"I'm Still Standing" ~ Part II Elton John Album By Album Thread

I like the melody of Nobody Wins.

 

Okay, it's rare I get to excited about something of old... (there are few stones unturned at this point!).

But this alternate version of "Where Have All the Good Times Gone?" should have been a true single version. So much more urgent - not a remix - totally different version. The piano up front, - this is the real "rock" version.

This would be a great piece to license for film or TV. Nobody's heard this. Like Kenny Loggins' "Vox Humana", it's a song from the 80s that sounds like it should have been the theme to one of them...

Any 80s throwback film with a creative Director/music super should check this out... also can have its first-time CD or digital release as part of any digital soundtrack...

Jeff

 

I always felt Vox Humana was very close to Footloose, so it almost was used on a movie soundtrack!

 

Here are 2 of my picture sleeves that are scanned and cleaned up. I have all the sleeves to the box set of Double A Side singles.

 

Here is one of the other Double A Side sleeves. Most of the sleeves depict Elton live or at his piano. The printing and or the photography were not very good, for the most part. I think they really could have chosen better photos for the covers.

 

It was the "live arrangement" of the song for the '82 tour. If you're a McCartney fan, the correlation is Figure of Eight: it had a studio arrangement, then it was rerecorded in the live arrangement for the single. Ditto "good times"...

 

Do you have the box itself that the 12 discs came in?

 

It's not mine, I don't have the box (or most of its contents!) but curious if you've got the box in better nick?

 

So, the "rocky" studio version came out in November 82 (B-side to All Quiet..).. pretty sure the Kansas/Starlight Theater (July 82) gig has this "rocky" arrangement (another one of his concerts from that timeframe that rattled along at a rate of knotts.. Just for the taste of that Coke!) so did this arrangement just evolve on tour and was recorded after the rest of the album? I was led to believe it was an alternate take from the album sessions (song is rather unusual in EJ/BT songbook as Elton had already written the melody and Bernie then put words to it, iirc)

 

Wikipedia states the "Ball & Chain" single was out in the US in September - several months ahead of the UK release of the re-recorded "Good Times", fwiw...

I actually saw the very next show on the tour after the Kansas City show, in St. Paul, MN back in '82!

 

I had the box, yes. Sold it last year at a record show. It was missing the posters or something that was originally with it. The box and sleeves were in decent
Shape. I have maybe 6 of the individual sleeves, though the condition is not great. I have never played the vinyl.

Pat

 

What an awful picture!

The Mo Mowlam years, I presume!

 

I know right? Someone couldn't find a better photo someplace? I don't know the back story of the box though.

Pat

 

Ah! So the rocky versions' first airing was in the U.S. in September '82! I'm gonna have to trawl my old papers at the weekend and see if I can find more info on this one.. maybe it was re-recorded with Davey, Dee & Nigel during the tour with this live arrangement..!?

How was the show?
Energetic, I imagine!

Did he do Where To Now St.Peter
in St.Paul..?

 

I've no idea but my best guess would be DJM had to milk the catalogue for all it was worth since Elton buggered off with his own label (and promptly went into "retirement"..!)

 

The show was fantastic - it was only the 2nd concert I'd ever been to, even though I was 17 at the time. The setlist was identical to the KC show and, being a huge Beatle fan, I remember how stunned I was to hear the rock 'n' roll medley to close out the night. I remember Rocket Man seeming to go on forever and him forgetting some lines to Dear John (which was quite late in the show) and commenting on it as he barreled through the tune. He also had a very cool lighting effect, which would probably be humorously "80s" were we to see it now: sort of thin neon bands of light around "blocks" on the stage. Colorful and minimalist at the same time. I've seen EJ probably 10 or so times over the years, but this was my favorite show by far.

Btw, what has happened to @fsutall? I was quite intrigued to hear his first impressions of these other 80s albums (esp my fave, Jump Up!).

 

I saw Elton on the Jump Up tour twice. I saw him in March of 82 here in Perth for the Jump Up DownUnder tour, then at the end of the year I saw him at the Hammersmith Odeon as part of his Christmas run of 12 or so shows. Both were amazing. It was one of my favourite Elton tours [and Ive seen him every time in Australia since 1979]. The staging was great, I remember it just like you mention it, with the underlit stage platforms. The set list was great and I loved the energetic and extended Rocket Man. It was a highlight of those shows. I have a CDR of a tape I made off the radio from that Australian tour. Still sounds great. I wish there was official DVD/Blu-ray releases of some of Elton's 80s tours cos they were brilliant.

Steve

 

Thanks for asking! Unfortunately I've been sidelined this week after a mild health scare and some unplanned surgery. My first hospital admission and hopefully my last! I have listened to Jump Up a few times and will post my thoughts soon.

 

+1

 

So after a much lengthier delay than I had anticipated, I've finally been able to listen to Jump Up several times over the past few weeks and have captured my thoughts below.

This time I made a point of listening to The Fox and Jump Up in succession a few times for comparison's sake, and was struck by how different they are. Jump Up is much more consistent in production and overall sound, no doubt due to having one producer (Chris Thomas) and the same band for the entire album, unlike The Fox, which drew from multiple sessions.

It's also fair to say that Jump Up is also a much more conservative album, in that the production is much more in line with American radio formats of the time than some of the more unusual tracks on The Fox such as "Nobody Wins" and "Just Like Belgium". I'm guessing that after The Fox was such a commercial disappointment Geffen made it clear that they wanted an album that would be embraced by top 40 radio in the US, with some obvious singles and an accessible sound overall. If so, then Elton definitely delivered.

That may sound like a criticism, but I don't intend it that way. Several of these songs would sound right at home on some of the classic mid-70s era Elton albums such as Capt. Fantastic, Caribou or Blue Moves, even if none of them are quite as good as his best material from that era, with one exception that I'll get to shortly.

Despite several listens, "Dear John" didn't make made much of an impression. There's nothing wrong with it but it falls into the generic "Elton rocker" category for me. The song doesn't have a strong enough melody or chorus to make it memorable. The lyrics aren't great either, which seems to be an issue with all of the Osbourne co-writes on this album. I like some of his collaborations with Elton, but I was not impressed by his work on Jump Up.

"Spiteful Child" is better, even if it doesn't have the strongest melody either. The verses are very similar to his late '80s hit "I Don't Want To Go On With You Like That". Wonder if that was intentional??

"Ball and Chain" is a nice departure, with some memorable acoustic guitar courtesy of Pete Townshend. Unfortunately Gary Osbourne's lyrics are again a weak spot, with too many cliches and obvious rhymes. Nice album track though, despite the lyrics.

"Legal Boys" is the best song thus far, with a strong vocal, solid melody and more accomplished lyrics by Tim Rice. I also like the orchestrations very much. Cool song, and at 3:07 it doesn't wear out its welcome.

I know several of you can't stand "I Am Your Robot", but I like it! The lyrics are admittedly ridiculous, but it reminds me of the fun Elton of the '73-'74 era. IIRC, in his review of this album Robert Christgau singled Robot out as a track that would have sounded great on AM radio back then, and I agree. Catchy, fun song. What's not to like??

"Blue Eyes" is one of those songs I don't have any strong feeling about one way or another. It's a pleasant enough song to have on in the background but it's not something I'm going to seek out. Glad Elton had a hit with it though.

"Empty Garden", on the other hand, is an absolute classic, and easily one of the greatest things he's ever done. Beautiful performance and production, touching and tasteful lyrics and memorable melody. A deserved hit and the highlight of the album for me.

It's inevitable that the rest of the album would suffer in comparison to that instant classic, but even so I was really disappointed by how bored I was by "Princess". Easily my least favorite song on the album. Horrible chorus, weak lyrics again courtesy of Mr. Osbourne, and it's at least a minute too long.

"Where Have All The Good Times Gone" is better, but it's not going to be a favorite on this album. Nice vocal from Elton with his deeper register used on the verses though. Another decent album track but nothing special.

"All Quiet..." is OK but falls a little short of the epic finale that they seemed to be striving for. At 6:00 it goes on far too long, becoming monotonous around the four minute mark. Some elements of the production are very reminiscent of "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me", but it doesn't reach those heights.

As with The Fox, the absence of Davey Johnston is felt throughout the album. Richie Zito is a serviceable guitarist, but nothing about his performance stood out. Davey's special touches would have elevated the material. I do have to give kudos to Jeff Porcaro for his impeccable performance on drums throughout. While I would have loved for Nigel to be the drummer of choice, I don't think he or anybody else would have done a better job than Jeff in supporting the material.

Overall I'd give Jump Up a solid B+ rating and would rate it a little higher than The Fox, even though I like that album very much. Definitely a worthwhile album even if it's not one of his very best.

Looking forward to finally listening to Too Low For Zero next! Many consider it his best album of the '80s, so I'm curious to find out if that's true. Stay tuned...

 

Couldn't agree more with the bit above. I'm always floored by how many "fans" of EJ don't appreciate his early 80s work, or consider it too "lightweight" for their tastes. After Madman, a lot of Elton's 70s stuff is just great, catchy "pop" material, and I think the '81-'84 era delivers plenty of that.
"Just Like Belgium", "Ball & Chain", "I'm Still Standing" and about half of Breaking Hearts would fit right in on "Don't Shoot Me", as far as I'm concerned.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on Too Low For Zero. After being wowed by Jump Up! and hearing the lead (US) single, "I'm Still Standing", I thought Too Low would be a monster album for me, but I always found it too slow for my tastes. Breaking Hearts was another good one!

 

I think anything up to and including Breaking Hearts is ok. Some of the tunes on The Fox, 21at33, Jump Up are stellar. It's nice that we got three albums, but perhaps a shame that the best of them weren't condensed into one album. There are some pretty average tracks on each.

Some of the b-sides are also good from the late 70s/early 80s era. Hey Papa Legba, Conquer The Sun etc are in my view more worthy of being included on the albums than Chasing The Crown or Dear God, for instance. Jump Up is a pretty solid album, leaving aside Robot. I think Dear John is a great opener, Spiteful Child is possibly in Dee Murray's top 10 recorded bass performances.

Thereafter, I can happily ignore Ice on Fire, Leather Jackets, Reg Strikes Back and Sleeping With The Past. And usually do...

 

I am on board until SWTP. I think it is a very good album. With maybe my favorite Elton Sacrifice, Blue Avenue, Amazes, Stones Throw and Whispers. I also like Durban Deep. I think a worthy follow to TLFZ, except no huge hit.

 

Those are my choices too for weakest tracks on one of Elton's best albums imo 21 at 33. And yes, I would have much preferred the amazing "Conquer the Sun" been added to it.

 

But it sounds awful - one might say of its time - but overproduced and clangy.