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One of my New Year's Resolutions is to expand my music tastes/horizons, specifically, by listening to and rating at least three songs per day. When I complete an album, I'll post a review. Others are welcome to contribute reviews and thoughts of their own, and mimicking my format is not required (nor is individually addressing each track), but let's please have this thread comment on albums as whole works, and not just stray songs here and there.
My rating system is as follows. Of course, pop music is about as subjective as art gets, so all opinions are merely my own...
X = fail, remove from circulation
1 = lacking, but not worthy of outright removal
2 = average
3 = good
4 = very good
5 = excellent
To kick things off, I'll start with a few of my favorite albums ever, courtesy of Elton John and Bernie Taupin:
Elton John, The Captain and the Kid (2006)
1. Postcards from Richard Nixon: great historical fun, 4/5
2. Just Like Noah's Ark: naughty delight, 5/5
3. Wouldn't Have You Any Other Way (NYC): pretty good, 4/5
4. Tinderbox: terrific anthem, 5/5
5. And the House Fell Down: propulsive, catchy, 5/5
6. Blues Never Fade Away: one moving ballad, 5/5
7. The Bridge: … and another, 5/5
9. Old '67: amiably groovy, 5/5
8. I Must Have Lost It On The Wind: nice mellow tune, 5/5
10. The Captain and the Kid: bluegrassy and nice, 5/5
11. Across the River Thames: bouncy London ode, 4/5
Notes: I listened to a certain amount of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road as a kid, but The Captain and the Kid, released when I was in college, was the first Elton John album I really grooved to as an adult. As a history fan, the strongly autobiographical focus of Taupin's lyrics was and remains tremendously appealing, and John's music and singing are first-rate. Old-school fans might find the overall sound a bit on the polished side, but it doesn't bother me. This is a near-perfect album. (Average: 4.7)
Elton John, The Diving Board (2013)
1. Oceans Away: beautiful vet tribute, 5/5
2. Oscar Wilde Gets Out: great literary yarn, 5/5
3. A Town Called Jubilee: delectable tale, 5/5
4. The Ballad of Blind Tom: excellent portrait, 5/5
5. Dream #1: (brief instrumental)
6. My Quicksand: tender ballad, 5/5
7. Can't Stay Alone Tonight: splendid toe-tapper, 5/5
8. Voyeur: stone-cold classic, 5/5
9. Home Again: moving lament, 5/5
10. Take This Dirty Water: rousing recollection, 5/5
11. Dream #2: brief instrumental)
12. The New Fever Waltz: indelible dirge, 5/5
13. Mexican Vacation (Kids in the Candlelight): delightful memory, 5/5
14. Dream #3: (brief instrumental)
15. The Diving Board: mellow, jazzy, 4/5
16. Candlelit Bedroom: soulful farewell, 4/5
Notes: Its bafflingly modern and generic album art aside, The Diving Board is a treasure trove of impressionistic and nostalgic story songs, focusing on war, veterans, young lovers in rural places, Oscar Wilde's ostracism, broken hearts overseas... y'know, the usual. According to Wiki, "It is the second of [John's] studio releases since 1979's Victim of Love without any of his regular band members." I'm no Elton John scholar, but I'll be delightfully astonished if any of his albums are as consistently excellent as The Diving Board. It's a masterpiece, plain and simple, and it just might be my single favorite album. (Average: 4.8)
Elton John, Wonderful Crazy Night (2016)
1. Wonderful Crazy Night: agreeably funky, 4/5
2. In the Name of You: funky fun, 4/5
3. Claw Hammer: groovy, lyrically rich, 4/5
4. Blue Wonderful: nicely rousing, 5/5
5. I've Got 2 Wings: uplifting, spiffy, 4/5
6. A Good Heart: a schmaltzy blanket, 3/5
7. Looking Up: decently bouncy, 3/5
8. Guilty Pleasure: rousing paean, 4/5
9. Tambourine: a bit treacly, bland, 3/5
10. The Open Chord: beautiful tribute, 4/5
11. Free and Easy: mellow buttery toast, 4/5
12. England and America: jaunty fun, 4/5
Notes: After the above classics, it took me a while to warm to Wonderful Crazy Night. According to Wikipedia, it was "written and recorded in 17 days," which might explain why it's not quite as great, but damn, if John and Co. can turn out an album this solid in under a month, I wish they'd do so several times a year! Apart from "I've Got 2 Wings," the story of a real-life musical preacher who lacks a Wikipedia page, the songs are frothy and less overtly personal than those of The Captain and the Kid; as the cover suggests, this is an album one can put on for background music at a party. And, on those terms, it's pretty darn good. (Average: 3.8)
My rating system is as follows. Of course, pop music is about as subjective as art gets, so all opinions are merely my own...
X = fail, remove from circulation
1 = lacking, but not worthy of outright removal
2 = average
3 = good
4 = very good
5 = excellent
To kick things off, I'll start with a few of my favorite albums ever, courtesy of Elton John and Bernie Taupin:
Elton John, The Captain and the Kid (2006)
1. Postcards from Richard Nixon: great historical fun, 4/5
2. Just Like Noah's Ark: naughty delight, 5/5
3. Wouldn't Have You Any Other Way (NYC): pretty good, 4/5
4. Tinderbox: terrific anthem, 5/5
5. And the House Fell Down: propulsive, catchy, 5/5
6. Blues Never Fade Away: one moving ballad, 5/5
7. The Bridge: … and another, 5/5
9. Old '67: amiably groovy, 5/5
8. I Must Have Lost It On The Wind: nice mellow tune, 5/5
10. The Captain and the Kid: bluegrassy and nice, 5/5
11. Across the River Thames: bouncy London ode, 4/5
Notes: I listened to a certain amount of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road as a kid, but The Captain and the Kid, released when I was in college, was the first Elton John album I really grooved to as an adult. As a history fan, the strongly autobiographical focus of Taupin's lyrics was and remains tremendously appealing, and John's music and singing are first-rate. Old-school fans might find the overall sound a bit on the polished side, but it doesn't bother me. This is a near-perfect album. (Average: 4.7)
Elton John, The Diving Board (2013)
1. Oceans Away: beautiful vet tribute, 5/5
2. Oscar Wilde Gets Out: great literary yarn, 5/5
3. A Town Called Jubilee: delectable tale, 5/5
4. The Ballad of Blind Tom: excellent portrait, 5/5
5. Dream #1: (brief instrumental)
6. My Quicksand: tender ballad, 5/5
7. Can't Stay Alone Tonight: splendid toe-tapper, 5/5
8. Voyeur: stone-cold classic, 5/5
9. Home Again: moving lament, 5/5
10. Take This Dirty Water: rousing recollection, 5/5
11. Dream #2: brief instrumental)
12. The New Fever Waltz: indelible dirge, 5/5
13. Mexican Vacation (Kids in the Candlelight): delightful memory, 5/5
14. Dream #3: (brief instrumental)
15. The Diving Board: mellow, jazzy, 4/5
16. Candlelit Bedroom: soulful farewell, 4/5
Notes: Its bafflingly modern and generic album art aside, The Diving Board is a treasure trove of impressionistic and nostalgic story songs, focusing on war, veterans, young lovers in rural places, Oscar Wilde's ostracism, broken hearts overseas... y'know, the usual. According to Wiki, "It is the second of [John's] studio releases since 1979's Victim of Love without any of his regular band members." I'm no Elton John scholar, but I'll be delightfully astonished if any of his albums are as consistently excellent as The Diving Board. It's a masterpiece, plain and simple, and it just might be my single favorite album. (Average: 4.8)
Elton John, Wonderful Crazy Night (2016)
1. Wonderful Crazy Night: agreeably funky, 4/5
2. In the Name of You: funky fun, 4/5
3. Claw Hammer: groovy, lyrically rich, 4/5
4. Blue Wonderful: nicely rousing, 5/5
5. I've Got 2 Wings: uplifting, spiffy, 4/5
6. A Good Heart: a schmaltzy blanket, 3/5
7. Looking Up: decently bouncy, 3/5
8. Guilty Pleasure: rousing paean, 4/5
9. Tambourine: a bit treacly, bland, 3/5
10. The Open Chord: beautiful tribute, 4/5
11. Free and Easy: mellow buttery toast, 4/5
12. England and America: jaunty fun, 4/5
Notes: After the above classics, it took me a while to warm to Wonderful Crazy Night. According to Wikipedia, it was "written and recorded in 17 days," which might explain why it's not quite as great, but damn, if John and Co. can turn out an album this solid in under a month, I wish they'd do so several times a year! Apart from "I've Got 2 Wings," the story of a real-life musical preacher who lacks a Wikipedia page, the songs are frothy and less overtly personal than those of The Captain and the Kid; as the cover suggests, this is an album one can put on for background music at a party. And, on those terms, it's pretty darn good. (Average: 3.8)