Too Low For Zero

[BiteUrLip]

This one's a clear nominee for Elton's best 80's album. I think it's on par with Breaking Hearts, but the number one is SWTP.

The album starts with one of the few singles, "Cold As Christmas". I have never quite liked this song, it's emotionally sad, but I don't like the lyrics. It just isn't realistic that a man would call his kids that his relationship is doing unwell. "I'm Still Standing" however is a clear winner. It's an aggressive tune and makes you realize that Elton was still a great artist. Then we've got the title track - I like that one a lot and think it's a bit underrated. "Religion" is a filler, nice tune but nothing more. The first side ends with "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues", which could be imagined as a blues song referring to the title, but it's not and that's why this song is my 2nd favorite on the album. On the second side we have "Crystal", a fragile, beautiful song with very simple drum/percussion arrangement. "Kiss The Bride" comes next, and that is a true rocker, not a soft rocker that Elton used to do those days, but this one has a clear, effective riff and a sing-a-long chorus. "Whipping Boy" however is a filler, a nice soft rock tune but nothing more. Then we have "Saint", which is a truly wonderful, brilliant song. The synth brass intro already makes you connect to the title! It is lyrically a very interesting song. And finally we've got "One More Arrow", where Elton used his falsetto. The song could have been much better in the 70's, when his falsetto was still in good shape, not now. That doesn't do much damage to the song, thankfully, and it's one of my favorites.

Bonus tracks - "Earn While You Learn" is a throw-a-way instrumental. "Dreamboat" is a long song filled with fun. "The Retreat" is a military tune, and my favorite of the bonus tracks.

1. Cold As Christmas (In The Middle Of The Year) ****
2. I'm Still Standing *****+
3. Too Low For Zero *****
4. Religion ****
5. I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues *****+
6. Crystal *****
7. Kiss The Bride *****+
8. Whipping Boy ****½
9. Saint *****+
10. One More Arrow *****+

Bonus tracks:

11. Earn While You Learn ***½
12. Dreamboat *****
13. The Retreat *****+

[kissybissy]

Great album. A great return to the john/taupin partnership.

[rocketman]

1. Cold As Christmas (In The Middle Of The Year) 4.5
2. I'm Still Standing 4.25
3. Too Low For Zero 3.25
4. Religion 2.75
5. I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues 4.75
6. Crystal 5
7. Kiss The Bride 2.75
8. Whipping Boy 3
9. Saint 4.5
10. One More Arrow 4.75

Bonus tracks:

11. Earn While You Learn 4.25
12. Dreamboat 4.25
13. The Retreat 4.25

The reunion album that most fans and some critics seem to think much more highly of than I do. There is some good to excellent stuff on Too Low, but Too Many Lows (wordplay intended) to rank highly on my list, this album having been in my bottom tier since 1983. I simply have never taken to this album.

But there are notable highlights, and the bonus material is solid, though it's not from these sessions, so it really can't be counted in the truest sense of contributions to an album.

The production is spotty. There's a bed of artificial sound to several of the songs, including the title cut, which, while typical for the times, tends to muddle things up. The songs often struggle to rise above the mire of the sound itself. Crystal is the one notable exception, and Saint nearly pulls it off too. But Whipping Boy is too long and rather boring, and Kiss The Bride, while cheeky, isn't as good as the wedding-day reprise of six years later in the form of I Never Knew Her Name.

[rocketman]

After 35 years, I think the album Too Low For Zero has finally clicked for me.

I'm not going to re-write my review of it or anything, and it's not going to suddenly leap into the Top 10 or 15 for me, but I believe that it has finally moved the needle during my listening session this week.

Of course, I've liked several songs from this album for a long time - Christmas, Crystal, Saint, Arrow. And the two hits are as iconic as any from the 80's (though still not among my favorite hits). But the rest of the songs are starting to appeal to me now too. Religion, Bride, and Whipping Boy are finally starting to register.

Sure, there are still faults. The production by Chris Thomas sounds too restrained, too 'narrow'; in contrast to the two bonus tracks, which were from the ASM sessions and sound much more open and clean. Crystal is a bit too repetitious in the outtro, and the title song is fun lyrically but a little boring musically.

But overall, I think this album has finally made its mark. It just goes to show that you never know what will happen when listening to music, and that's part of the beauty of it.

[BiteUrLip]

2L4Z is quite a typical eighties pop/rock album, not very experimental but still brilliant. I haven't had problems liking it - the most recent grower has been "Crystal".

I'll move this thread to the album reviews forum.

[rocketman]

Jul 21, 2018 19:38:22 GMT BiteUrLip said:

2L4Z is quite a typical eighties pop/rock album, not very experimental but still brilliant. I haven't had problems liking it - the most recent grower has been "Crystal".

I'll move this thread to the album reviews forum.

OK...I wasn't sure where to put it, since I wasn't actually writing a review, lol

[dougs]

rocketman:

When I re-purchased TOO LOW FOR ZERO last year on the new 180 gram vinyl re-issue I gave the album a committed headphone listen for several weeks.  This is what I came away with:

TOO LOW FOR ZERO had always been a "mixed" album for me.  It never felt consistent, however, there were several songs that I liked quite a bit.  "Crystal" and "Too Low For Zero" were always and remain my favourites.  Both songs saw EJ step outside the musical box at the time and both sounded very fresh and contemporary at the time.  You are right, both "I'm Still Standing" and "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues" became and remain iconic 80s singles.  Both still sound good on record.  I always liked "Kiss the Bride" but felt that it sounded better live with its up-tempo version and piano which was missing on the studio version.  EJ had dropped the piano in many songs at this time to have a more modern / contemporary sound and began favouring electronic keyboards on many studio versions.  "Restless" off of BREAKING HEARTS followed suite;  electronic keyboards rather than piano - except live.

Re-visiting TOO LOW FOR ZERO didn't do much for the remainder of the album for me.  I like "Religion" especially the lyrics and it remains a fairly good song for me.  I never got into "Cold as Christmas."  Its production seemed muted.  I do like Dee's bass in that one, however.  The remainder of the album didn't work for me in 1983 and it remains the case.  Re-visiting the album last year didn't do anything to enhance the remainder of the songs.

People forget how hugely popular TOO LOW FOR ZERO was in Australia & New Zealand.  It did very well through all of Europe, and surprisingly less so in North America.  It had monster success down under.

I always felt that it might have been better for Elton to release an album every 2 years during the 80s rather than every year as he did.  Imagine had EJ combined the 5 best from the TOO LOW FOR ZERO sessions (1983) with the 5 best from the BREAKING HEARTS sessions (1984).  That would have been an impressive single album!

Doug

[rocketman]

DougS,

I think much of the production is muted, to use the term you used for Cold As Christmas's production, and that is one thing that still bothers me about the album. This is why Chris Thomas is my least-favorite Producer among the variety of them Elton has employed. The scope was almost always narrow, confined, especially on this record. The instruments fail to extend out from the speakers - it's like everything just stays inside the speaker boxes and in between. I'm assuming the problem isn't with the CD I have, which is remastered and on which the two bonus tracks Earn While You Learn and Dreamboat sound markedly better - unless someone goofed up while transferring the master from Too Low while doing a fine job with the masters from the two bonus tracks.

A few years ago, I burned a CD of that combined Breaking Hearts and Too Low For Zero, and I did so at the time because I too felt that both albums combined are considerably stronger than each individually. Breaking Hearts suffers from much the same problem - some songs just are not very good (for me those include the dreadful Lil' Refrigerator and mediocre songs like Passengers and Slow Down Georgie, and a hit song in Sad Songs that I've yet to find very compelling.

I think the production on Breaking Hearts is the better of the two albums. I find now that Too Low is more consistent in terms of song quality. Both albums contain some really good material, including Burning Buildings and Saint, which to me stand out among Elton's better songs from the entire decade.

[dougs]

rocketman:

Agreed with the production sound on TOO LOW FOR ZERO.  They were well used to the studio by this time so any sound issues should have been ironed out.  Interestingly enough, I did buy the UK 12" extended version EP of "I'm Still Standing" and it had a much better sound than the album version.  Music always sounds better when there is less music on a side a vinyl but there may also have been a bit of remixing which promoted a more "live" or vibrant sound with a greater dynamic range.  I also feel that BREAKING HEARTS has a better production sound.

Doug

[Commodore Orpington]

I bought that UK 12" too back then, and finally got a listen to Earn While You Learn which I'd been hearing about since 1978... which sounds incredible, I guess because of having so much space devoted to it on the 12".

Subtle production was exactly what was called for with Cold As Christmas, and many of the songs here. Crisp and clear with every sound distinct isn't so good for "mood". 2L40 and B Hearts are the two classic level albums in the 80s, and it's sad hearing some songs I treasure being considered filler. The only songs I'm not sold on so much are the biggest hits.

I thought Whipping Boy might conform to my Elton rule of one bad song for every great album, but it grew on me, and I like it more than the singles now, too.

I'm Still Standing I have to hear in the 12" single version, with the extended intro. Other than that, it's a little jingle like to me.

Saint, Cold As Christmas, and Crystal are the amazing ones, then One More Arrow. I love Religion. Actual Bernie wit, such as we had not seen since 1972-3, and infectious classic pop country tune and playing. A bit of smartass again, at last.

[rocketman]

I wonder how much influence Renate had on the sound, since she was an engineer on this record. While I would agree that a muted sound can convey a certain mood, and that might have worked on Cold As Christmas, I'll illustrate with another album...SWFTC:

I Want Love, to my ears, has a sound that fits the song, and the mood is kind of like that on Cold As Christmas. But the overall sound of the song is good, as is that of the album. I think Patrick Leonard pulled it off - songs like Birds and I Want Love sound quite good but still convey a certain atmosphere that isn't quite 'pristine' and it works. I think he just did a better job of it, to my ears, than Chris Thomas/Renate did - but perhaps they were all aiming for the same thing.

[dougs]

rocketman:

Good thoughts about the production sound created on TOO LOW FOR ZERO and other EJ albums.  The whole topic about album "sound" and production is an interesting one.  There are so many things that influence the final sound:

* the actual song writing and playing by the musicians
* the quality of the recording studio
* the expertise of the engineer and producer
* familiarity of the engineer and producer of the studio's quality / capabilities
* time allotted to the process of recording and producing
* the desired sound wanted by the artists and/or producer for that particular album or song

I have heard songs by artists that were considered "finished" until the producer or musician came up with a new idea which then altered the overall sound by creating something new which then created additional tinkering...transcending the song into a new place.

Aside from that there are albums or songs that try to capture a bit of a basement tape live feel; "Birds" may be one of those.  ROCK OF THE WESTIES attempted to create a raw and not polished sound and - it did.

Regardless, some albums that EJ has done has production that doesn't seem to work "for me."  Maybe that was the sound desired by EJ or the producer - who knows!  I have always felt that ICE ON FIRE should have more air to it - breathe a bit. "Nikita" does have this but other (good) songs like "This Town" seem leaden.  With those horns, it should have had a nice layered breathing feel with punch and energy. How much is because of production?  Studio unfamiliarity?  The performances?

Going back to TOO LOW FOR ZERO;  in the world (1983) of electronic drums and new wave and Euro-pop, songs like "Too Low For Zero" and "Crystal" and "I'm Still Standing" should have really popped off the record. "I'm Still Standing" did.  "Too Low For Zero" is a really good song but seems a little "muted" like other songs on the album.  Certainly Chris Thomas (producer) was familiar with the Montserrat studio that he knew its quality (strengths & limitations) as he and also EJ had already recorded previous work there.

Read Ken Caillat's book called "Making Rumours" to learn about how the final sound of a song comes to be.  Absolutely fascinating how things happen that completely alter the sound of a song.  He was the co-producer of RUMOURS.

Regarding EJ, the sound of CAPTAIN FANTASTIC AND THE BROWN DIRT COWBOY is superb.  Way more than normal time was spent crafting the final versions of the songs in the studio  for this album.  Apparently, there were FOUR mixes of each song for the album!  I'd love to hear what ideas were used in the three other mixes that we have never heard...

So, maybe Chris Thomas and / or Elton wanted songs like "Cold As Christmas" to have that muted sound...

Doug

[rocketman]

Interesting observations, DougS...Yes, the sound of an album is certainly influenced by several factors, and I'd definitely agree that the factors you listed all are important.

I should add that my copy of Too Low is a remastered CD which included three bonus tracks. It's my understanding that there were various iterations of that CD, and maybe that's a factor too.

[nix]

Album rating: ****½
One of his best ever and along with SWTP, his best 80's album. 

Cold As Christmas (In The Middle Of The Year) ****
2. I'm Still Standing *****
3. Too Low For Zero ****
4. Religion ****
5. I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues *****
6. Crystal *****
7. Kiss The Bride ****½
8. Whipping Boy ***½
9. Saint ****
10. One More Arrow ***½

Bonus tracks:

11. Earn While You Learn ***
12. Dreamboat ***
13. The Retreat ***½