Elton John General Discussion And Random Thoughts Thread

I don't care if radio plays his stuff either. I have the albums and don't need to hear it there. Though it's nice!,TDB did get a fair bit of airplay on Radio 2, as I recall though. Sadly, if radio doesn't play his records, no one but his diehard fans will know they exist, the albums will flop and Elt will lose his record deal!

Oh for the 80s when the 17th single off Too Low For Zero, Kiss The Bride, was played endlessly everywhere!

 

It's not often Elton is the young, spry one!

 

I prefer not to think about what he still has in him, thanks!

 

And Elton is officially BACK!

 

He can still pull it out of the bag though..

 

The old b!tch never went away!

 

He actually suits that song well. Sounds like one of his own compositions.

 

When I listened to my WG DJM DSM the other day, I was thinking that there was some sort of lack of definition to the top-end... almost a fuzziness. But I assumed that is how it is generally for this album. Maybe this is due to the 'dolby playback issue' (I'm not totally sure what that is, but can hazzard a guess - just going from memory about what I've read - maybe even early on in this thread.) So yes, as I now know there is an alternative mastering that I should be able to find reasonably easily (the UK DJM - I might even be lucky enough to find the 1st US MCA) I shall look out for it. Thank you.

And a remix IS an interesting idea - I'd usually be against that, but to get a great album sounding as good as possible from being so-so, then I'd be up for that!

 

It pains me as a fan to say it, but I found that just awful, like a Saturday night pub singer.

 

Elton needs to challenge himself artistically. I say get Daniel Lanois to produce his next album. Now that would be interesting.

 

Could be.. Im not sure? I'm guessing you mean when a master tape is Dolby NR encoded and is then played back without Dolby decoding.. I've read that would result in a very screechy high end.. the opposite (Dolby engaged on a tape not encoded in the first place) would that bring about the muffled fuzziness you're hearing? I don't know about all that kind of stuff!

The UK DJM is the closest CD I've heard to the LP but with what seems to me like a top end boost, it definitely sounds brighter to me.. I like it but it still has a kind of grungy yet splashy sound, which I fear is inherent in the original.. I was really quite taken aback by the WG DJM, it has no life.. the US MCA has obviously had some work done on it and is very different to both DJMs but I like it.

There is a remix of Don't Shoot Me.. Greg Penny did one around 10 years ago for Surround SACD but it got cancelled at the last minute

 

You must go to some great pubs of a Saturday night.. the dumps I go to they don't sound like that!

 

I think the idea was that T Bone was challenging him artistically! We live and learn!

 

that was the idea yes...

 

In some ways I'd say it comes across as slightly experimental in places and a lot of the time, that sort of thing will gain my interest - I thought it was a gas when I began hearing the old Top Gear theme! (For those who don't know, TG is a BBC TV motoring show.) I will admit that this tune - Out Of The Blue - is a favourite, along with Jessica by The Allman Brothers Band (same - a version of this is used on the credits, though I've not watched the programme in years, they have great taste in music.)

It does look like the well was dry, when it came to this album - I probably would have hated it at the time because... where were the catchy/quirky songs and his piano playing? Even at a very young age, missing those two crucial elements would have made this album soon tire on me. Being forewarned and knowing not to expect much actually made this album seem ok - and nobody would surely call it a classic, I'd think. I can't say when I will play it next - if I am in the mood for that sort of thing then that's probably about it. I'd love to try to do what I did years ago and be really mischevious in trying to convince someone that it is an all-time classic, knowing full well what I know.

One word I try not to use is underrated - but I think it is an exceptional album so in this case I will. It's some time since I heard and owned Honky Chateau and a lot of the other early ones; it is one I'm hoping to be one of the first EJ albums I acquire next.

 

Don't even get me started on T-Bone Burnett's supposed production "style," which, I believe, is to turn the tape machine on and off.
Elton would benefit from a producer who'd say, "That's not good enough, Elton."

 

It's probably almost the opposite of what you're thinking (if someone knows, please chime in? ) I'm far from an expert but this might explain...

What I was thinking is that the two track master was recorded on a machine that had Dolby NR encoded. It would then (and this is just hypothetical, but it makes sense to me) be played back on a different machine that wasn't aligned the same - OR the Dolby decoding was not calibrated correctly and playing the tape back with it engaged would then result in loss of top-end and very likely give the impression of it being No-Noised. Similar to domestic cassettes.

It the UK DJM was played back on a machine with the Dolby disengaged then it would (I assume) have much brighter highs, plus a fair bit of hiss in the quieter parts.

I remeber reading about the unreleased remix - now you mention it.

 

Patrick Leonard? Matt Still? All produced fantastic records - and all were one-off producers for him. Why?

EDIT: They both produced some soundtrack recordings for him around the time they were working on his proper album.

Which reminds me of the other underheard but great songtrack to the lackluster film, Road to El Dorado, songs produced by Patrick Leonard.

Jeff

 

That may well explain it!

Whatever it is, the two UK & WG DJM CD's sound very different.. and I prefer the UK by quite some way.

 

I've said it times over. Greg Penny produced one of Elton's best 90s albums in Made In England. Then Elton never used him again.

 

I wouldn't fancy telling Elton he wasn't good enough, mind!

Hugh Padgham produced Paul McCartney's 1986 hit desert Press To Play (Press To Flush as someone hilariously renamed it on here!) Padgham had the nerve to criticise one of Paul's songs, to which Macca replied, 'and how many hit songs have YOU written, Hugh?!'

Ouch!!

 

..and wasn't Hugh the boyfriend who confronted Elton and helped him sort his life out?

When they had to write lists about what they didn't like about the other, Elton wrote "he doesn't put his CDs away properly", to which the bf said of Elton "he's an alcoholic, he's a drug addict, he's bulimic.."..

 

Maybe not.. must've been someone else, I think Hugh's wife might've had something to say about it!

 

Honky Chat is a great place to start revisiting Elton. Caribou and Rock Of The Westies are patchier but also fun. Both contain a handful of classics, too. I love a lot of his 80s albums. Now, they are 'underrated'!

It's hard to know what Elton was thinking (or what he was on) when recording the Victim Of Love album. Then again, Pete Bellotte was a hot producer at the time so the idea was probably not so outlandish in 1979...Had he gotten better songs, I'm sure the album would have sold better and his fans forgiven him easier!

And yes, for someone, somewhere VOL will be a classic!

 

The Hugh was Hugh Williams, the American he dated back in 1990 who helped sort his life out. Silly me..