Yes that's why I think "Jump Up!" is a good choice for "Underrated". Still they only were one place apart in the UK chart (12 vs 13). Looking at Billboard 200 US I just saw that "Too Low For Zero" was the least successful of the early 80's albums: 25! Wow!
I think there were albums that peaked lower than 2 Low 4 Zero (like Leather Jackets), but that's not the whole story. Sometimes albums that don't peak that high nonetheless have long legs and wind up selling a lot of copies. I know 21 at 33 went gold quite quickly. 2 Low 4 Zero also went gold quickly and ultimately platinum. Jump Up only went gold. Elton John's Gold & Platinum Albums
Caribou poorly received. Hmm. If I recall it was a number one album with a couple of smash hits to boot! It gets whacked pretty good around here, maybe deservedly, definitely some lazy songwriting, but the highs for me are as good as any other good EJ album. Ticking, DLTSGDOM, The Bitch Is Back (in fact, most of side one is just fine). Sure, it was banged out quickly but it’s a lot better than some other artists better albums from that time period, and I still play it today. It isn’t a GBYBR or Captain, but his albums should be viewed individually imo and it stands on it’s own just fine. I don’t think he made a bad album until Blue Moves, and plenty of people would argue with that even. Quite a run!
Agree with your opinion regarding Blue Moves. A real mess at two albums. Maybe there is a decent album at one disc. But it’s incredibly indulgent and very unfocused. And yet, lots of fans here for it.
For those that didn’t experience the incredible 70’s ride, given how decent Two Low is, one would probably be confused why there was so little interest. If you were around during that incredible run, and hung in there as I did through some real crummy albums hoping for the magic to return, he had burned a lot of good will bridges by Two Low. People just weren’t interested. But I liked it and it got me interested in him again after some big let downs.
You know, that’s really the way to do it. He’s just been around for so long, and as such his music really changed. It’s really difficult to compare material like Brick Road to Diving Board.
I remember that period well. Buying cheap cut out copies of "21 At 33" and "The Fox", never really managing to connect with either of them. Or "Blue Moves" or "Victim Of Love" for that matter. "Jump Up!" sounded fresher and more contemporary than either of them. Still it's amazing to learn that "Too Low" wasn't as successful as everywhere as it was in Germany.
Huge EJ fan here, but with so many albums, and so many uneven albums, this isn't easy... But I'll give it a go: Best: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Runners up: Tumbleweed Connection and just about every album 1970-75. Worst: Victim of Love. Runners up: Ice on Fire, Leather Jackets, Duets, Wonderful Crazy Night. Overrated: None, really. The great stuff is truly great. Later albums like The Union and The Diving Board have good songs and I like them, but the production and his vocals are... not great... His latest, WCN, is the opposite: it sounds great but the songs are terrible! Underrated: Breaking Hearts, just because it's usually compared to its famous brother Too Low For Zero. Too Low has better singles but Breaking Hearts is the better album. I think it suffers from having Sad Songs as first single, not one of his more memorable hits... But deep cuts like Burning Buildings, Did He Shoot Her, In Neon, the title song.... Brilliant! Also I think BH is one of his best sounding records. Runners up: The Fox, Jump Up.
I often forget about Duets. Although it contained little previously released material, I tend to think of it as a compilation or "special product" or marketing thing and less as a proper album. It's one I likely won't comment about very much when we reach it on the albums discussion thread. I will say, though, that about twelve years ago I bought the original UK 2LP, which had resequenced the songs a little bit and, of course, broke the album up into four shorter programs. And that made it more digestible for me; I actually began to like it a bit. I hadn't played it much at all since its release, and I found that I'd greatly underestimated several tracks (e.g., "True Love").
Best: Tumbleweed Connection. For post-70s, Songs from the West Coast, which I rank as one of his best records. Worst: Victim of Love (which I remember getting for my 14th birthday) Overrated: Hard to say. Think his early work is properly ranked. Maybe Captain Fantastic just because I got it later and don’t have the attachment to it (but it’s great, really). Underrated: Jump Up, Made In England l, and the Diving Board. Really didn’t like the Diving Board when it came out but it’s now one of my favorite late Elton records.
Regarding "Too Low For Zero" peaking at #25, it has a lot to do with the biggest single I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues being released third almost six months after the album was out and not even peaking until 1984. The Geffen pattern during the 80s was to release the more upbeat singles first followed by the ballad which allowed more Top 40 singles but at the expense of higher album rankings.
I liked "Home Again" when it was released but I didn't like the album itself very much and thought that much of the hype surrounding it was unwarranted. A few co-workers, including my then-boss, bought copies and spoke highly of it, and I felt quite awkward telling them how I felt about it. Eight years later, I'm still stuck on not liking it; I have multiple versions on multiple formats, etc., but just can't get into it. It seems to take itself too seriously, and I find the songs boring. Mind you, it's been a long time since I've played anything from it. Still, I've encountered several EJ fans who've made the same claim you have: they didn't like The Diving Board at first, but they gave it some time and now they really like it. Other than "Home Again", is there any one track or part of the album I should focus on? Or should I just pour myself a drink, play the album all the way through, and see what catches my ears? I did this last year for The Captain and the Kid, which I didn't like too much back when it came out, but now it's one of my favorite post-2000 EJ albums.
The album just finally clicked with me as I had the same reaction as you when I first got it. Home Again and Mexican Vacation had popped up on Spotify so I went back and revisited the record and it stuck with me—played solid for a month.
I feel like a bit of an imposter here because there are so many Elton records that I still haven't heard — nothing after 1989, for example. However, from the albums that I do know: Best: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. It has a bit of everything. So much to love. Worst: Leather Jackets (I like 'I Fall Apart' but the rest is horrible). Ice on Fire is a real stinker, too. Overrated: Tumbleweed Connection. I bought it on vinyl last year and was a bit bored. Underrated: Too Low For Zero. I only call it underrated because people on this forum are sniffy about the 80s and don't give this album the love it deserves. It's my favourite Elton record. The title track, 'Crystal' and 'I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues' are brilliant and the rest of it (apart from 'Religion') is almost as great. It was a massive success here in Australia, becoming the 7th biggest-selling album of the 1980s, so I'm surprised to learn about its (relative) failure in the US.
To start with, I'm only familiar with Elton's albums up to Blue Moves. I'm also going to approach this song-by-song. All these albums are pretty solid but sometimes there's that one track ... Overrated: Your Song, Crocodile Rock, Candle In The Wind, Tiny Dancer, Levon, Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (song), Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me, Rocket Man (on the fence about this one. Sometimes I dig it, sometimes I'm glad it's at the end of an album side). Underrated: Mellow, Harmony, Ego, Teacher I Need You, Elderberry Wine, Social Disease, Crazy Water, most of his B-sides. Worst: Island Girl, Grow Some Funk Of Your Own. Best? Well, shoot: Take Me To The Pilot, Amoreena, Burn Down The Mission, Funeral/Love Lies Bleeding, the rest of the Madman LP, the rest of GYBR, the rest of Honky Chateau, the Captain Fantastic LP. Special Mention: Someone Saved My Life Tonight. Only Elton would place a 6:45 dirge about suicide on the A side of a single and watch it hit the top 5. This is one of those tracks that on the surface shouldn't work. In the hands of lesser talents it would be maudlin self-pitying overblown crap but in the hands of Elton and Bernie it's genius. Possibly their finest collaboration. And then there's Philadelphia Freedom. I used to be ambivalent about this song, now it's my favorite. So much of it is fascinating: Gene Page's extraordinary strings and horns, the way the entire arrangement builds and then comes to a complete silence for a half-second right after "Won't you shine the light," Davey Johnstone's cool little guitar interjections, Ray Cooper's simple yet effective tambourine (couldn't imagine the song without it), Elton's electric piano peeking in and out of the proceedings, the dull thump of Nigel Olsson's drums (like someone dropping a trap door shut). The song's structure looks like this: A / A / subset of A. No bridge, no solo. And I know Elton and Bernie wrote Philadelphia Freedom for Billie Jean King but what the heck is this song ABOUT?
I never knew it existed on vinyl and stumbled on it at my local used store a few years back. I didn’t find it as bad as some are saying, and certainly not as bad as the bottom two that seem to be keep being listed. (Rightfully so imo). I think it’s hard to place a Duets album within the context of regular albums due to the nature of it. I think for the most part they thrive and dive based on the song, and who the singer is singing with. The new Barry Gibb duets album is exactly like that. Same artist, but the songs hold up based on who he’s singing with. There are some good songs on Elton’s Duets album, and some stinkers. I bet a lot of people forgot about this one, which suggests it probably shouldn’t be considered with the rest of his output.
For me ... and I only really go up to Too Low For Zero Best - Elton John, Honky Chateau or Goodbye Yellow Brick Road Worst ..... probably Victim Of Love Overrated ..... who knows Underrated ... a lot of albums after Captain Fantastic
Overrated? ' Goodbye Yellow Brick Road '. Every day, all day. Despite a clutch of good songs , I could never get into this bloated album. Should it have been a single album? Maybe.
Don't Shoot Me and GYBR as best/favourites. Worst: still undecided on this. Come back to me..... Overrated: Never understood the the lavish praise thrown on Capt Fantastic. He was re-treading on old ground as far as I could hear. Underrated: The best 50% brilliant album - Caribou.
I actually think, two tracks aside, Caribou’s is, in retrospect, one of his best underrated albums. Coming between two of his bestselling albums, it’s unfortunate it gets overlooked by many. It didn’t sell quite as well as the album before or after but still went to #1. It also has one of his worst album covers of all time.
"Too Low For Zero" was Top Five in Germany. After the Top 20, 30, 40 (each of it's three predecessors went ten numbers lower) of "21", "The Fox" and "Jump Up!" it was a massive comeback. I firmly believed this had been a worldwide trend but I learned here today that things had been very different in other territories. Still this is the reason why in my mind at least "Too Low" is a big album. While the three albums before it felt like also-rans. West German Perspective!
"Little Jeanie" was on the charts at the same time as McCartney's "Coming Up," actually prompting an article in Billboard about how "veteran artists" can still hit the charts.
