I like Travelin’ Prayer as part of the Piano Man album, but it’s odd to me that it was ever considered as a single...
A Single Man was his 'comeback' album. He retired but did a one off single which was really good but I've totally forgotten what it was called.
It was a bonus track on the remaster of the aforementioned A Single Man CD. As I recall, all the bonus cuts on that release were excellent. For once they actually improved the album.
"Mama Can't Buy You Love" was recorded like in '77, wasn't it? I'm curious what prompted its release as a single in '79 or whenever. It sounded kinda dated by that point, but I loved the song. Didn't Elton have yet another hit off that album decades later in the UK?
A remixed (and vastly edited from the 8 minute album version) Are You Ready For Love. Went to #1 in 2003 0r 2004. Can’t recall why that suddenly happened..
"Bennie And The Jets" was a song that I liked better in the 70's than I do now. I'm likely to switch the dial now when it comes on the radio, and skip the track if I'm playing GYBR. I think the outro is my biggest complaint these days. JcS
Call on Me was a big Chicago hit in 1974, hitting No. 6 on the Hot 100, No. 1 on the AC chart. It was on their first GH LP which came the next year. It's more in the AC vein. "Call on Me" is a song written by Lee Loughnane for the group Chicago and recorded for their album Chicago VII (1974), with Peter Cetera singing lead vocals and the song makes prominent use of conga drums played by Guille Garcia. The second single released from the album, it reached number six on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Easy Listening chart.[1] "Call on Me" was the first Loughnane composition to be released by the band. It was written with uncredited help from Peter Cetera.[2] Loughnane was the last original Chicago member to receive a songwriting credit.
It was around the end of 1976 that he both announced retirement and announced that he was a bi-sexual in a Rolling Stone Interview. Of course, he didn't retire at all. He just kept on releasing albums and singles. I always liked the single "Bite Your Lip (Get Up And Dance)". It was of a project with MFSB, as he always loved the sound. (Remember, I did say he always loved R&B, and it sowed more as the 70s rolled on". Personally, I never cared much for the song. It gets repetitive near the end. I've probably just heard it too much and am still burned out on it.
"Bennie and the Jets" is one of those songs that still hold as much magic for me as it did back in the day. It took me years to learn the full set of lyrics! The combination of Elton's peculiar enunciations and crackly AM reception - and later scratchy hand-me-down 45 on a cheap phonograph - made many of the lines indecipherable. I must've seen a lyric sheet at some point, and I'm sure my young brain was going "that's what he sings?". But whether it's on a quality sound system, on oldies FM or overheard piped in on in-store music, it still thrills me to no end. Elton hits that false start piano chord, Dee Murray runs his hand up the bass neck and then pow! Magic.
Bennie And The Jets is one of the most brilliant, timeless #1 hits. Weird, too long, uncompromised. As has been said, a last-minute single release requested by listeners, label and radio that the artist reluctantly approved. A similar thing would soon happen with Wings. To the people who thought Bennie was a live recording: did you also think the Beatles track Sgt. Pepper was live?
Always liked Bennie and the Jets.Not enough to buy it though.That is until I found a nice thrift copy.I think this was the apex of Elton John.
Which, I.I.N.M., followed the last Top 10 up to "Mama... ," "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word." However, lightning would not strike twice with his collaboration with Pete Bellotte - "Victim Of Love." But we're all like the proverbial jumping beans now . . .
More magic, of the bewitching kind. There's a handful of '74 - '75 hit songs by female vocalists that have me in their eternal thrall, and Maria's is one of them. (As is Joni's, but I'll need a whole 'nother post to rhapsodize over that one). Of course, the best ingredient in this couscous is that guitar solo, courtesy of Mr. Amos Garrett. It's on my short list of pieces that show just what soul-stirring things a guitar in the right hands can do.
Several here have rightfully pointed out the beauty of Harmony and how it deserved to be an A-side. This music vid may point to that intention at one time.
Up to this point, Elton always finished his album with a very strong track (with the exception of Goodbye on Madmen which is a bit of a throwaway). High Flying Bird from the previous LP Don't Shoot Me is also a great deep track from Sir EJ.
I had their first GH on cassette years ago, and after listening to your link there, I now vaguely remember "Call on Me." Interestingly, I checked the track listing on Chicago IX and I clearly remember all of Side 1, but barely anything on Side 2 (except "Wishing You Were Here").
Yes, this policy went out of the window when Elton concluded 1976’s Blue Moves LP with Bite Your Lip (Get Up And Dance)!
The quality of his LPs took a severe nosedive. Though there were some good songs on successive LPs, he quickly lost his reputation as a great LP artist.
Sunshine on My Shoulders This song was one I really liked as a kid. I was about 7 at the time, and we are now getting into the period where I remember a lot of the tunes we'll be encountering. As far as the song goes, there really isn't much to it. No doubt the nostalgia is what draws me to it. But that's as valid a reason to value something as any other I guess. Hooked on a Feeling My younger brother (he was around 5 at the time) liked Seasons in the Sun a lot, but THIS SONG was his favorite. He used to go around the house singing the ooga chaka refrain, and when it came on the radio when we were driving somewhere, we always would make a point of listening. IIRC, the name 'Blue Swede' was an American record company creation. The actual group was in fact Swedish, but was known as Bjorn Skifs and Blablus. Blablus is Swedish for blue denim, hence where the 'Blue Swede' name came from for American audiences who would never have remembered their other name. My brother has a cool compilation of this group (of course he does). I especially like their version of Never My Love, but there were several interesting numbers on there. There also are a few fun live clips of the group on YouTube. Here's one in case you ever wondered what Bjorn Skifs looked like. Fun fact: Skifs later appeared on the soundtrack album for Chess, the musical that spawned the hit One Night In Bangkok.
I'm not hearing Satisfaction in Jet, which is by the way an INCREDIBLE song. Paul is back! However, I do hear it in this Buffalo Springfield classic, which I also love. Neil Young was a baby here!
