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Post by BiteUrLip on Jan 18, 2018 12:00:17 GMT
This album has usually been my least favorite of the classic era. Elton tried to make a brand new start to his career but instead he ended it, for some time. The album starts with "Your Starter For...", which is a short instrumental, but nothing more. I think the album should have started with the following track, "Tonight", which is a big masterpiece. It's sad, dark, ambitious. "One Horse Town" continues with dark mood, but it's also aggressive and somewhat effective. "Chameleon" is beautiful, though I dislike the vocals in the end. "Boogie Pilgrim" is filler, though really good filler. It's too long though. "Cage The Songbird" however is one of my favorites here. It is a weird, but beautiful song. "Crazy Water" is a fast soft rocker, which is one of the winners here. The end of the first disc or side two comes with "Shoulder Holster", which I like, but not as much as the others. The second disc starts with "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word", which is desperately calling for sympathy, and in it that partly succeeds. There are better hits by Elton though. "Out Of The Blue" is a song that has slowly grown on me, but it still doesn't get very high points. It's too weird for me to like it more. "Between Seventeen And Twenty" is another weird song, which has it's own charm. And after that one comes the first big failure of the album, "The Wide-Eyed And Laughing". I really dislike that song a lot. It's crazy, though very creative in instrumentation, but that doesn't help. "Someone's Final Song" is another desperate, melancholic tune. I like it equally with SSTBTHW. "Where's The Shoorah?" could have benefited of drums. It is a nice song. And at this point we get to my all-time least favorite Elton song, "If There's A God In Heaven (What's He Waiting For?)". It mocks God and religion, which is why I hate it - even though I'm myself not very religious. "Idol" is a nice jazzy tune, not very serious or ambitious though. "Theme From A Non-Existent TV Series" is a filler instrumental, which is tolerable but not much anything more. The final track gave me my user name! I love the song, the energy, the fun. It is a perfect ender for the album. 1. Your Starter For... **** 2. Tonight *****+ 3. One Horse Town ***** 4. Chameleon ***** 5. Boogie Pilgrim ****½ 6. Cage The Songbird *****+ 7. Crazy Water *****+ 8. Shoulder Holster ****½ 9. Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word ***** 10. Out Of The Blue **** 11. Between Seventeen And Twenty ***** 12. The Wide-Eyed And Laughing *½ 13. Someone's Final Song ***** 14. Where's The Shoorah? ***** 15. If There's A God In Heaven (What's He Waiting For?) * 16. Idol ***** 17. Theme From A Non-Existent TV Series *** 18. Bite Your Lip (Get Up And Dance!) *****++
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Post by kissybissy on Jan 18, 2018 15:36:15 GMT
Love this album and it's dark mood. 5 stars.
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Post by dougs on Jan 19, 2018 3:24:32 GMT
BLUE MOVES:
This is a very unique EJ & BT album for so many reasons; it is considered the end of that classic 1970-76 run, it is the last album to feature Bernie Taupin as the single lyricist until 1983, it is an album which featured 7 songs written or co-written by band members, it is an album filled with string orchestration, horns, choirs, and countless guest musicians, it was the last Gus Dudgeon produced album for a decade, and it is an album which has 3 instrumental songs. Elton would also never again work with guitarist and long time associate Caleb Quaye. Gone was an era; the next Elton John full studio album would be A SINGLE MAN without the formal Elton John Band or Bernie Taupin or Gus Dudgeon who were all instrumental in helping create the "Elton John sound" of the classic early years. It was the first studio album since MADMAN ACROSS THE WATER not to go #1 in the charts in the USA; a chart position Elton has yet to return to in America.
BLUE MOVES was apparently going to be a single album titled BLACK MOVES but the record company got wind of the fact that there were lots of songs written and recorded so they pushed, against producer Gus Dudgeon's will, for a double album. Apparently 8 or 9 of the songs that ended up on BLUE MOVES were outtakes from the ROCK OF THE WESTIES sessions. Also, there were, apparently, other more rocking mixes of some of the songs. Clearly the raw edgier approach of ROCK OF THE WESTIES was dropped for a bit more polished an approach complete with lots of overdubs, backing vocalists (11 in fact!), and lots of strings and horns to fill out the sound. Gene Page and Paul Buckmaster added their arrangements and choirs appeared on 3 songs. Some famous names such as Crosby & Nash as well as the Captain & Tennille added to the backing vocal tasks. Non-typical rock music instruments such as the accordion, the sitar, and the cello were used on the album as well. The result is certainly a colourful rich sound for BLUE MOVES. It was a fast and slow and very slow and happy and angry and sad album. It was Elton's only Canada recording; Eastern Sound in Toronto in early 1976.
Band members Caleb Quaye, Davey Johnstone, and James Newton Howard all chipped in on songwriting duties; 6 songs were co-written with these band members plus Caleb penned the instrumental "Your Starter For." Apparently Elton found many of Bernie's lyrics to be very sad and depressing; reflecting the breakdown in Bernie's marriage and his heavy drinking at the time. Musically, BLUE MOVES was all over the map.
BLUE MOVES went to #3 in the USA and the UK and #4 in Canada. Its best year-end charting positions came in Canada in 1976 and 1977. France, too, embraced the album and the first single "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word" which is still a fan favourite in France and other European countries. The song was #1, #2, and #3 all over Europe. Apparently most of the song's lyric was from Elton. Unfortunately the album didn't create any major success with another single. "Crazy Water" went #27 in the UK and "Bite Your Lip (Get Up and Dance!)" went #28 in the UK and the USA. Elton insisted that "Bite Your Lip (Get Up and Dance!)" be released as a single being sure it would be a hit. The single has a shortened remixed version. One big hit single WAS recorded during the BLUE MOVES sessions; "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" was recorded in a reverse songwriting way and became the monster AM hit single (#1 everywhere, it seemed) for the summer of 1976! Obviously, it didn't fit into the mood of the album and was omitted. The B-side "Snow Queen" was a BLUE MOVES outtake written by Bernie in a not too pleasant way about Cher...
BLUE MOVES for me has one of the best sides of music; side one with "Your Starter For" and "Tonight" and "One Horse Town" and "Chameleon." These songs still sound good today. Both "Tonight" and "One Horse Town" were featured in the 1985 and 1986 tours. "Tonight" continued on in EJ's solo shows and concerts with Ray Cooper. Clearly it is one of the very best album tracks ever written by Elton. I think that I am one of the few who loves "Boogie Pilgrim" partly for Davey's slide guitar but also for the horns and cool backing vocals. "Crazy Water" with its orchestration still sounds good and was considered by Gus to be one of Elton's best ever songs. "Chameleon" has a great outro aided by the backing vocals which rounds out that excellent side 1. Davey co-wrote "Cage the Songbird" which is a beautiful acoustic guitar driven ballad. Sides 3 and 4 have some really cool and interesting songs but lack the cohesiveness of sides 1 & 2. Again, I think that I am one of the few who really like the experimentation of "The Wide-eyed and Laughing" with its sitar. Lots of slow and depressing but, at times, beautiful songs appear on sides 3 & 4 such as "Someone's Final Song" and "Idol" and, of course, "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word." Sides 3 & 4 have a surprising 4 tracks without any drums and the pace does slow down quite a bit, at times. One track on side 3, "Between Seventeen and Twenty," was apparently related to Bernie's estranged wife Maxine having a relationship with bassist Kenny Passarelli. In stark contrast is the somewhat progressive instrumental rock track "Out of the Blue" and the super-fast "Theme From a Non-Existent TV Series." To me BLUE MOVES is a brave album from Elton; lots of musical instrumentation, lots of styles, and lots of moods.
BLUE MOVES didn't get much promotional push from Elton who was exhausted and somewhat burnt out after 6 years of constant writing and touring. There would be 8 songs from BLUE MOVES that Elton would do live at least once with about 6 of them being played for at least a single tour or many tours. Elton still says, after all these years, that it is one of his favourite albums...
Doug
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Post by BiteUrLip on Jan 21, 2018 16:18:35 GMT
Thanks for posting your reviews - I feared that you wouldn't have enough patience to write again! I will myself rate the songs and write more for the newer albums soon.
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Post by dougs on Jan 21, 2018 18:22:25 GMT
BiteUrLip:
Regarding the chronological reviewing of Elton's albums, will we be picking up where we left off on the previous board?
If so, that means we start with none other than...yikes...LEATHER JACKETS!
Doug
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Post by BiteUrLip on Jan 21, 2018 18:39:07 GMT
BiteUrLip: Regarding the chronological reviewing of Elton's albums, will we be picking up where we left off on the previous board? If so, that means we start with none other than...yikes...LEATHER JACKETS! Doug Yeah we shall reach that quite soon, I will write at least one review per day, so we are moving much faster forward!
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Post by rocketman on Feb 28, 2018 15:10:16 GMT
1. Your Starter For... 4
2. Tonight 5
3. One Horse Town 5
4. Chameleon 4.25
5. Boogie Pilgrim 4.5
6. Cage The Songbird 4.5
7. Crazy Water 5
8. Shoulder Holster 4.75
9. Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word 4
10. Out Of The Blue 4.25
11. Between Seventeen And Twenty 4.25
12. The Wide-Eyed And Laughing 3.5
13. Someone's Final Song 4.5
14. Where's The Shoorah? 4.75
15. If There's A God In Heaven (What's He Waiting For?) 4
16. Idol 4.25
17. Theme From A Non-Existent TV Series 3.25
18. Bite Your Lip (Get Up And Dance!) 4.25
Blue Moves is a winding, somewhat adventurous and somewhat experimental album that largely works, especially so the first disc. The second disc, while a bit of a downer, still contains enough good material to make the double album set very worthwhile.
Blue Moves was, as most know, the album that broke Elton John's streak of #1 albums in the U.S., charting "only" as high as #3, and for many fans, who were used to the very top spot on the charts, that in itself was a disappointment. But given the fact that this was a sprawling double album that was not especially single-driven, the sales performance overall isn't a total shock.
Once Sorry Seems...ran its course on the charts, topping out at #6 US, this album was hard-pressed to produce another hit. Bite Your Lip...is too unwieldy, and didn't get beyond #28 US.
Of course, more was happening than met the eye in terms of why this album was the beginning of the end of Elton's chart dominance. Elton was burned out, Bernie was bummed out over the loss of Maxine Taupin, and duo separated afterward and did not write an entire album together until some 7 years later.
And yet, for all that was going on, Elton and Bernie managed to put out a record that was surprisingly experimental. Had all that other stuff not been going on, one can only guess at where this album could have taken them. Perhaps the "line in the sand" could have been drawn much sooner, with the duo writing less for hits and more for substance. We'll never know, but in a way, this album stands alone as a hint of what could have been, if only...
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Post by Commodore Orpington on Mar 8, 2018 3:36:33 GMT
I think Elton was ready for a big creative push forward, if Bernie had been up for it. You can hear bits of it in Ego, Flinstone Boy and A Single Man.
The very strange feel is the main thing about Blue Moves. I can't describe it. There's an unsettling sense of anti-climax. Pop devices are used, making you expect things to rev up, but things stay somehow cold. It took years to come to terms with.
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