...
00:14:28
Speaker
It is rightly so a classic. We score the albums at Listening Party and everyone scored it very high. Overall, averaged out of nine out ten from the various friends who attend. I've never heard Tumbleweed Connection ever before. And one of the reasons for that was its scarcity in record shops in the 1990s when I was buying albums. And I will also say, I thought that the album artwork as a kid, I thought it looked boring.
00:15:00
Speaker
I thought it looked boring. I also owned the tribute. records two rooms which has the sting cover version of come down in time which in later years i grew to really like but as a kid i thought that was boring i loved track one eric clapton belting out border song i adored kate bush's weird experimental reggae tinged rocket man and then you have the very subdued sting come down in time And for me, it wasn't a good advert for this record. So I'd never even heard the Elton John version of Come Down in Time until thinking I'll listen to it just once, just once for this podcast. I put it on just once. And since then, I've had on repeat. I've probably listened to this album about 10 times in the last three days. Wow.
00:15:59
Speaker
Excellent, excellent. I, myself, I think I bought this when I was probably about 15 or 16. It will have been one of the first Elton albums that I bought. The first was Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, and then I kind of went back to the start-ish, not in an exact way. And I didn't much fancy it.
00:16:23
Speaker
at the time, reasons why will become apparent when we go through the individual tracks. But there was certainly a lot of Elton music that I much preferred listening to. And shock horror, there's other musicians that I like to listen to too. So if I'm not really digging... something then ah you know i'll go on something else over time this has grown on me i think musically it's really good and yeah that i mean that the album art i know i know what you mean in terms of it it's definitely got a certain feel and i suppose that's the thing i love it now Yeah, yeah. i love that. A concept album is a concept. And if you don't dig that concept, then you're not going to like it. But that concept's not moving or changing. So you can change your opinion on it. Let's talk about that artwork. So brilliantly evocative picture. It's in a sort of sepia colour scheme, isn't it? And I don't know that it's immediately apparent, right?
00:17:19
Speaker
that it's at a railway station, but it is. It's made to look like it's in America, but it's actually in Sussex, which is is great. And unfortunately, that's that's a long way from where I live and from where Dominic lives. Otherwise, I would be going there to recreate this picture happier tones. um the The station itself, Sheffield Park, in August 2020, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, pandemic, the Bluebell Railway, who owned that whole railway network, announced that to mark the 50th anniversary of the release of Tumbleweed Connection had restored the station to look as it did when the cover photo was taken.
00:18:02
Speaker
And if you go on their website, you can see people who've recreated it it's um It's very old timey America looking, I think, isn't it? It's fair to say. Yeah, yeah. I would have never thought it was a British place, never in a million years. I did think it looked like some kind of station, you know, but again, station spaces where you go ah for a journey.
00:18:25
Speaker
So it's like not even the journey to the exciting place. It's the wait before the journey. As a kid, was like, what a boring concept. An album about waiting. And far from it, it's an album about battles and death and grief and joy. Indeed. Well, let's get on to talking about that album, starting with the first track.
Track Analysis and Interpretations
00:19:06
Speaker
ballad of a well-known gun. In this album, i'm I'm going to be asking Dominic a lot to try and explain some of the more lyrical side of things. I'm somebody who's played music. I've played piano since the age of five. but I'm not somebody who's ever really seriously tried to write lyrics or poetry. it's That's not my bag, but that is Dom's bag and his profession. So he's going to help me out with phrases like ballad of a well-known gun. I'm assuming guns, just like a person? Yeah, I would think so. Do you know, I'd never even considered it wasn't. It could be literally talking about the weapon, couldn't it? In the context of the lyric, I think it means person, doesn't it? Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, the person in question is, is arriving. So in a cinematic sense, we arrive at the album at the same time as a new person arrives. Uh, I mean, here's me saying that stations are places to wait. They're also places to arrive, aren't they? So I guess you could argue that, uh, that somebody's stepping into the world of which we're about to hear.
00:20:15
Speaker
And, uh, Yeah, the the lyrics do a really, really good job of describing that, describing that ah excitement of arriving, but but fleeing, fleeing from a past life.
00:20:29
Speaker
Yeah, I want to talk about the lyrics a bit more, but before we do, just the the opening, just the first like five seconds are really strong. You've got this real nice and guitar strain from from Caleb Quay, and then you've got the bass and the drums coming in. It does sound very similar to a recording that was made of the band playing live in the States in in late 1970. And it sort of doesn't quite come together to start with. And then a few seconds in, bam, they're all playing together. It's a really lovely opening to to an album, I think, and and is evocative of the whole album. you know If it's a concept album and doesn't start aligned with the concept, then I'd argue it's a poor start, but it it ticks all those boxes. I learned a lot from these lyrics, Dominic. there's the Early on, which ah ah there's mention of the Pinkertons pulled out my bag, my bags, and I was thinking, who are the Pinkertons? So I looked it up. And on guides.loc.gov, Pinkerton's Topics in Chronicling America. In the late 19th century, private police forces battled against organized leg group labor groups. This guide provides access to material related to the Pinkertons in the Chronicling America digital collection of historic newspapers. And there's there's all this...
00:21:53
Speaker
interesting stuff about this private police force and they they sound quite scary and then later on I'm really surprised you've not heard that so I'm trying to think from which ah from what I have heard I know that Pinkerton is the name of the second album by 1990s rockers Weezer um but i I was aware of that i'm trying to think there might be there might be Pinkertons in some Kate Bush songs I can imagine i may maybe I'm wrong there maybe I'm wrong but i definitely was familiar with the concept Maybe I'd read a novel in which they featured. But yeah, that that is correct. Your definition is accurate.
00:22:30
Speaker
Yeah. And there's also reference to I know how Reno felt. So I had to look up Reno and the Reno gang. They were a group of criminals operating in the Midwest US s during and just after the Civil War. So he's really taken us back. Like to he's not saying that that's happening now, but like the references and the geography of where he's talking about, it's all like 19th century Midwest, Southern States, America, or all of that. it's It's really setting the scene for for what's to follow. You're a fan of this song, Dominic, or not?
00:23:05
Speaker
Oh gosh, I absolutely love it. So um I, of all the lesser known Elton John albums to really love, I adore the mid-2000s Elton John record, The Captain and the Kid, which is the lyrical follow-up to the highly popular Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. I really rate The Captain and the Kid. I really rate it And I look forward to however many months time when we eventually get to doing a podcast about the 2000s.
00:23:39
Speaker
But one of the criticisms of that is, oh, it's just the standard Elton John's sound, the captain of the kid. Well, if that's true, this is the first record, I think, that really establishes that sound. I think the empty sky has a certain energy, which is not necessarily carried forward on future records. The second album is very varied. There's a lot of strings on there. But this, yeah, it's got the Americana feel, but the the Elton John piano is so prominent, that thumping, driving piano and the big chorus and the harmonies of the backing vocals coming in on the chorus. It is strident. I adore this song. It really made me set up and listen and feel take note and think oh okay i'm not I'm not just having this on in the background this is demanding my attention yeah and ah you know for fear of repeating myself it picks a lane and i think 14, 15 year old Anthony the lane that he wanted to listen to wasn't
00:24:47
Speaker
references to 19th century USA and and this style of of music, this Americana style. So, you know, that that is that's what happens when you try not to appeal to everyone is that you're going to turn some people off. But I can appreciate it more for its... musicality and I suppose in your adolescence you're trying to find your own identity a lot of the time aren't you whereas now as a middle-aged man you know I can I can listen to a a different time and place and identity and way of life and not necessarily feel threatened by that so I think that's that's why it yeah it appeals more now I might not have liked this as a kid so the back to the future trilogy as them going to the past for the first
00:25:31
Speaker
movie the second one they go to the future and i was like oh where's the third one going the wild west now as a kid i had no appreciation of how significant that was in american history for me as a brit that seemed really niche like was aware of like you know what was then called cowboys and indians that sort of thing that just seemed like really unimportant like the past I get that the the you know going to the 1950s the the the you know but Wild West it the third Back to the Future really disinterested me for its setting and I think yeah maybe I wouldn't have had the excited uh reaction this album maybe I would have done because of the drama the battles the the the death I might have done I don't know don't know Nothing like a good bit of death to Rainer's game.
00:26:27
Speaker
This is not the only track on the album, so we should move on. Track two, Come Down in Time. Three minutes, 25, much shorter than the the five minutes of the first track. um Again, everything on this album, bar one track, is attributed to Elton and Bernie writing it. And this is no exception. We got a bit of harp. We got a bit of oboe. Come Down in Time.
00:26:52
Speaker
I think we've mentioned the fact that Sting does a cover version of this. Let's talk about that a bit later. What did you make of this original, though, Dom? I think it knocks the Sting cover version out the water. It was like listening to a different song. I think that Elton's delivery is so sincere.
00:27:17
Speaker
And when we were reviewing Elton John, I kept comparing it to Leonard Cohen. And for me... Empty Sky, when we were looking at out Empty Sky. Oh, what did I call it? Elton John. Oh, yeah, yeah. Well done. Well translated, Anthony. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Come Down in Time has got Leonard Cohen intensity. It is amazing. Again, would young Dominic have been interested interested in it? Maybe.
00:27:42
Speaker
It's a very adult topic, isn't it? That kind of disappointment of hoping that something's going to happen. It's a song about something not happening, isn't it? Like the woman presumably never shows up. And yeah, it's... it's beautiful, absolutely gorgeous, what a vivid image is painted. what What I will say about this album as a whole is that there are points where I struggle to hear and understand what's being said in in in the melody, in the singing that Elton's doing.
00:28:15
Speaker
This song, generally, I didn't have that issue with. However, the very last two lines If you just read the lyrics, there are women and women, and some hold you tight, while some leave you counting the stars in the night. Wonderful lyric. When you listen to it, I don't think you hear there are women and women.
00:28:37
Speaker
i think it just sounds like there are women and some hold you tight. And there's a big difference there. And I'm picking nits a little bit, but I'm just... I guess laying the groundwork for the fact that sometimes if you can't hear the lyric, then you're missing some of the subtleties of it. And so that would be a tiny k nit to pick for this one. But jet generally, i I think it's a great song. I think musically, you you can hear the fact that it's got the same orchestral arranger and the same producer, Paul Buckmaster and Gus Dudgeon. You can hear that in this one. It starts as a very thin sound. You know, you've got harp, you've got guitar. But then we've got the deeper strings coming in and the second verse really sweeps us away with it musically. I think musically it's really, really great. ah
00:29:23
Speaker
I do appreciate the lyric, but that the music is the thing that that grabs me for this one. Oh, it's stunning music, stunning music. I do think it's a wise choice to not have something too period specific, like Come Down in Time could be on any album album. It's not jarring. It fits in this world. But whereas stuff like Country Comfort and, you know, many of the other songs are so,
00:29:52
Speaker
you know, you could tell that's a Tumbleweed Connection song. This one could be on any Elton album, I reckon. And that's that's a good thing. It's good sequencing. So I think rather than risking the album sounding ah too niche or a bit gimmicky, I think having a song of this authenticity this early is very wise. Yeah, and and there's clearly a lot of musicians who think a lot of it too. We've mentioned Sting who covers it. There's an artist called Bedouin who's covered it. Ed the Dog does a fantastic punk version of it that I would recommend you to Lulu covers it in an album called The Atko Sessions. It's decent. Kenny Latimore as well. there's There's loads. The list goes on. Norwegian jazz singer Radka Tonef. in a 1982 album called Fairy Tales. Lots of people have covered it. The maddest one is by someone called Al Cooper on his 1971 album, New York City, You're a Woman. Cooper is with a K. It sounds pretty much like the original-ish. And then at the end, there's just these crazy instrumentals that come out of nowhere. It's ah it' a bit like Empty Sky, where you've got the jazz solo for the last...
00:31:07
Speaker
the last two minutes of a track but yeah real real lovely song there's there's probably sorry to take you literally dominic there are some late 80s elton albums that it wouldn't uh fit in with but that's mainly because they're so bad um um I don't want to go massively off topic, but as you mentioned, Lulu, I've been to see Lulu in concert. I'm very interested in the career of Lulu. and I'll tell you something that no one seems to comment on. A song that Lulu really
Song Analysis: 'Country Comfort'
00:31:39
Speaker
pushes is her duet with Elton John, Teardrops. It's on her Greatest Hits album. She performs it live. She talks of great joy of collaborating with Elton. And I've never read this anywhere. This is my observation. It's amazing.
00:31:55
Speaker
karaoke it's the kady lang song that appears on the early elton john album with k bang's vocals removed and lulu's added and like lulu sings like she's recorded but it's clearly the same version and i'm just really interested that lulu talks about this like really special thing and it's like But you've just, I could do that. I could just erase the, add me own Tommy B vocals, you know. So that's an interesting Lulu fact.
00:32:27
Speaker
Please email us. We'll give our e email at the end. If I'm wrong, if Elton John didn't meticulously recreate his vocals and recreate the exact musical sound, then I'm happy to be corrected.
00:32:40
Speaker
Yeah, we shall see. Yeah, i've um I've seen Lulu perform once and that was, she was the warm-up act at an Elton concert, which was great. Let's move on. There's a third track we need to talk about.
00:32:53
Speaker
Country Comfort. Controversial statement. Is this the hit? Of this album. Hmm. We'll see what Dominic thinks in a minute. I definitely think it's the closest it gets to there being a pop song on it, but it's but it's so it's more of a country country song, but in its structure and in its lyric and its sentiment.
00:33:13
Speaker
Maybe it it drifts towards popular music more so than other tracks. It's five minutes, six seconds long. It sounds very country. We've got 12-string acoustic guitar. We've also got harmonica in there. Dominic, the thing that strikes me here is it's so ironic. I can imagine folk in the States, in in the rural United States nowadays, 20 years ago, listening to this and really resonating with it It was written by a teenager from Lincolnshire who's never been there. Like the lyric, the lyric. That's not that's not to talk it down.
00:33:48
Speaker
it's It's just ironic, isn't it? It's a stunningly good lyric. So I am a poet by profession. And like a lot of poets, earlier stuff was gloomy when I was a teenager, when I was in my early twenty s I wanted to talk about politics, about inequality, about how angry I was with the world.
00:34:08
Speaker
And I really tried and struggled to write anything happy. And I really disliked when people went, oh, you know, listen to this cheesy song, listen to this cheesy pop, because people could be really dismissive of happiness as an emotion. And I was like, you know what, everything happy isn't cheesy. I think there's certain type of insincere showbiz I would describe cheesy.
00:34:32
Speaker
Happiness is emotion. I have, I will say, written some happy poems and happy is hard and Country Comfort by Elton John is happy, is not cheesy, it is joyful. There are specifics in the lyrics which are so full of joy and amazing detail. This one song you could use in a masterclass on how to write lyrics or how to write poetry. I said about some of the songs on the previous album that if someone stood up at a spoken word event and recited them,
00:35:13
Speaker
would hold up remarkably well without the music. I adore the tune of Country Comfort. I adore the melody. I adore the band, the production. But oh my word, these words, this is poetry. This is ex exceptional language.
00:35:34
Speaker
Really difficult to write something that is this joyful, real achievement. Yeah, i think the I think the words stand out better in isolation. And I do like the music, but I i think what you're saying, Dominic, I agree with more with the words in front of me now than when i I listen to the song. I don't i don't know what it is ah ah about the piece of music. I mean, I enjoy it.
00:36:02
Speaker
I just wouldn't listen to it repeatedly. And and and i I wonder whether it... I don't know. a lot A lot of Elton's work feels unique musically. And I generally find cover versions of his work I just don't enjoy as much. And I think that's because him and the people around him are excellent musicians. I think this song for me, it it's it sounds like nice country music.
00:36:27
Speaker
And there's a real great lyric behind it. And I think unless you're really focusing on the lyrics, you could miss them because I think they the music sounds a little generic and country. And it's very good.
00:36:42
Speaker
It's very good. Any professional country musician is going to be decent. But I think I'm struck now just looking at those lyrics, it how good they are. And I don't think I really picked that out.
00:36:55
Speaker
listening to it that the the several times that I have and I can understand them i've I've leveled this criticism at the album that very often I can't understand what's being said you can understand them you can hear them so yeah I'm not quite as evangelical about it as as you are but I i still can appreciate that it's it's got a lot going for it well you know what I'm gonna I'm gonna press forward with my argument I'm always talking about Leonard Cohen as as a teenager I loved Leonard Cohen and I would argue that Leonard Cohen is is a brilliant musician. Everyone bangs on about Leonard Cohen's lyrics and his poetry, but the melody to Suzanne by Leonard Cohen, it is a stunning tune, but it is a tune that was written to compliment very intricate words. And I think when you have a set lyrics as wonderful as country comfort, you need a melody that will allow those words to breathe. You can't, again, that's one of my problems and it's a subjective thing. The orchestra of the last album on stuff like ah The Greatest Discovery and 60 Years On, the the the orchestra for me, it floods the words, it floods the words. I don't think this is generic country music. I think it's really well done and just a bit more subtle, just a bit more gentler. But I do like the melody. I do like the production and I do think it is stronger, ah not contradicting my previous point. I think it's a better song than it would be ah a poem. I do think that the music adds loads. I really do.
00:38:40
Speaker
but I don't think an over-cluttered production would do it any favours. And I think it's hard to write a, in inverted commas, simple melody like this. Yeah, it's definitely not over cluttered in the in the production. And yeah, I will say it's it's very popular with cover versions. I mean, Rod Stewart is the most well celebrated person who's who's covered it. His second solo album, Gasoline Alley, which was actually recorded and released shortly before Tumbleweed Connection, has country comfort on it. So it's He's almost got the original, though, of course, he's he's not not claiming to have written it. Both versions were released as singles, but neither single charted, interestingly. Maybe that's because it's more from this sort of concept album feel, and it it it fits in really nicely to the album, doesn't it? Lots of other cover versions. I really like Juice Newton's. ah You might have heard of Juice Newton before. um i'd I'd recommend their music just generally, but their version of this, I think, is interesting. is my favorite but it's um yeah of the album i mean i know you've only just recently listened to it dominic but like were you aware of this track no i i so i i would say i've i've heard this referenced and and more so than many of the other tracks so i i my interpretation would be that this is the this is the hit perhaps ah ah the the the last track is also been covered in lots of places yeah i'll have plenty to say when we get on to the last track plenty of to say about that son of your father is the next song and my word does this really really delve into the setting because here we get our first fatalities i mean you know i also
Song Analysis: 'Son of Your Father'
00:40:34
Speaker
grew up with the music of nick cave someone whose career started way way way after this was released but i mean this could be a nick cave song in some senses like this murder ballad is a ballad isn't it it's a real story like this is
00:40:52
Speaker
like it's gripping again there's a level of detail it's got a really lovely guitar but i think this is caleb's finest moment not just on this album but on any of their first three albums that he has been on it's one where i couldn't understand the words at all at all but reading them it's a great story with with the previous two episodes we've happened to choose one song to just read the lyrics out. How do you feel, Dominic, about this being the track that we read the lyrics for this time? It's quite long, but I think hearing the story is quite fun.
00:41:29
Speaker
I'll catch the tram line in the morning with your leave, Van Bushell said. He had further heard the cock crow as he stumbled out the shed.
00:41:39
Speaker
Then blind Joseph came towards him with a shotgun in his arms. He said, "'You'll pay me twenty dollars before you leave my farm!' Van Buschel saw a hook which replaced Joseph's hand. He said, "'Now calm you down, my brother. Let's discuss this man to man!' It's no good you getting angry. We must try to act our age.
00:42:03
Speaker
You're pursuing your convictions like some hermit in a cage. You're the son of your father. You try a little bit harder. Do for me as he would do for you.
00:42:14
Speaker
With blood and water, bricks and mortar. He built for you a home. You're the son of your father, so treat me as your own. Well, slowly, Joseph.
00:42:26
Speaker
Barely lowered the rifle, And he emptied out the shells. Van Buschel, he came towards him, He shook his arm and wished him well. He said, now, hey blind man, that is fine, But I sure can't waste my time, So move aside and let me go my way, I've got a train to ride.
00:42:45
Speaker
Well, Joseph turned around. His grin was now a frown. He said, let me refresh your mind. Your manners, boy, seem hard to find. Well, there's two men lying dead as nails on an East Virginia farm for charities and argument that only leads to harm. So be careful when they're kind to you.
00:43:07
Speaker
Don't end up in the dirt. Just remember what I'm saying to you and you likely won't get hurt. It's great. And just when you listen to this track, if you've not listened to it before, it's got a really driving feel to it. It's it's almost rocky. Would you call it rocky?
00:43:26
Speaker
I mean, it's it's it's obviously got the country and Americana feel that the whole album's got, but there's a real drive to it. an a A real drive. And, and you know, i think given and how joyful Country Comfort was, you could...
00:43:41
Speaker
think that I certainly thought, oh, is this going to be like a bit rose-tinted, this album? Is it going to be a little bit like seeing the world through, you know, nostalgia, foggy glasses?
00:43:55
Speaker
Because although Come Down in Time is sad, it's about a romantic sadness. It's very specific sadness. It's not a ah political sadness. It's not, you know, in any way... a story about the way of the world. And this is, I mean, this is shocking. It's a shocking story, a shocking ballad, shockingly brilliant. And what's interesting, you mentioned, it sounded like you you had a preconception or a fear that this could be quite slow and wistful. And actually, the original demo of this, if you listen to it, is quite slow. It's got a gospel feel to it. When When people hear the word ballad, they tend to think slow. And it's it's it's a pet peeve of mine when people describe a ballad as just a slow love song that doesn't have a story to it. To me, that's not a ballad. A ballad is a story. If if I use that word, that's what I mean. And this is a ballad because it is telling a story. It is not slow. And and they've they've released a far more up-tempo version of this that that really, really captures the imagination um I really like this one. i
00:45:04
Speaker
The type of music that I go to watch live far more than anything else is folk music. And part of that is just because I like how it feels, but I like how close you can get to the performer and you get to know them and things like that. because it's you know It's not megastars or anything like that, so you can have like a personal resonance with people. And this has the feel of a traditional British folk song, or indeed an American or any part of the world. Very often, if you're at a folk concert, the ah performer, when introducing a song, will say, well, this is a classic folk song um because it involves two people dying or something like that. And that the fact that like a lot of traditional songs that stand the test of time normally involve someone dying. And it definitely ticks that box. It's it's a great song, but for me it loses points because I can barely hit hear a word of it, the the lyrics, until I've read them afterwards. And even then i still can't, maybe it's just just my ears, they're just too tuned into music and not words. I guess for me, I did bring up the lyrics after track one, you know, because it really caught my, wasn't intending to, was intending to like do my dusting and do my housework and just carry on with it playing in the background. But I was so captivated
00:46:21
Speaker
From about track two onwards, I read the words. And that is how I would read lyrics when I was a boy, when I got records. I would always do that. I would always. So, yeah, I don't know what it's like to listen to this album without reading the words. So you've said several times about, oh I can't really hear. the words without reading them, but you know that's how some people do listen to music. yeah Absolutely, yeah, complete personal preference. That's fine. Speaking of which, let's move on to the next track.
Song Analysis: 'My Father's Gun'
00:46:52
Speaker
My Father's Gun. It comes in at 6 minutes 20 seconds. There's quite a few longer tracks on this one and I think several folk have said that the paucity of hit singles from this one or even the fact that the the record company didn't even try to release a lot of them as singles especially in the UK like stuff just wouldn't get radio time if it was more than three, four minutes long. Maybe that's ah a factor in the the lack of single success here. This is one of the two trial two songs with Dusty Springfield on the backing lyrics, obviously, because it's got the word gun in the title. We know that's what she's into. um
00:47:30
Speaker
I really like the opening to this song. I think it's got a lovely, interesting, it's it's quite thin musically, but you've got you've got a guitar. You've got, i think, um on the drums, they're just playing like a bit of hi-hat. It's not too boom, boom, boom, boom or anything like that.
00:47:47
Speaker
and And then it comes away and Elton's more or less singing the first few lines by himself. For me, it then goes downhill. But I'd like to hear more positivity from Dominic before I pick my gripes, because I reckon Dominic's going to be more positive about this than me. Yeah, I mean, of course, I'm not as familiar with this as Anthony is, but no, I did really like In general, I prefer the faster songs and I was aware that this was slower, but not a come down in time.
00:48:18
Speaker
kind of slowness. I really like the words. I like that it picks up with, um you know, talk of of death and and, you know, guns, father's guns. They're like recurring themes. but And it also kind of picks up on the theme of travel that the first song had. But now we're talking about heading off, heading somewhere new. So I believe this is the closing track of Side One, is it not? Yes, it is. Yeah, so that's a nice book ending of these songs. And yeah, I didn't find it too long. I really enjoyed it. I really liked the story. I really liked the choice of words. I would say that when we get onto our scoring these out of 10, I don't give this 10 out of 10, but
00:49:06
Speaker
but I really enjoyed it a great deal. So yeah. It's like the lyric is completely evocative of the age. We're talking about like post-Civil War stuff, you know, it's and then you've got New Orleans, riverboats, all of this mentioned, which you've you've got to be able to take for what it is. And if it's something you're looking to resonate with, and that's not,
00:49:30
Speaker
Not something you resonate with. It's not going to work. um But for what it is, I think it does a good job. I think there's a similarity just for me personally with pretty much every track on Empty Sky, every one of which gets stuck in my head, even though some of them I'm not the biggest fan of. like the chorus for this is very catchy. I don't particularly like it, but it's it's really not in a pop way at all. um For me, that the drums get a bit loud. that I'm sure there's a tuba or some really deep bassy instrument in there. And I just think if if it lost those, if it lost the really loud bass drums and the really loud bass... whether it's a tuba or or so something else really bassy. I think without that, i'd I'd be more interested in it.
00:50:20
Speaker
But um yeah, gets a bit loud for me, Dominic. But it's it's it's clearly a good song. It's clearly a good song. Just not not one of my favourites. However, I do prefer our next track, Where To Now, St Peter.
00:50:37
Speaker
Sounds like it's going to be quite religious, Dominic. Yeah, yeah. So um when we were talking about Elton John, Elton John, and we were discussing the potential meaning of the song The Cage, i wasn't massively familiar with The Cage and I wondered whether it might be about society, if that might be The Cage. And maybe I'm way off. Maybe I'm way off. Here's my guess of what Where To Now St. Peter is. And I've not been on the wikis or what not. Where to now, St Peter? is it is it Is it the afterlife? Is it death? Is that where we're going? Well, I mean, the opening stanza is, I took myself a blue canoe and floated like a leaf, dazzling, dancing, half enchanted in my Merlin sleep.
00:51:25
Speaker
Like that could be somebody ascending to heaven, couldn't it? I love it. I absolutely love it. um I think that It could be about going from one geographical place to an unknown town, an unknown country and the uncertainty of moving somewhere new.
00:51:45
Speaker
And it could be about leaving this mortal coil. You know, i may not be a Christian, but I've done all one man can. I understand I'm on the road where all that was is gone. Yeah.
00:52:01
Speaker
whoa yeah it's a good i love it i love it i tell you what musically this is fantastic in in my opinion caleb again is i i said on a previous track oh that's the peak caleb i don't know he does some real nice rhythmic riffs in this fantastic i got echoes of empty sky in this in that there's just some experimental bits in there They've obviously got the benefit of, um I'm going to say, better production staff and values. I wonder if this is what Empty Sky might have sounded like with Gus Dudgeon at the production desk. Real unique feel, I would say, musically. And I think that's borne out by the number of people who've covered it. um My favourite, it's not necessarily favourite track, but
00:52:50
Speaker
covering it but just the fact that they chose to cover it is Sergio Mendes and Brazil 77 covered it which I never would have thought that they'd cover an Elton song. Carol Ann Ames does one. There's a real nice album called Picking on Elton John which is not not a bullying album. um It's Bluegrass. That's where the picking reference comes from. And they do this amongst other songs. They do it really nicely. Loads of country musicians have covered this. I prefer this.
00:53:20
Speaker
I prefer this. I just think the sound of it is great. And that that real nice refrain at the end, Dominic, where he just repeats the first line again, but pretty much stripped of any music. I took myself a blue canoe and that finishes the track. Like what what' a great start to side two of the ah original vinyl.
Song Analysis: 'Love Song'
00:53:41
Speaker
Fantastic. And then we have a cover version. Anthony, are you ready for my really out there experience?
00:53:48
Speaker
Completely not what Leslie Duncan was going for. My really, really off the wall interpretation of Leslie Duncan's lyrics. Please. So when I saw there was a track called Love Song and I saw it was a cover version, I thought this is where the album's going to dip.
00:54:06
Speaker
isn't it this is where it's gonna really go off the rails like oh well i like this one let's put a really rubbish jarring song you know oh i love it it's really helped i think by mad production is that a metronome ticking away on no it's no it's leslie's foot she's Oh, really? Yeah. Oh, that's amazing. is it Yeah, it's got an electric static quality to it. I think it's a really... um I was trying to guess there what kind of flooring it would be, but it's a real crisp noise. There is a a Moby track in his debut album where it sounds like someone is dropping a ball bearing in the middle of an aircraft hangar or something like that. You've you've you've got this really like sharp, quite sudden,
00:54:55
Speaker
crack. But that that just happens every now and then, whereas this is in time with the music. And yeah, it's Leslie Duncan tapping her foot. All right. So here's what i interpret the words as. i' I'll make very clear. I don't think this is what Leslie Duncan meant. This is my mad interpretation. I, and I'm not a very religious person. I'm not someone who's hugely spiritual.
00:55:18
Speaker
Given the context on this album, I read this as God. This is God saying these words. This is God saying these words to the person who died on the previous record.
00:55:32
Speaker
The words I have to say may well be simple, but they're true. Until you give your love, there's nothing more that we do. Love the opening door. Love is what we came here for. No one could offer you more. Do you know what I mean? Have your eyes really seen? I think this is like the opening of heavens, like welcoming people. this person. You say it's very hard to leave behind the life we knew, but there's no other way. And now it's really up to you. ah you know, I think this person is ascending to Nirvana. That's what I think. And I think the otherworldly production of very unusual sounds that make up this song, make it feel ethereal to me.
00:56:21
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, now now you're putting that twist on it. I'm now hearing an aggressive man in Birmingham city centre with a megaphone also giving it the Christian bent, but he's saying, you say it's very hard to leave behind the life we knew, but there's no other way. It's to you.
00:56:40
Speaker
But yeah, I mean, it's a cracking track. It's i mean, it's unique. It's the first time that they're featuring a song that has not been written by himself. There's no piano in it, Dominic. This is an Elton John song with no piano. There's just Leslie playing the guitar. And I would say he is the lead vocal and she is the the backing. they in in In the chorus, they're they're more or less... It could be ah a duet chorus, but I think his levels are turned up a bit more. It's only 3 minutes 41. And i'll tell you what, i could I could easily enjoy six minutes of this. you know It's fantastic. And you you mentioned the production values. You've got what is rumoured to be a BBC archive clip of families playing on the beach in the background towards the end of the song. is beautiful It's a beautiful. plate
00:57:31
Speaker
It's a beautiful piece of music. For context, Leslie Duncan, she has appeared on previous Elton albums as a backing singer, definitely in the Elton John album, not sure about Empty Sky. And she is...
00:57:45
Speaker
supposedly somebody who helped Elton survive lean times in the late 60s. They were considered friends. She wrote it and obviously joined in with the singing of it.
00:57:55
Speaker
But yeah, real strong track and fits in really well with the album, doesn't it? You know, it doesn't, you if you were to say, oh, track seven, there's a cover version that's written and sung by ah a woman.
00:58:07
Speaker
No piano, that's sorry, that sounded really sexist. You you get what I'm saying? Yeah. The lead vocal is a man up until this point. There's guitar, there's no piano. You would be forgiven for being a bit suspicious, but it it ticks all the boxes.
00:58:23
Speaker
It elevates things, I think. Yeah. And it pains me to say that as an Elton fan, but it it it lifts the lifts the level of things. What about the next one, though, Dominic?
Song Analysis: 'Amarina'
00:58:35
Speaker
Amarina. Dee Murray and Nigel Olsen. We've got the band, the Elton non-band forming. Here we go. Here we go. And I think you can tell as well. I mean, maybe it's just a a particular sound that I'm used to hearing, having listened to lots of Elton stuff. But I would say the music in this song is is fantastic. ah When doing the research, I found out that...
00:59:02
Speaker
this had been used in the opening of a film and and to me but before i knew that i had thought to myself oh this would be really good like just playing over the credits at the start of a film it's all it also features in the rocket man musical the sort of autobiographical musical that you mentioned earlier remember it in that i remember it Yeah, it it is. And it' ah it surprised me. Only briefly. It's it's not him singing it. It's just, I think it's playing when they're travelling somewhere or something like that. A bit like the song Hercules. It's like, you know, yes you could easily miss it, couldn't you? Yeah.
00:59:40
Speaker
Yeah. absolutely but i i really like this one brilliant opening it's it's just you feel the band if you want to kind of audition tape of what the elton john band sounds like you couldn't go too far wrong by playing the the introduction to amarina i really like the lyric it's really descriptive i've got a nit to pick with the lyric it's a tiny tiny tiny nit but but otherwise i think it's a great lyric too to nitpick my nitpick is this no there's no such thing as a king bee So where he says, um I miss you like a King Bee misses honey. and There's no such thing as a King Bee. But this is the reason the King Bee misses honey is because it doesn't exist. That's why it misses it.
01:00:21
Speaker
Defending the Dominic. What you think of this song? Because I've i've been quite evangelical at the start. Yeah, I love it. I love it. So bearing in mind that I've only listened to this like over the last few days, so my knowledge isn't as in-depth as it was for the Empty Sky album. So forgive me. I think this is also about death. I think that, you know, that the i miss my lady. It's not because she's run off with another man. It's because she's, when it says in a cornfield, you know...
01:00:54
Speaker
Buried? Buried in the... Is that just mine? Is that right? Am I wrong? Is she dead? We don't know. i'd I'd never listened to it and thought that, but I am i'm not immersed in the world of of lyrics and words in the same way that you are. So I i just think, oh that's a good bit of harmonica, isn't it? Oh, they've D flat suspended fourth chord there. That's good. um Yes, i can I can see that.
01:01:25
Speaker
Yeah, I can see that. I mean, she's gone. you know, there's a great sense of loss and one could argue that any absence can feel like a death when one is grieving something that was so important and it's, vanished. So yeah.
01:01:41
Speaker
i mean, it's it's it's definitely the most erotic lyric we have had thus far, where we're talking about the fruit juice flowing slowly, slowly, slowly down the bronze of your body. Oh, goodness me, Bernie.
01:01:58
Speaker
ah ah Living like a lusty flower. Goodness me. Goodness me. What are we to do with ourselves when listening to this whilst out in public? Yes. And then we've got a huge change,
Song Analysis: 'Talking Old Soldiers'
01:02:14
Speaker
haven't we? A huge change for um the the next song. Have we got anything more to say about this one before we move on to...
01:02:21
Speaker
I'd like to. So my slight nit to pick with the music is that I feel like it's a bit drum heavy as things go on, which is something that I said about my father's gun as well.
01:02:34
Speaker
um It's just a general theme for the album. I think it it points the the bass drums getting a bit too much action. bit too much action The name... of the song Amarina, Bernie Taupin suggested that Ray Williams, who was an early manager of the band, name his future daughter Amarina, which he did. They've said that Amarina is an obvious nod to the 1969 Joe Cocker hit Delta Lady, written by Leon Russell, who is a very important musician for for Elton, and we will
01:03:09
Speaker
see them collaborate much, much, much later on. There's lots of cover versions, most of which I would say don't bother checking out. However, there is a very little known band called Tony Q, Q as in the letter, not as in a group of people lining up, that has got an incredible saxophone solo in it that I wasn't expecting. So ah if you want to hear a cover version, check that one out.
01:03:35
Speaker
Talking Old Soldiers, next track, that's very different. What did you think of it? Yeah, not so different that it jars. It does, I mean, is Penelope a fair play being a little experimental player? If you were to ask me which is the better song, Talking Old Soldiers or My Father's Gun, I would say that this is the better song. I would agree. however I would agree.
01:04:04
Speaker
If you said which do I prefer... I prefer My Father's Gun. And the reason being, like on the previous album, like The Greatest Discovery, this feels like a movie. Yes, it's not flooded by strings. Quite the opposite. This is so stark, so minimal, so raw. But...
01:04:27
Speaker
I mean, I'm definitely not dancing around the kitchen to this, am I? It feels it feels like a a monologue. It is so dramatic in delivery. It is excellent. And it doesn't jar, it doesn't spoil the album. But whereas Come Down in Time is slow, but it still feels like a song. This feels like something that is almost like, I don't know, sort Alan Bennett.
01:04:54
Speaker
monologue type i mean i don't like chosen ben it's because he's famous for monologues obviously it's not it's it's you know not like northern british but um yeah do you what mean it's like got that it's it's very different what do you think of it anthony i really like it i couldn't listen to it all day unless i was in a certain mood i think if i you know if i was in a ah I don't know, maybe I lost somebody or or or someone who was close to me. it felt like they were becoming more and more isolated or or ah living a a more lonely life or something like that. it it touches a lot of.
01:05:33
Speaker
points i will say when i first listened to this album by age 14 15 i could understand this i could resonate with this i could understand where it was coming from in a way that a lot of this album i can't because i don't understand the references to 19th century america and that's that's fine if it's not targeted at me that's okay but this i think Well, I certainly can. I think lots of people can. The the rawness of it just being out and piano and vocals and that's it. I think really works nicely. There's silence in this trap. There's, there's lots of moments where there's silence, not just between the lyrics, but like, he's not putting the sustain pedal on the piano. Like you can just hear a bit of an echo from where he's come off, but there's, there's no immediate noise, which I think is really powerful. Do you know what? I would love this if it was written by somebody in their sixties and seventies, that it loses a little bit from me that I'm kind of like, well, this is a teenager writing this so i i can i feel a little just a smidge skeptical about it but i i think it's a it's a great song in in many ways i i really like it it's genius it's genius it's as good as the greatest discovery is such all 60 years on they're just not quite to my personal taste whereas come down in time go straight to my bone like straight to my soul you know it's really resonates with me this one is just slightly different genre wise
01:07:12
Speaker
But it does fit in the record and I can recognise its brilliance. Yeah. Interestingly, at the end of the Elton John album with The King Must Die, I was waxing lyrical about Elton's vocal quality and how that's really shown off in that. And this is the penultimate track of Tumbleweed Connection, not the last one. But this too really shows off his his vocals. there's There's almost literally nothing getting in the way of it. And he's covering quite a range. um And it sounds really good. they've They've put a nice echo effect on it, which which works really well. I just want to say something about the covers. There's, ah predictably, there's quite a smoky jazz singer cover of it by Betty Lovett, which I think is a nice one. um Tough Smoot. There's a decent version of it too. that There's several really good versions. Marcine Dimples Harris, Ben Faulkner. There's a couple of really awful ones, which I won't name. A weird fact that I discovered, Dominic, there are so many different karaoke versions of this available on albums. I'm assuming that the record company that owns this
01:08:21
Speaker
just said when when approached by you know a karaoke album producer can we have couple of elton john songs they said yeah you can have that one but think they must have been taking the piss this is like the worst song for karaoke you're not going know when to come in because it's not played in a strict rhythm like it's just you know the next stanza begins when elton feels like playing the next chord it's it's an awful song to do for karaoke but there's loads of them when i was searching for cover versions probably every other song was a karaoke version which is really bizarre but there we go should we move on to the last track of the album
01:09:00
Speaker
The last track is Burn Down The Mission, along with Country Comfort, I think, and maybe Amarina, like probably the the more well-known ones or the ones that are played outside of just this album.
Album Closer and Additional Tracks
01:09:13
Speaker
6 minutes 21. Elton plays it live a lot. I think every time I've seen him play live, which was three times, I think he's played this each time. It descends into a lot of improvisation, which there ah kind of is in this album track too, isn't there? you There's quite extended instrumental bits. What do you think about it, Dominic? A good way to end the album? Yes, ah an an excellent way. My views have changed massively.
01:09:40
Speaker
As an owner of the Two Rooms, Elton John and the Bird Top in the debut album, Phil Collins records a version which is on side two. which I liked less side to in general, and I had no time for Phil Collins and no time for this song. When I saw Elton John on the Farewell Yellow Brick Road um tour, I was with my friend Nick and we discussed the tour afterwards and Nick had never heard this song before. And Nick said,
01:10:09
Speaker
that this was a song he wished he hadn't done. He was like, when he didn't do really big... i mean, he did so many hits, so many, but there were some notable songs he didn't do. Later on, that year, when Elton John was at Glastonbury Festival, he added songs in like Don't Go Breaking My Heart and...
01:10:28
Speaker
I was watching it on telly and he's like, why didn't he swap out, burn down the mission for don't go breaking my heart. Clearly two very different songs. I did enjoy it live, but it was my least favorite one. i was really ready, especially when I started at six minutes, 21. to like zone out think it's a song that benefits from the context i think this version is a really really good version and think it's a perfect closer to the album i think lyrically it's not the most obvious what it's about i've had my own interpretations um There's talks of angels and fire. So, you know, again, you know, there's talk of heaven. Maybe there's a ah afterlife thing, but it's not as lyrically immediate to me as, as the earlier ones. I love it as an album closer really, really got to me emotionally, really got to me emotionally. And I struggled a great deal thinking but I would score this song out 10 I ummed and asked and I re-listened to it yeah it's um I'm gonna repeat I think it sounds at its best in the context of this record. Yeah. And I guess that's the benefit of, a we keep using this phrase, ah a concept album, is that in a sense, if it's done well, every track on the album supports the others, doesn't it? And um yeah, I think it could work as a standalone thing if you particularly resonate with the lyrics, although it's it's a difficult one to understand. I'm interpreting Mission being like the like a kind of church building.
01:12:16
Speaker
or something like that. So I'm questioning why we're burning it down. It's kind of like, ah oh, if if we're going to stay alive, we're going to have to do this thing. We're going to have to break this taboo. Yeah, I'm sure we could spend all day trying to dissect it. I i think it's fair to say that both of us are a little confused by it. um music Musically, I think it's great. And that could stand alone outside of the album.
01:12:42
Speaker
um I think, but there's there's lots of references in the lyrics to things that make sense in the album. I really like it. um so Aside from that confusion of what's it actually ah talking about? Yeah, it's it's a nice way to to finish the album. Elton acknowledges that Laura Nairo, not somebody who I'm i'm aware of, um is a big influence on this song and in fact the opening chords sound very laura nairo like um yes perhaps i should have researched that before we started the show but i was listening to all sorts of different cover versions of uh talking old soldiers on karaoke so
01:13:23
Speaker
ah but yeah it's uh it's a good one we've come to the end dominic we've come to the end
01:13:38
Speaker
Like all the albums that we've covered so far, this one did have a re-release, which has got some extra material on it. And unlike the others, I will be very, very keen to go out and listen to the the bonus tracks. ah Because there are so many elton johns Elton John albums that I've not yet heard, I'm limiting myself to just really researching albums but hearing that there's a a song called into the old man's shoes a song that didn't make the car i'm very keen to experience that also there was an earlier version of madman across the water which would of course later be the title track of uh
01:14:18
Speaker
of the next record, I think. But um the original had Mick Ronson on there, best known perhaps for his work with David Bowie. Anthony, are you familiar with Into the Old Man's Shoes? I might have listened to it once. Ah.
01:14:34
Speaker
It didn't stand out to you then? No, but then that might suggest that it fits in really well with the album. Do you know to mean? If it was it's completely starkly different, perhaps I would have remembered it. No, I'm not going to say anything more because I just can't remember it. Fair dues. There's a lot of songs by Elton John to cover and your in-depth research into the cover versions, you know, no one's going to judge you by being like, what? Anthony doesn't have an encyclopedic knowledge of every rarity.
01:15:04
Speaker
You know, that's so okay. That's okay. I read 2008 Deluxe Edition came out with one more song that wasn't previously featured on anything else, song called Sister of the Cross, which is one of the piano demos alongside the piano demos of many of the other tracks that would make up this record.
01:15:26
Speaker
Yeah, just from its name, you can you get the impression that that's going to fit in with the concept, doesn't it? Sister of the Cross. Right. We've talked about the 10 original tracks from the album. So all that remains is for us to give them our ratings.
Rating and Scoring the Album
01:15:43
Speaker
78.5% is the target that is currently the leader at the Elton John album.
01:15:49
Speaker
How will Tumbleweed Connection do? Let's start off with the first track, Ballad of a Well-known Gun. What are you going to give that, Dominic? grabbed my attention and kept it 10 out of 10.
01:16:00
Speaker
Zing! Straight in with a 10, fantastic. I've given it a six. um ah There are many tracks on this album that just because I didn't quite dig the references, it's just going to limit some of my scores. But musically, it's it's decent, so I gave it a six. What about Come Down in Tyne? I've gone up a mark, I've given that one a seven. Well, having critiqued the strings on the previous record so much, I was tingling with emotion.
01:16:31
Speaker
Come Down in Time by Elton John gets a 10 out of 10. Wowza, wowza. Dominic's ratings have come out of the blocks fast.
01:16:42
Speaker
It's not particularly a... Oh no, I'm okay with that reference. I was thinking that was a greyhound.
01:16:48
Speaker
Dominic and I are both vegan, so we're often quite keen to avoid this certain terms of phrases, but I think that could... Yeah, that's people as well, isn't it? Sonic the Hedgehog uses a racing block. He's doing it with his own free will, yeah. That's good. Good old Sonic.
01:17:05
Speaker
Country comfort then. Is it going to be three tens in a row, Dominic? The complexity of detail in creating such joy earns a 10 out of 10.
01:17:18
Speaker
wowza goodness this can't keep up this can't keep it up i've gone back down to a six for that one and i will i will say now none of none of my scores go lower than six but yeah i i won't apologize for it like that i don't think i'm the target audience for this album and this concept so there's just going to be certain tracks where i'm going it's it sounds lovely but it's uh it's not really aimed at me is it What about the fourth track, Son of Your Father, the first blood shed in the album? What's your score, Dominic? Murder, murder everywhere. It's my fourth 10 on 10. Woohoo!
01:17:54
Speaker
He's keeping it up. He's keeping up. I've gone back up to a seven because I really like the story. I love the music. I just couldn't understand it. What do you give my father's gun? I've gone back down to a six for that one. i think it, like I say, nothing's getting lower than that foot for this album.
01:18:10
Speaker
But yes, a song about somebody burying their father in the 19th century and and wearing their gun for the rest of their life is isn't. isn't going to be my favourite song ever, so it's a six. What about you? I'm umming and ahhing. I'm umming and ahhing. It's not a ten. It's not a ten from me. um ah it's It's quite long, isn't it, this one? I don't know. i'm I'm giving it a score of eight, which is a high score, isn't it? I really like it. I'm bordering on a nine. I'm really bordering on nine. But because there's other songs that I've given a nine to, which I like more than this, I'm going stick with eight.
01:18:50
Speaker
Indeed. And it's an eight that I'm giving the next one. Where to now St Peter? I just really liked the lyric, the music. um There's a few bits towards the end where I, yeah, it loses a couple marks for me. But um I'm giving it 8 out of 10. What about you, Dominic? 9. This going be a high-scoring album. It's almost already overtaken Elton John. Let's look at track 7 then, the one written by Leslie Duncan. I've given it an 8, which part me thinks is quite harsh. I could very easily give it a 9. I'll stick it an 8. I'll stick with my initial instinct. What about you, Dominic? It's nearly a 10. don't know. for me, it's a very strong 9. Very strong 9.
01:19:33
Speaker
Excellent. I'll underline it. Amarina, have you given for that one? maybe Maybe it's because I'm a gay man and the lusty... Lustiness... It doesn't quite resonate with me. It's a stunning song. It's a very strong nine. Well, ah it's it's my it's my second highest score, clearly referencing my sexuality. that's Just all the fruit juice dropping off her body. Goodness me.
01:20:00
Speaker
um Yes, I'm going head and buy a Capri Sun, I think. I've given that eight. My highest score for this album is a nine for the penultimate track, Talking Old Soldiers. What have you given it, Don?
01:20:11
Speaker
my joint lowest score. I'm giving it an eight, similar to some of the songs on the previous album. It's genius. It's just not quite my cup of tea, but it is a really strong eight.
01:20:24
Speaker
we're We're going to produce a graph at the end of these podcasts, and we're going to show how perfectly you and I mirror one another. um My highs are your lows and vice versa. Very often. The last track, Burn Down the Mission.
01:20:39
Speaker
I've given it ah I'm going to change it to a seven. I gave it a six. What? Well, it's it's the lyrics, Dominic. If I don't yeah understand them and can't relate to them, it's going to always put a ceiling. But musically, it's great. I'll give it a seven.
01:20:53
Speaker
I've got a lot of scribble of my paper. I'm not giving it a 10, but I almost did. I've written down 10. Despite not liking the Phil Collins, despite it being my least favourite one when I saw him live, ah despite the words being the least resonant, but it's so epic.
01:21:13
Speaker
I'm not going to give it a 10. I am going to give it 9. That is fair enough. So Dominic doesn't have the benefit of the Excel spreadsheet in front of him at the moment. So I'm going to quiz you, Dominic. Do you think your average score for Tumbleweed Connection was higher?
01:21:30
Speaker
Have I been calling it Connection and its collection? No, it is Connection, isn't it? Yes, connection, yeah. With an N. I've just mistyped it in our spreadsheet. I will change that when we finish recording. Do you think you've given it higher or lower average score than Empty Sky, which is your previous favourite? Well, I can say that I know Empty Sky so well. I've listened to it all my life. I adore Empty Sky. And I can say that having only heard this a few times, I do prefer Table Weeks section. I like it even more than Empty Sky. So I'll have scored it higher. Well, then your your so you' scoring connection ah system is correct because you've given it 9.2 as opposed to the 9 you gave Empty Sky. My average is 7.2, which puts it bang in the middle of Empty Sky and Elton John. There are more categories, though.
01:22:21
Speaker
The album name, I've given it 8. I like, I think it's clever. I don't quite relate to it, which knocks it down from a 10. What about you? 10. Kaboosh. Your first...
01:22:34
Speaker
10 out of 10. In fact, you're double your previous two scores for the album name. What about the artwork? I'm going to go for nine because it did repel me it literally stopped me from giving the album a chance and i've had to really look at it i think the sepia is a little bit of a barrier i wonder if um there's any way they could have made it look old world without it being a bit of a strain on the eyes but it is a great image hence people recreating it during lockdown so nothing for me
01:23:11
Speaker
I'm giving it an 8. I originally put a 9 because i I do think it's it's clever and it's really evocative. But I i think the reason I gave it 9 was because it's somewhere that I could go and visit in England and it's one of his first albums and and that I like that connection that I could go out there and experience a bit of it. But actually just...
01:23:34
Speaker
looking at it in isolation i can't give it more than eight so my score is eight what's your score for cover versions cover versions i've gone for eight there are lots of them they're generally country music which i've not got anything against but it's not my favorite but it's it's inspired lots of people to to replicate so and put their own spin on so i've got an eight I'm happy to concur, an eight. I'll go with that. Lyrics, I've gone for a seven. I think they're very good, they're very clever. um It's just that lack of connection that I have with Americana that loses its in marks. See, am I inauthentic if I give it
01:24:15
Speaker
a 10 because you know Burn Down the Mission was not a million miles away from Take Me to the Pilot you know it's not it's not it's not a different league to take me to no no no it is well Take Me to the Pilot they've literally said we just put words together, they don't mean anything. Whereas Burn Down The Mission is evoking something. I mean, I i get pictures and images and sentiments from Burn Down The Mission. I just don't know how it all stitches together. So I think that might be a bit harsh on the lyrics.
01:24:45
Speaker
I am going to give it a 10. I really am. Yeah. No, i can I can see that. What about musically? I've gone for an eight. I think it's strong. It's just not my cup of tea at points, but there's there's lots of it that is nine.
01:24:59
Speaker
uh flop dodge this is the one that i always explain so a 10 out of 10 would be there is no flops there's nothing even close to being a flop whereas zero out of 10 would be every track is rubbish uh let me have a look flop dodge flop dodge um what did i give previous ones 10 for Empty Sky and 9 for Elton John. Yeah, 10 for this. No, no, no, yeah no flop. I'm giving it 7. There's a few tracks that if i never heard again, i wouldn't be too disappointed. But there's nothing that I think is objectively bad. And then hits. We're going for Dominic hits and Anthony hits, not international superstar hits. I'm giving this a 4. What? Just because I think it's a good album. Outrageous. um
01:25:48
Speaker
a good album as a whole with the exception of love song and talking old soldiers oh love song sp it But there's that.
01:25:58
Speaker
Yeah. But so I would reach to listen to them again. Oh, I see. Right. Yeah. But they're not my absolute favorites, whereas nothing else kind of jumps out at me and I'm kind of going, OK, I really want to listen to Ballad of a Well-known Gun. However, as a whole album, I'd be very happy to listen to the whole album again many times. See, yeah the main way I listen to music like, um I'm less into the radio unless it's very thematic radio like it's a dance music station. um I am gonna buy this album as a result of doing this podcast and as someone who considers myself not an Elton John expert there's some albums I know really well but others less so I wasn't anticipating that I'm gonna spend money buying on this I'm giving it a nine out of ten.
01:26:48
Speaker
Nine for hits. Wow, that is your highest hit score. Previous two were eights. So that gives us a complete score for Tumbleweed Connection of 82.5%.
01:26:59
Speaker
is the lead. Yay! 4%. Woo! think that is fair. I would...
Final Thoughts and Next Preview
01:27:05
Speaker
percent i think i think that is fair i would Yeah, i as is evident from my marks, I do prefer the Elton John album.
01:27:16
Speaker
But as ah as a collective artistic piece of work, this is really strong. It's got a strong theme. And that there is variety, isn't there? It's it's not the same track 10 times. Yeah, one of my favourite songs, sorry, one of my favourite albums, which I know incredibly well have grown up with, is the much celebrated Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. However, and we'll come to speak about this album at length, of course, We All Fall In Love Sometimes and Curtains, they don't grab me in the way. For me, the album, I like them, but I don't love them. Even with my differing opinions of talking... old soldiers i think that i do even prefer this as a collection of songs to even captain fantastic you know and that is super high price
01:28:08
Speaker
What a journey of discovery this podcast project is. How exciting. What is going to be our next album then, Dominic? Madman Across the Water, yet another one that I've never heard before. It, of course, has the incredibly famous Tiny Dancer. It was released almost exactly a year after Tumbleweed Connection, November 1971. I've got really strong opinions on many different parts of this album, and I'm not going to say any more, but I'm really, really looking forward to you listening to it for the first time and us discussing it.
Listener Interaction and Credits
01:28:47
Speaker
How exciting. Before we go, though, listeners, we've got a teaser question for you. Here it comes. At the time Tumbleweed Connection was released, Elton was on tour in the US. Now, one night, a recording was taken from from one of the performances in New York, which became Elton's first live album. In fact, chronologically, that's the next album that he releases in early 1971, before Madman Across the Water. But what was the name of that album? And there's two answers. Here's your clue.
01:29:23
Speaker
There's two answers. It was called something different in the UK to the US. And it's nothing to do with music, why it's got different names. It's something quite mundane that led it to be called something different in the two countries. Ooh, the answer will be revealed at the top of the next show. show excellent thank you Anthony and thank you everyone for listening to us if you'd like to get in touch with us we would adore for that we've got an email address just for this podcast it's elton the elton pod at gmail.com that's elton the letter v elton again
01:30:00
Speaker
pod, P-O-D, Elton V, Eltonpod at gmail.com. Now, Anton and I have other ways in which you can experience what we do. I'm a poet and my website is dominicberry.net. Please check out my poetry upon that. You can hear Anthony on two other podcasts. There is the Brambling Along podcast, plus Enough of the Falafel. Enough of the Falafel is a podcast where vegan news is talked about, as well as a vegan topic. And every now and again, I join Anthony as guest speaker. There's a whole load of guests from across the world, people from New Zealand, Australia,
01:30:41
Speaker
a country in Africa, you've got the USA represented. It's a great old podcast that I heartily recommend. Anyway, until next time, it is goodbye from Captain Domtastic and the Brown Dirt Ant Boy. Goodbye.
01:30:57
Speaker
Goodbye, everyone.
01:31:03
Speaker
This podcast is hosted by Zencaster. We've used some sound effects from zapsplat.com. We've taken information from songfacts.com as well as eltonjohn.fandom.com, the wiki. And I'd also really personally recommend you read Elton's autobiography, which is called Me. I listened to the audio version. It's narrated by Taron Egerton, which is excellent. We're indebted to all those who've helped create and share Elton's music. And thanks again to James Cook and Paul Savage, who inspired the format of this show.