Live In Australia With The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

by

Elton John

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Elton's Geffen Records contract had run its course and his old home, MCA, made him an offer he couldn't refuse. MCA also wanted to bring Elton back into prominence, to regain the respect and sales he'd accumulated in the 70's. How better to do that, then, than to revisit those early songs in a live context? Better yet, Elton enlisted the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and James Newton Howard to create a televised extravaganza with eyes towards a live album. The set list leaned heavily towards the early years (nearly half the "Elton John" album is here) and tapping some underrated songs like "Tonight" from "Blue Moves" and "Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player's" "Have Mercy On The Criminal."

The orchestration is magnificent, utilizing the original Paul Buckmaster and James Newton Howard arrangements, and on CD they are absolutely majestic. Elton made one of his last forays into costume drama, showing up in full Mozart gear and powdered wig. "Live In Australia" even paved the way for "Candle In The Wind" to finally become an American hit, hitting number 6 in 1987. It is a gorgeous album, lush in sound and giving justification to all claims of the brilliance of Elton and Bernie's songwriting.

Only one problem: Elton's voice was almost shot. He was mere weeks away from major, voice threatening throat surgery and the roughness on his vocal chords shows. He can't sustain the highs and his falsetto is gone. On some of the songs, he makes up for it admirably. In fact, he sounds really good on the songs where range isn't a major requirement (like the dramatic "The King Must Die" or "Take Me To The Pilot"), but the ballads occasionally show the frayed spots (like "Tonight," where the orchestration is very Gershwinesque, or "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word"). Had it not been for those moments where Elton's voice betrays him, this could have been a five-star definitive work, on a par with "Procol Harum Live: In Concert with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra." While "Live In Australia" is still pretty darn good, the definitive live Elton remains the remastered "Here and There."

Being a die hard Elton fan is sometimes not easy. I've titled this review to compare two major thoughts I always have while listening to this cd. I can never quite make up my mind where this is a truly passionate delivery from Elton or just completely overblown effort. Let me explain. There's no doubt that Elton pours his heart out on this release. He was in the midst of a tabloid scandal in Britain, his latest studio album didn't do so well(Leather Jackets) and was also at the height of his drug abuse. Not to mention a voice problem that led to surgery. On this release, his voice has no enjoyable quality: it's ragged, strained and monotone. It's a shame because staging a show this large just can't be canceled. So on with the show despite the singer's troubled vocal chords.

But the orchestrations of these songs are simply superb. James Newton-Howard embellishes the most appealing moments from these early tracks (Paul Buckmaster did the original arrangements on the early '70 tracks). There are some standout performances here to: I Need You To Turn To and The Greatest Discovery, in particular due to their delicate lyrics which benefit from the understated arrangements here. On the other hand, Take Me To The Pilot, in which Elton appears to struggle through, is so overdone, it's no wonder his vocals were showing signs of problems. He can barely get through it without sounding out of breath.

Many of these songs are taken from the classic years ('70-'76). Some real notable songs from Elton's Geffen years ('81-'86) were omitted due to record label contract issues (Elton returned to MCA for this 1987 release after 6 years with Geffen). But the listener missed out on some key tracks such as the brillant Cold As Christmas from '83's Too Low For Zero and Slow Rivers, one of the few highlights from '86's Leather Jackets.

All in all, if you can get past his voice here, you will enjoy the cd overall. It's such a shame that his voice wasn't better for such a high profile ocassion.

Best Tracks: 60 Years On, I Need You To Turn To, Madman Across The Water.