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Post by BiteUrLip on Mar 9, 2018 19:57:22 GMT
Elton's last studio album of the 20th century is this one! It has not been one of my favorites.
"Long Way From Happiness" is the first track, and soon you can realize the synthetic sound. The production isn't the biggest weakness of the album - it's the songs! And this first track is a good example of a default sound of the songs. It's beautiful, but not very serious and lacking catchy elements. "Live Like Horses" follows, and this is the best track here to me. It is an amazing tune! "The End Will Come For Us" is one of the confusing tracks on the album - it is even not beautiful, it seems not going anywhere. Then we have "If The River Can Bend", and that one has a strong chorus. "Love's Got A Lot To Answer For" comes next, and that's a beautiful track, a little sugary though. Then we have the big hit "Something About The Way You Look Tonight". It's an exception to the synthetic sound to my ears, and it tries to be a serious song, although it isn't much. The title track follows, and that's probably now my least favorite from the album. There's simply no point in the melody! I don't know what's supposed to be good in it. But then comes a favorite "Recover Your Soul", simply one of the most beautiful songs Elton & Bernie have created! Following number "January" is an interesting song, it has an unique mood that I haven't heard elsewhere. "I Can't Steer My Heart Clear Of You" is a big weirdo though. Never cared much for it, and still don't, although it has grown a little. The album ends with "Wicked Dreams", which is the closest Elton gets to a rocker in this album. It's pretty good too, probably my no. 3 from the album.
1. Long Way From Happiness ***** 2. Live Like Horses *****++ 3. The End Will Come For Us ***** 4. If The River Can Bend ***** 5. Love's Got A Lot To Answer For ****½ 6. Something About The Way You Look Tonight ***** 7. The Big Picture *** 8. Recover Your Soul *****+ 9. January ***** 10. I Can't Steer My Heart Clear Of You **** 11. Wicked Dreams *****+
The scores may look high to you, but in reality albums like MIE are much stronger!
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Post by rocketman on Mar 9, 2018 21:12:04 GMT
1. Long Way From Happiness 5 2. Live Like Horses 4 3. The End Will Come For Us 5 4. If The River Can Bend 4.25 5. Love's Got A Lot To Answer For 3.5 6. Something About The Way You Look Tonight 3.75 7. The Big Picture 3.75 8. Recover Your Soul 4.5 9. January 4 10. I Can't Steer My Heart Clear Of You 4.5 11. Wicked Dreams 4.5
The Big Picture, unlike Made In England, is more of a peaks-and-valleys effort that perhaps is not as good as the previous few studio albums, has some considerable strengths in its own right.
Chris Thomas was back as producer, and in some quarters the production values get some criticism. I don't have any major issues with it, but it's not as clean as some of Thomas's early work, such as Sleeping With The Past. Some say it sounds "dated" with a more 80's-like sound.
Sales-wise, it put Elton back into the Top 10 in the US, albeit briefly, topping out at #9. It did get Platinum certification, so it did OK, though it faded more quickly than Made In England as far as the US was concerned. It spawned two singles in the US, one a big success, Something About The Way...probably due to its piggybacking as a Double A-side to the reworked and highly successful Candle In The Wind '97, topping the charts at #1.
Recover Your Soul meanwhile could only manage a US #55 (though it did reach #5 on the AC Chart), and I would speculate that the previous single would not have sold nearly as well on its own as it did as the Double-A with the Princess Diana tribute.
The album does feature songs that would grade out for me at 5-stars, and a couple that approach that status. There are some weaker songs too, so that the overall package is uneven but still quite listenable. There's nothing truly awful here, except, for some people, the sound quality. But again, to my ears, it's decent if a bit dated.
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Post by dougs on Mar 9, 2018 23:38:42 GMT
THE BIG PICTURE:
Called a "dark album" by drummer Charlie Morgan, THE BIG PICTURE was released (September 1997) after the passing of two of Elton's dear friends - Gianna Versace and Princess Diana. It is an album flavoured by an orchestral sound and primarily mid-tempo to slow ballads with a far-from-organic electronic sheen and producer Chris Thomas' "wall of sound" on occasion. Dedicated to Gianni Versace, THE BIG PICTURE was not critically well received and is not exactly Bernie's favourite; he described the production as "abysmally cold and technical." Maybe Elton took those words to heart; Chris Thomas would not produce another Elton album. The album is primarily a collection of lyrics about relationships.
In terms of sales and chart positions, THE BIG PICTURE didn't do as well as his previous studio release MADE IN ENGLAND which did less business than THE ONE - a trend downwards in sales through the decade. It entered the charts in many countries in the top 10 or tops 5. THE BIG PICTURE continued EJ's amazing success in Italy going 3X platinum and charting at #1 as it did in Switzerland and Denmark where it was the #12 album for the entire year - 1997. THE BIG PICTURE reached #3 in the UK, #5 in Australia, #9 in the USA and #14 in Canada. Good numbers, but it didn't have the staying power of his previous releases. The first single "Something About the Way You Look Tonight" was released prior to the album but when Princess Diana tragically died the song was re-released as a double-A single with "Candle in the Wind '97" which went on to become the highest ever selling single achieving 19X platinum in Canada and 14X platinum in Australia and charted #1 almost everywhere. Whether fair or not, Elton received a lot of "selling out" and "cashing in" claims. Regardless, it was a song that hit people in the heart at that very sad moment and record stores saw people lining up hours before opening to get their hands on a copy of it. "Recover Your Soul" was a decent second single which only charted on the Adult Contemporary charts in a few countries like Canada and the USA. A third single, "The River Can Bend" barely charted. "Recover Your Soul" was well-received live where Elton would play it solo offering a more organic and heart-felt rendition than on record.
The songs on THE BIG PICTURE are filled with piano solos, some beautiful backing vocals by Carol Kenyon ("Long Way From Happiness" and "Something About the Way You Look Tonight" and "Recover Your Soul") and almost all songs have some reference to the ocean, sea, or river and even the CD label has Elton standing in front of stormy seas. "Long Way From Happiness" is a truly beautiful song - gentle and honest and sad. "The End Will Come" is an understatedly good song as is the title track. Only one song on the album rocks - "Wicked Dreams" which also features another piano solo. Strings by Anne Dudley and Guy Babylon added to the album's orchestral feel plus choirs were used on both "Live Like Horses" and "The River Can Bend." After joining the band for the 1995 MADE IN ENGLAND tour, John Jorgenson played throughout THE BIG PICTURE. Certainly not a rocking album, THE BIG PCITRUE was a collection of safe mid-tempo piano-based songs based on relationships. I know that it is far from EJ's best but it is an album that I turn to a lot. Maybe another approach to production would have been to create a warmer feel but it still worked on a certain level. It would be Charlie Morgan's last album; he hit a bit of a wall (exhaustion?) in early 1998 while on tour - replaced by Jack Bruno until the end of the tour. This would also be John Jorgenson's last proper studio album recording with Elton as well.
The 1997-98 THE BIG PICTURE tour offered EJ concerts at their best; the set lists changed throughout and Elton played with such vigour.
Despite some reasonably lofty chart positions and good songs, THE BIG PICTURE really hasn't stood the test of time as his classics have. The next studio album would see a number of changes and a step up in quality but not sales. The days of new Elton music selling were beginning to end.
Doug
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latitude
Big Man In A Little Suit
Posts: 133
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Post by latitude on Mar 10, 2018 3:00:11 GMT
I do like the album, but not as well as I used to. So I gave it 4 stars. I connect with it better then the MIE album for sure, but don't like it as well as 'The One'. Do LOVE 'Recover Your Soul', and 'Long Way...'. It's a good album, but maybe a little bit too much going on in it at times.
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Post by dougs on Mar 10, 2018 4:13:30 GMT
Latitude:
re: THE BIG PICTURE:
Yeah, I feel the same as you about THE BIG PICTURE in that I prefer it over MADE IN ENGLAND but not as much as THE ONE. "Long Way From Happiness" is truly beautiful as is "Recover Your Soul." I also still really like "Wicked Dreams."
Elton was going back and forth between producers and musicians during the sessions at this time of his career and it would only change again for SONGS FROM THE WEST COAST. This time marked the last time EJ would have a new studio album go #1 anywhere. People flocked to the record stores in September of 1997 to buy "Candle in the Wind / Something About the Way You Look Tonight" but few picked up the album. I remember having to pre-order the single so that I would have a copy and also the long line-ups to get the single. The tour was electric and the set lists were interesting and ever-changing and Elton was playing his heart out. "Simple Life" was a real concert highlight...
Doug
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Post by Commodore Orpington on Mar 10, 2018 6:50:17 GMT
In my perversity, I dislike most of Elton's love ballads, the radio friendly, upbeat kind in particular, whereas I love The Big Picture. This is opposite to how most fans feel. I love the darker mood, and lack of warm reassurances about love. The End Will Come is about adjusting to the inevitable end to a romance.
The production may seem cold, but the songs themselves are cold, and coldness can be a very powerful emotion. They're not love songs that lift you up and give you pleasure, but they're not supposed to be. These have more depth than reassuring , cheerful love songs tend to have.
For years the middle 3 songs irritated me. Now they've all grown on me, except SATWYLT. This is a *much* more consistent album in terms of quality for me than MIE...
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Post by rocketman on Mar 10, 2018 19:14:29 GMT
I attended one of the shows on this tour and as DougS said, Recover Your Soul, with Elton playing it solo, was excellent. I'll never forget my friend turning to me and saying "that was incredible" after that song. Jack Bruno played that night too. Oddly, I remember little else about the concert, yet I recall the one I saw 10 years earlier in 1986 at the same venue much more vividly.
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Post by kissybissy on Mar 13, 2018 21:44:40 GMT
4 stars is a fair rating, I think. It`s a good album. Could have been better produced imo.
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Post by nix on Aug 10, 2019 10:32:41 GMT
Album rating: ***** As you all know, this is probably to me personally the most favorite Elton album ever.
1. Long Way From Happiness ***** 2. Live Like Horses ***** 3. The End Will Come For Us ***** 4. If The River Can Bend ***** 5. Love's Got A Lot To Answer For ****½ 6. Something About The Way You Look Tonight ***** 7. The Big Picture **** 8. Recover Your Soul ***** 9. January ***** 10. I Can't Steer My Heart Clear Of You ***** 11. Wicked Dreams ***½
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