The Bitch is Back, again
Collections give an insight into the ongoing career of a rock n' roll master
January 26, 2001
by Harriet L. Schwartz
One of the longest-running streaks in pop music history has ended.
The year 2000 marked the first time in 30 years that Sir Elton John did not reach the Top 40. John's 29-year presence in the Top 40 began in 1970 with "Your Song" and ended in 1999 with "Written in the Stars," a duet with Leanne Rimes. John's highest charting single last year was "Someday Out of the Blue," which peaked at No. 49.
John's streak included 57 Top 40 hits. That number tops the Beatles, who had 51, and is second only to Elvis Presley, who had 104 Top 40 songs (although not in consecutive years).
Despite missing the Top 40 mark, John had a year that would have been successful by most other pop music standards, a year that celebrated his past and looked ahead to his future. He continued his Disney partnership, writing and producing the soundtrack to The Road to El Dorado, and more impressively, released One Night Only (Universal), a greatest hits collection recorded live on October 20 and 21, 2000 at New York City's Madison Square Garden.
In addition, John re-released To Be Continued... (MCA Universal), a
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four-disc box set first issued in 1990. Although neither collection has the impact of John's great studio albums, One Night Only and To Be Continued... provide significant documentation of one of the most prolific and original pop musicians in the history of the genre.
Elton live
Interestingly, the significance of One Night Only is that perhaps more than any other recent album, it confirms John's ability to rock. With his recent string of Disneyinspired hits and a seemingly endless list of classic ballads like "Your Song," "Tiny Dancer" and "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," Elton John could be seen as the king of pop balladeers. However, One Night Only is fueled by decisive rock 'n' roll energy.
The album opens with a fine, but not necessarily memorable rendition of "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," but then really kicks into gear as John and his band cruise through "Philadelphia Freedom," sounding as if they are having the time of their lives. "Crocodile Rock" and "Bennie and the Jets" also rock with authority. "Rocket Man" and "Daniel" are there, too, and John still plays and sings them with conviction, but the rock songs and duets are. what take this album beyond the scope of a simple greatest hits collection.
John's other live albums 11-7-70, Here and There and Elton John Live in Australia capture distinct moments in a varied and magnificent
career.
11-17-70 and Here and There are most striking in their simple moments. On the other end of the pop spectrum, Live in Australia features the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and elevates such songs as "Sixty Years On" and "Burn Down the Mission" to complete orchestral glory.
The rock quotient of One Night Only seems to confirm John's staying power and relevance. While David Bowie may be rock's master of reinvention, Elton John, in more subtle ways, has excelled at various pop forms, and seems to have retained his musical brilliance in all of them. While some artists sound like they're hitting the oldies circuit as they have trouble grabbing the rock 'n' roll edge they once helped to invent, John seems to have rocked harder during the Madison Square Garden shows than he has at some other points in his career.
While the more aggressive songs pro-
vide one good reason for adding One Night Only to any CD collection, duets provide the second reason. John has a history of memorable duets, and One Night Only certainly contains a few keepers.
"I Guess That's Why They Call it The Blues" with Mary J. Blige is without a doubt the best track on the album. Blige sings every ounce of possible emotion into this song, without ever taking it over the edge. Her passion elevates John's performance to a
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new level and ultimately, this version of the 1983 hit far exceeds the original. John's collaboration with Blige may be the only duet on the album to rank among his most memorable pairings, which include “Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me" with George Michael and "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" with Kiki Dee. One Night Only includes a revisit of hit single "Don't Go Breaking My Heart," which John and Dee first recorded in 1976. Although they don't veer much from the original in this version, they sound great together, and there is a powerful element of reconnection in their voices that makes the reunion memorable.
The rest of the duets on One Night Only are far less consistent. The Blige duet and "Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)" with Anastacia are worthwhile, as the two female singers bring varied sonic qualities to John's well-known hits.
Elsewhere, though, his pairings with Ronan Keating on "Your Song" and Bryan Adams on "Sad Songs (Say So Much)" fail to offer any worthwhile variation from the original releases. They may kick a little more as live tracks, but there is nothing new or different enough musically to make the new versions interesting.
Despite the fact that One Night Only is not a landmark album, the new live collection confirms that Sir Elton is far from ready to fade off into a Disney sunset. He's still standing as an energized and vital artist with the potential to pursue a variety of musical directions, well into his fourth decade of making music professionally. A look back
Garnering even less fanfare than the release of One Night Only was the re-release of To Be Continued..., a box set that Elton first released in 1990, and re-released in 2000. The four-disc collection chronicles John's career from 1965 through 1990, starting with his pre-Bernie Taupin days.
Disc One, covering 1965-1972, gives a meaningful glimpse into John's early and formative professional years. "Come Back Baby," recorded June 3, 1965, by John's band Bluesology, is rooted profoundly in a '60s pop feel. "It's Me That You Need," an early John/Taupin collaboration, foreshadows the brilliance that would later emerge. The lyric is personal yet universal, and the instrumentation is richly layered. Disc One also includes the demo of "Your Song," a true gem, featuring a not-yet-bigger-than-life Elton John. This previously unreleased track is touching in its innocence, both vocally and even in terms of the piano playing. The first released version of this song is offered later in the disc. Recorded in 1970, a year after the demo, "Your Song" already shows a maturing vocalist who sounds more established as a young professional musician.
JOHN STL
While Disc One is a fascinating look at Elton John's early years, Disc Two is less revealing. This part of the collection offers 16 songs, but all had been released previously on albums or soundtracks. Absent any demos, live recordings or otherwise unreleased songs, Disc Two plays more like a hits collection than other songs in the box set. Covering 197274 and including some of John's most memorable work including "Rocket Man," "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" and "The Bitch is Back," this disc confirms just how prolific John and Taupin were during this two-year period.
Disc Three covers 1974 through 1982, and includes several previously unreleased tracks. Perhaps the most notable track on this disc is "I Saw Her Standing There." Elton and John Lennon performed the song Nov. 28, 1974, at Madison Square Garden. Lennon acknowledged later that he had been reluctant to do the live show. Nonetheless, he and John delivered a totally charged version of the Beatles classic.
"Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word"
Continued on page 10
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