New Elton John album, "Wonderful Crazy Night" (5th February 2016)

Haha.. it'll be a while before we recover our souls.. I can't remember a thing about those two tracks tbh.. but that Tanqueray's a terrible thing..

That said, the other two bonuses were very well received, particularly "England and America".. Joe and Rob were open-mouthed in disbelief.. I don't think any of us could quite believe he could rock out like that in the studio.. everybody jumped up and gave "England And America" a huge round of applause when it finished for the first time!! A standing ovation for a record.. fancy that!

 

The box is huge! Much bigger than an LP! It's long and thin, pretty short on material tbh but it looks lovely.

2 of the other fans who hadn't yet bought the Super Deluxe but just the regular Deluxe were sold when they saw it in the flesh and are now going to buy the Super Deluxe.

The book isn't a book btw but a series of large folded over loose sheets of glossy photo paper/card with pics of the old dear in various daft poses. Like the album itself, it's FUN..!!

 

What you are saying exactly mirrors the boys' sentiments at the party last night.
The joy on everyone's faces, track after track, they just loved it all. Bravo Elton! The Bitch IS Back....!!!!!!

 

Here's a DR log I saw online for the hi-rez. I believe it matches the CD.

foobar2000 1.3.8 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2016-02-05 17:31:07
Analyzed: Elton John / Wonderful Crazy Night (Deluxe)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR Peak RMS Duration Track
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR7 0.00 dB -8.27 dB 3:14 01-Wonderful Crazy Night
DR7 0.00 dB -7.83 dB 4:34 02-In The Name Of You
DR6 0.00 dB -8.35 dB 4:23 03-Claw Hammer
DR7 0.00 dB -9.09 dB 3:38 04-Blue Wonderful
DR6 0.00 dB -7.68 dB 4:35 05-I've Got 2 Wings
DR7 0.00 dB -8.41 dB 4:51 06-A Good Heart
DR7 0.00 dB -8.07 dB 4:07 07-Looking Up
DR7 0.00 dB -8.40 dB 3:39 08-Guilty Pleasure
DR7 0.00 dB -8.39 dB 4:17 09-Tambourine
DR7 0.00 dB -8.86 dB 4:04 10-The Open Chord
DR7 0.00 dB -9.76 dB 3:56 11-Free And Easy
DR7 0.00 dB -7.99 dB 3:51 12-England And America
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of tracks: 12
Official DR value: DR7
Samplerate: 96000 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 24
Bitrate: 3408 kbps
Codec: FLAC



HORRIBLE and no reason for the High Res in particular to sound this way, especially since it was recorded to tape.

 

Seems that loads of people like the album, I just wonder why they went with such a crap sleeve?

 

how are the songs on the super deluxe? worth picking up for the music alone?

 

I like the cover its arty , out there & fun. Why not.


Peace and love✌
Oh here's a thread starter , which is the worst Elton album cover? My vote is for " The Big Picture"

 

Review:

http://ppdub73.blogspot.ie/2016/02/wonderful-crazy-night-review.html

 

Nice to put a face with the poster!

Your thoughts about the album are basically mine as well after repeated listening. It's the first EJ lp in ages where I haven't felt the need to press the skip button on any of the songs. As time wears on I'm sure I will end up picking my favorites, but so far I just start listening from track one and I keep on going until I get through England and America.

I am actually thinking of springing for the deluxe edition you have, mainly to get the two exclusive tracks and the vinyl.I gotta ask in your opinion, is the set worth the expense?

 

That's a good beer!

 

I went to Target to pick up a copy, seeing it was in their flyer. They had two large pictures of the album cover on the end cap of their pathetic music aisle, but nary a copy of this new release was to be found, or any Elton album for that matter. I asked the college-aged clerk if they had any. He said he didn't know that Elton was still coming out with albums. He searched on the shelves where I had looked and declared that they didn't have any. Brilliant. They were well-stocked with all of the other albums in their flyer, but he never offered to check in back for the shipment.

I just ordered a regular copy from Amazon instead.

 

"Empty Sky" by a mile.

 

That's my next choice after The Big Pucture.



Peace and love✌

 

Wonderful Crazy Night 3.5/5 (great fun)
In The Name Of You 5/5 (stately and brooding)
Clawhammer 5/5 (that jazzy outro...please tell me there's an extended version?)
Blue Wonderful 2/5 (leftover music from a film score?)
I've Got 2 Wings 3/5 (a bit trite but not offensively so)
A Good Heart 5/5 (superb. That retro harpsichord style sound, missing since 1969. Made for Nigel to play on. Is this the best drum sound on an EJ album since Capt Fantastic? Nice guitar steal from Abbey Rd by Davey at the end!)
Looking Up 4/5 (things really are)
Guilty Pleasure 4/5 (Please? I mean is it Please? Or borrowed from the Travelling Wilburys? Either way it's a foot-tapper. Nice geetar from DJ (yeehaw y'all).
Tambourine 3/5 (Nice quitar work but this is a b-side material for me, as is Blue Wonderful)
The Open Chord 3/5 (the synth strings marr this for me. A bit 90s overall)
Free and Easy 4/5 (this is a fab little number. A bit of lovely Beatle-y pop. A bit like it could have been on Caribou. And an awesome Dee-esque bass playing and great bass sound. Return of the Harpsichord Pt.2)
England and America 10/5 (where's he been hiding this?)

 

Blue Cumbersome doesn't sound bad in the context of the album, but it's far from one of his finer moments.

 

When you look back, many of Elton's album sleeves were bad.

Poor old Peachtree Road had 2 sleeves and they were both awful.

 

Blue Wonderful is ok but a bit contrived. I just doesn't go with the rest of it for me. However the album so far as I am concerned includes Free and Easy and England and America which more than compensate.

 

Yes, it's very good overall. Certainly much better than I was expecting.

 

It's a really good listen this album. Reminds me a bit of Made In England, a bit of Sleeping WTP.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbi...ight-year-feud-mother-Sheila-Farebrother.html

He's talking with his 90 year old mom again after 7-8 years of being banished from the Elton Kingdom.

 

Good news! Hopefully the press will drop the subject now and can snap back into focus talking about the real news = that is; the best album Elton has made in many many years.

 

You know Bobby, I've done a little soul searching the last few hours.. (incapable of much else with the hangover from hell) ... and I've come to the conclusion I'd kinda come to take Elton for granted.

Even thru the up's and down's of the inconsistent 80's and 90's.. and into the early 00's.. he still kept the hits flowing and the albums always had something worthwhile.. when all that stopped and things started becoming plodding, leaden and a bit dreary (basically I think EJ was gutted at the flop of TC&TK, which to me was his best album since MIE and he never quite got over his disillusionment.. but that's just a theory) I started to slowly go off him to the point where the last album was pretty much the last straw (I respect that some people love TDB but please also appreciate some other fans, myself included, do not)..

..well, as much as I feel rotten for writing him and Bernie off, they've found their mojo again now that's for sure.. even if they never top this wonderful crazy new album I'm delighted Elton showed he hasn't lost his gifts that made him the legendary mega star he is today.

WHAT AN ALBUM.. WOW..!!!

 

What's the DR of Songs From The West Coast by comparison?

I just played SFTWC and the new album back to back (WCN holds up very well.. TC&TK next!) and the new album "sounds" similar volume levels to SFTWC, maybe the new album is even a teensy bit quieter overall but with more low end..?

 

Maybe I missed it but does anyone have the DR values for the iTunes version? Not sure what version to get. I have the LP (still sealed) and CD of his last release and I can't really get into the music. Will have to give it again it try today.

Pat

 

I prefer it now to the awful Radio 2 stream online it just sounded "Blue Dreadful".. and it makes more sense in the flow of the album.. I still think there are too many lyrics.. and he does struggle to sing some of the words (maybe it's a little bit too uptempo?) now I've heard it properly a few times it reminds me a bit of "I Know Why I'm In Love" which Big Picture would've benefited from.. but this new album is so good it doesn't need it (imho!)