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Post by BiteUrLip on Jul 12, 2021 14:26:39 GMT
Music: Elton John
Lyrics: Bernie Taupin
piano, vocals: Elton John
electric guitar, acoustic guitar and sitar guitar: Davey Johnstone
drums: Nigel Olsson
hammond organ, rhodes, programming and orchestration: Guy Babylon
bass: Bob Birch
percussion: John Mahon
choir: Adam McNight, Charles Bullock, Terrence Davis, Mark Ford
Breaking down never seems to be that hard
Falling short is always in the cards
I'm on the road, sun rising at my back
Lost it all somewhere between the cracks
I always hoped that I'd do better
That I'd come out on top for once
We all get what we're delivered
Then there are the lucky ones
chorus:
And I've got all that I'm allowed
It'll do for me, I'm thankful now
The walls get higher every day
The barriers get in the way
But I see hope in every cloud
And I'm thankful, thankful
I'm thankful, So thankful
I'm thankful, I've got all that I'm allowed
Leaving town gets to feel just like a job
My desire never winds up on top
I can say now I didn't want the moon
It's out of reach somewhere beyond this room
I always hoped that I'd do better
That I'd come out on top for once
We all get what we're delivered
Then there are the lucky ones
(repeat chorus)
I've always try to make things clear Then I watched as progress stalled
I only hope I'm standing here
When Heaven finally comes to call
(repeat chorus)
Thankful, So thankful
I'm thankful, I've got all that I'm allowed
All that I'm Allowed
I'm Thankful
And I've got all that I'm allowed
So Thankful
And I've got all that I'm allowed
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Post by BiteUrLip on Jul 12, 2021 14:27:53 GMT
I used to think that this is one of the best tracks from PTR. Now I think it's somewhere in the middle. It sounds a little forced although the melodies are enjoyable.
4½ stars.
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Post by dougs on Jul 12, 2021 15:28:28 GMT
"All That I'm Allowed (I'm Thankful)" from PEACHTREE ROAD:
In 2004 Elton & Bernie released an album 9PEACHTREE ROAD) infused southern American musical influences; gospel, country, soul, southern-rock, etc. "All That I'm Allowed" was the 2nd single from the album to be released in the US & Canada and the first to be released outside of North America. It did chart at #20 in the UK and got fair US Adult Contemporary play charting at #24. It failed to chart elsewhere. Elton recorded the song & album in his 2004 hometown of Atlanta - which is home to the actual Peachtree Road.
"All That I'm Allowed" has more of a soul / R&B feel to it. Elton recently stated that "It’s my homage to The Delfonics and The Stylistics, that soft soul sound… I loved that sound." Bernie offers up a nice and, indeed, thankful lyric. EJ delivers it nicely in a soulful manner as the song deserves.
"All That I'm Allowed" was played live throughout the lengthy PEACHTREE ROAD Tour in 2004 and 2005. Elton so believed in the album that he played not only "All That I'm Allowed" nightly on the tour, he also played another 7 songs from the album almost every night in concert despite the consistent lack of album sales.
A nice song with a positive lyric from Bernie. Still, not one of my favourites, however. This is one that EJ seems to be a big fan of.
Rating: 4 1/2 stars
Doug
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Post by rocketman on Jul 31, 2021 18:12:58 GMT
4 stars...nice middle of the road song, uplifting lyrics, but nothing special. I heard this live in 2005 and like every other of the total of eight songs he played that night from the album, it sounded better live than on the record.
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Post by dougs on Aug 1, 2021 2:13:15 GMT
rocketman:
Agreed completely; the 8 songs that Elton played live from PEACHTREE ROAD sounded much better than they sounded on record the three times that I saw him on that tour in 2005. The Toronto and Boston audiences were surprisingly patient and supportive while EJ and the band opened the concerts with those unfamiliar new songs back-to-back. It seemed like 95% of the audience didn't know those songs from PEACHTREE ROAD. "All That I'm Allowed" did get some minimal airplay so it might have been a bit more familiar.
Doug
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Post by newloneranger on Aug 1, 2021 6:49:21 GMT
Its ok, could have picked a better single though. Kind of overdoes the thankful parts.
4 stars
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Post by rocketman on Aug 1, 2021 15:29:03 GMT
DougS, Yes, in Philadelphia, the reaction was similar - patient, polite response. Then the place erupted when Pinball Wizard was played. It was a great way to build anticipation, and the fans knew that sooner or later, Elton would get to the hits.
When fans clamor for Elton to play the deep cuts, they have to realize that most people who attend concerts are casual fans and not well versed in his music, especially recent music. That goes for any artist. Its one reason why Billy Joel doesn't even bother writing new material. He said most attendees don't want to hear it anyway. That said, I think it's good to challenge an audience with at least some deeper material, and I also think that Elton's writing output is a great thing. I for one am glad that he didn't shut it down like Joel did. We've been blessed with some excellent music, and in fact, I think the past two decades were more consistently good than anything since the 1970's. SFTWC, The Diving Board, and The Union all rank quite highly in his catalog in my opinion.
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Post by dougs on Aug 1, 2021 22:07:31 GMT
rocketman:
I, too, much prefer seeing Elton continue to push himself as an artist and continue to write and perform new music. It took courage to play those 8 PEACHTREE ROAD songs every night, including "All That I'm Allowed", live to start off the 2004-2005 concerts. He must have been proud of those songs and had faith in their ability to move the audience.
Seeing Elton in 1984 on the BREAKING HEARTS tour was similar; he played 8 songs throughout the concerts that I attended which were from TOO LOW FOR ZERO and BREAKING HEARTS combined - the number of songs played live from those two albums changed occasionally on that tour but 8 was the usual number. I wish that he had played more songs from those records. In fact, those new songs from those two albums were absolute crowd favourites - lots of hit singles and strong album tracks.
As this 21st Century has moved on, Elton has tended to be been far more hesitant to stick with many new songs very long. He knows which songs people get up to go get a beer, a hotdog, or head off for a washroom break - the new ones...and the old lesser known album tracks. You are right in that most people who attend veteran performers' concerts seem only to want to hear the hits, the hits, and the hits. A couple of years ago, Elton played a superb version of "I've Seen That Movie Too" but soon dropped it and that is a strong album track from his clearly highest selling studio album - ever!
The one thing I felt was a big missed opportunity by Elton in the past 20-25 years was not doing a tour of album tracks - songs never or rarely played.
Doug
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Post by BiteUrLip on Aug 1, 2021 22:13:35 GMT
DougS, Yes, in Philadelphia, the reaction was similar - patient, polite response. Then the place erupted when Pinball Wizard was played. It was a great way to build anticipation, and the fans knew that sooner or later, Elton would get to the hits. When fans clamor for Elton to play the deep cuts, they have to realize that most people who attend concerts are casual fans and not well versed in his music, especially recent music. That goes for any artist. Its one reason why Billy Joel doesn't even bother writing new material. He said most attendees don't want to hear it anyway. That said, I think it's good to challenge an audience with at least some deeper material, and I also think that Elton's writing output is a great thing. I for one am glad that he didn't shut it down like Joel did. We've been blessed with some excellent music, and in fact, I think the past two decades were more consistently good than anything since the 1970's. SFTWC, The Diving Board, and The Union all rank quite highly in his catalog in my opinion. But Elton has been recently commenting that he really hates that when he releases new music, it doesn't get to the charts. He should realize that his kinda music doesn't dominate the charts these days anyway - it's not that electronic pop/rap/hip-hop that the youngsters are listening these days. I think Elton needs a new marketing strategy. Almost all hardcore fans will buy them, so they should concentrate on those customers. For the "cool" radio hit music, I wouldn't try myself to release an album in that style as him, but collaborating with those new artists would be wise - if he wants hits. He did a good job with Eminem on "Stan". He could collaborate with rap and hip-hop artists the similar way, and he could just compose a chorus and then the rapper would do the other parts. That could work. Anyway, back to his own music, the "Elton style" - I don't understand why he doesn't want to release more music if his fans will anyway love it. WCN wasn't all over adored by the hardcore fans, but most of them were, at least in my understanding, happy with the album. I think he should try something country... a Tumbleweed type of an album, which isn't a "loud" album in the way GYBR was, but a slower and easy-going stuff that you'd expect an old legend to create during his old days. Keep T-Bone too, I'd say. The Union was close to the type of an album I'm seeing. Or then he could do a piano album like Billy did, or an album of classical music like Paul McCartney did.
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Post by dougs on Aug 2, 2021 2:28:48 GMT
re: new music from Elton:
I think that Elton should write & record music for himself. Do what truly inspires him. If he wants to do a gospel album, do it. If he wants to do an electronic album, do it. Music is an art form. He has already sold gazillions of albums. It shouldn't matter what METRIC it achieves. If he likes it and is proud of it, and, as BiteUrLip said, some fans buy it and enjoy then - good! Gravy. Elton has had his day being on the top of the charts. He still draws millions of fans to his concerts. I really wish that he wouldn't get hung up on metrics like sales or chart positions.
There are artists that I enjoy who still put out such varied music and don't give a hoot about chart positions; partly because they feel that art shouldn't be geared to what will sell but what is in you as an artist and also when you are fortunate to be financially secure enough, sales shouldn't matter anyway.
Elton, write the music that you WANT TO and enjoy the beauty of it.
It would be cool to see EJ do an album like The Beatles WHITE album; short songs, long songs, instrumentals, music of many genres such as gospel, R&B, classical, jazz-influenced, electronic, progressive rock, hard-edged rock, spare arrangements, songs with choirs, songs with large arrangements, songs with instruments rarely used in pop records, etc. Bring in musicians to assist and add depth and range and colour to the palette to the overall sound as he did on THE ONE (David Gilmour & Eric Clapton on guitar for one song each). Put all his passions & interests onto one record. Have fun with it. Break out of the box. Hmmmmm...this almost sounds a bit like BLUE MOVES...
Going back to "All That I'm Allowed" and PEACHTREE ROAD; the album was one where EJ moved away from pop and towards his roots favourites of gospel, R&B, soul, and country influences. He loved he songs so much that he played an astounding 8 songs live from the album for an entire tour. Good for him. The album bombed in terms of chart positions and sales but the songs were good and sounded good live and that is all that should matter.
Doug
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Post by BiteUrLip on Aug 2, 2021 19:36:43 GMT
A longer album could sound sensible after a longer break, so I agree with you about a new album. He could show his love for music in it's vast diversity... and I like versatile albums. GYBR and BM both were versatile, in a good way.
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Post by Commodore Orpington on Aug 5, 2021 6:52:51 GMT
Just simply "nice" and that's all. Unstimulating, unarousing. He may have come across as full of himself... Thankful for massive wealth? Yeah, you'd better be!
I think he should do nothing BUT take risks and do ALL those things everyone told him (them) they couldn't do. Why worry bout building a career, NOW?
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Post by rocketman on Aug 7, 2021 17:20:01 GMT
Elton recently said "Nobody needs a new Elton John album", so I wonder whether he'll ever record one. He probably has one more left in him, and I'm sure Bernie is still sending lyrics to him. He did say in his book "Me" that he wanted to record again, and just do albums that he wants to do, with no regard for chart position etc. I'd like to see at least one more album - WCN is decent but it's not a career capping record. Then again, a lot of artists never get to end their career exactly as they'd like.
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Post by Commodore Orpington on Aug 7, 2021 19:05:43 GMT
Elton recently said "Nobody needs a new Elton John album", so I wonder whether he'll ever record one. He probably has one more left in him, and I'm sure Bernie is still sending lyrics to him. He did say in his book "Me" that he wanted to record again, and just do albums that he wants to do, with no regard for chart position etc. I'd like to see at least one more album - WCN is decent but it's not a career capping record. Then again, a lot of artists never get to end their career exactly as they'd like. He said "Nobody needs a new Elton John album" before WCN too. Bernie has sent him lyrics, apparently breaking their pattern of Elton instigating things by deciding to make an album. EJ is sitting on them, and Bernie's getting nervous. For me, WCN is his first album EVER, that's just plain not good. He's renewed himself so many times... maybe it's all we can expect. Lives and careers can't end with the big grandiose finale we'd like, because life peters out. Abilities and bodies and brains deteriorate. He's trying it now with the huge tour, saying a big triumphant goodbye to the whole planet, and it's bound to backfire. There was Covid so far. The tour is a huge denial... "I know I have to quit, so I'll go on a farewell tour that lasts forever!"
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Post by nix on Aug 10, 2021 16:00:49 GMT
I think that musically it would sound better if he repeated 'i'm thankful' only 3 times after the chorus. But the song is quite good. 4
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