Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy

by

Elton John

Edit

I could hardly wait in 1975 to acquire Elton's new album, one of the hundreds of thousands of people who bought the album as soon as it was available in record stores. I placed the record on the player, sure that I was going to hear another "Yellow Brick Road." Then I was puzzled. What kind of music was this? It was not simple pop with catchy tunes. It was, well, complicated, and sophisticated. It was also Elton's first concept album, and it took me a while to realize that this album was the story of Elton and Bernie's rise to fame, in what appeared to be a relatively short period of time, but which actually took from 1966 to occur.

As I said, this music is very complicated, sophisticated, and beautiful. There are some faster songs, but some of Elton's most carefully crafted music is here as well. The album begins with the title tune, a rock song with a bit of country flavor that represents the flamboyant heart of Elton, and the quieter, western-loving style of Bernie Taupin. The song alternates between a style reminiscent of "Madman Across the Water" to a style that was more fully realized in "Rock of the Westies."

In "The Tower of Babel" and "Bitter Fingers" the dynamic duo lament the difficulties of getting into the entertainment industry. The first song is about the difficulty of entry, the second is about being a stable hack for a record company, churning out songs by the basketful to make ends meet, never seeming to work fast enough or to earn enough. "Bitter Fingers" has a beautiful piano entry, which extends into the song. Elton at his performing best.

"Tell Me When the Whistle Blows" can play on several levels, depending on which part of the song. The style of the song is quite similar to songs such as "Danny Bailey" or "I've Seen That Movie Too" from "Yellow Brick Road." There is a fast rock beat, but the violins give a rich, lush feel. Part of the song longs for being home, and part of the song wonders whether the maturing individual in the song still has the talent and enthusiasm he had when he was a wild kid.

Then comes "Someone Saved My Life Tonight," one of the most phenomenal songs that Bernie and Elton have ever written. This song is about a time when Elton was nearly ready to get married. He made a weak attempt to kill himself, which Bernie and Long John Baldry stopped, and then Baldry talked him out of it. The complexity of this music is symphonic. The piano chords and the harmonies are full and show Elton John having fully mastered the art of creating music.

The next two songs, "Gotta Get a Meal Ticket" and "Better off Dead," are faster, and are about aspects of being starving artists. Both are decent songs, but they are preludes to the last three songs of the original album.

"Writing" is a song about success. Once we are successful, how long can we sustain that success? Also, what will people in the future think about what we did. Will it have meaning for them, and will they think it is good? Bernie's lyrics tell a story, and Elton does an outstanding job complementing the lyrics.

The last two songs remain among my all-time favorite Elton John songs. "We All Fall in Love Sometimes" and "Curtains" transition from one to the next. Though the topics are different, the tenor and beauty of the music is common. When Elton allows his piano to come to the forefront of his music the result is nearly always wondrous. "We All Fall" also has one of the best bridges ever performed in an Elton John song. Elton also plays a harpsichord and a mellotron, used so effectively by the Moody Blues in the previous decade. The results can only be appreciated by listening.

"Curtains" begins so beautifully that when I am mellow it brings tears to my eyes. The lyrics are brought to life by Elton's vocal and musical interpretation, striking into your heart and soul. Only the emotionless could fail to appreciate this fragile, emotional music.

This album was the culmination of years of effort. The music is mature and well-crafted. Beautiful seems a paltry word to describe much of it. The production was the best ever of any Elton John album to date. The skill of the art was theirs, and they capitalized on it to create one of the best rock albums of all time.

Included on this remaster are three bonus songs. "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" was a big hit in 1975 for Elton John, and featured the talents of Elton's friend John Lennon. "Philadelphia Freedom" was another big Elton John hit, and was written as a tribute. "One Day at a Time" is another quite good song that helps fill out the potential time of a CD.

Unfortunately I am inadequate for the task of adequately reviewing this CD. While Elton had many creative moments and beautiful songs prior to this album, and had many other excellent compositions, for one magical album the music, the lyrics, and the production all came together to create an album for all times and all ages. While I generally feel that people are silly for saying they want to give a CD dozens of stars, this album would rate more than five stars if I could give them.

Elton John / Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy: There are several radio friendly tunes here, all sounding like they came from The Partridge Family, or a concert from `Up with People'. If this is a concept album, nobody realized it until decades later when they proclaimed they were making a sequel to it. Elton and Bernie took all the Wrong lessons away from their "Yellow Brick Road" masterpiece and became `hit' makers instead of album makers. This CD can serve as a collection of Elton John's mid `70s radio hits, but that all it's worth (and we still get this stuff over the radio anyway). This marked the death of Elton John as an artist. I'll be generous and give this one Three Stars.