The next studio album by Elton John will be a collaboration with Leon Russell, titled “The Union". Some of the tracks recorded for that project have been mentioned in various places: Mandalay Again, Never Too Old (to Hold Somebody), When Love is Dying, Hey Ahab, Hymn #5, The Hands of Angels, Monkey Suit, A Dream Come True, I Should Have Sent Roses, If It Wasn’t for Bad, Gone to Shiloh. Presumably a total of 16 songs were written for this project.

With the help from some Internet friends, I’ve transcribed the lyrics for Elton’s newest song “You’re Never Too Old", which he’s only performed in concert a few times. Here’s the link!

For me, 1995’s Made In England reaffirmed any doubts that Elton John had past his prime in rock music. After the hugely successful Disney produced “Lion King", this marked the first true album from Elton John and Bernie Taupin since 1992’s “The One".

While “The One” suffered from over production by Chris Thomas and most of the songs were lost in high tech syn arrangements, it remains a solid collection. But, on “Made In England", all of the elements came together to produce a well-crafted and organic production that made this album one of his most highly regarded efforts.

A couple of factors play here: 1) Elton sings with renewed vigor and self-esteem: 2) Taupin went to England with Elton and wrote the lyrics there, instead up being across the country in his home of LA; and lastly 3) Elton hired Greg Penny to produce and return the production to earlier efforts, i.e. Madman Across The Water.

This album moves seemlessly from track to track and builds. “Believe” opens the album and sets the tone with its “Imagine"-themed message and dramatic music. “Made In England” rocks with passion on one of the few biographical lyrics Taupin has penned about Elton: “if you’re made in England, you’re built to last".

“House", again with heavy orchestrations from veteran arranger Paul Buckmaster, simplies a message about being at peace with oneself. The house in this song is a metaphor for your soul: “this is my house, this is where I live, it belongs to me.” Also, the lyric goes on to self-renewal: “and I sit by the window and I wish I was rain, I want to fall from the sky, I want to get wet all over again.”

Elton also plays the piano more and has it up in the mix. Songs like “Lies” and “Blessed” display the finese fans had become familiar with over the years. Even George Martin helps out to arrange “Latitude” with a french horn straight out of any classic Beatles song.

And speaking of the Beatles, much of this album pays tribute to the Fab Four. “Please” alone borrows a lot from Paul and John on the chorus. Yet, all of this works in the grand tradition of Elton John’s music.

Taupin, once again, came up with the goods and offers some incredible lyrics throughout. “Belfast” alone, whatever your political leanings, will move you.

This is a fine album from a master craftsman. He set out to deliver a back to basics album and while it may not have sold as well as he wanted, it holds up to this day with the best of his albums.

If Elton John’s career ever mirrored a baseball game, you could easily surmise that, just like in baseball when the bases are loaded and you need a hit, Elton not only delivered but knocked it out of the ball park with this release. It was 1975 and the incredible songwriting team of Elton John and Bernie Taupin was gradually reaching new heights with each release.

Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy is their finest album in all ways: production, melody, vocally and the best performance by his then band. In addition, these are likey to be the best lyrics Bernie Taupin ever penned. He is writing in the first person narrative for a change on all the songs. And, Elton is singing lyrics that he can relate to because all of the songs are about the era when he and Bernie first met and stardom hadn’t arrived (1967-1969). It’s been said that this could indeed be the best concept album ever written in pop music. It debuted at number one, a first in Billboard history in 1975.

The title track simply tells the story of their partnership: “Captain Fantastic, raised and regimented, hardly a hero, just someone his mother might know". How fitting a description for young Elton - shy, unassuming, average. While later on Elton sings: “Brown Dirt Cowboy, still green and growing…hand in hand went music and rhyme, the captain and the kid, stepping in the ring, from here on Sonny, it’s a long and lonely climb.” The melody starts with a country flare that rocks out during the chorus…a incredible arrangement that balances rock (Elton) with country (Taupin).

“Tower of Babel” hints at their first glimpse of the ugly side of music business in London: “where were all your shoulders when we cried?” John sings. “Bitter Fingers” tells the tale of doing the club circuit as a struggling band. “Tell Me When The Whistle Blows” is Taupins story on his journey from the suburbs to London where he would write with Elton. This song in particular has a very urban and soulful sound and captures the lyric perfectly.

The big hit from the album, “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” is yet another big power ballad, much in the same vein as “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me". Elton sings with much conviction on this one; and the backing vocals of his song capture every nuance and pain in the lyric about Elton’s suicide attempt in the late 60s. Further, Nigel Olsson’s drum playing on this song may be his finest performance as he dramatically pushes the song to its emotional climax.

“Gotta Get A Meal Ticket” which is about the first publishing deal Elton and Taupin signed and the anxieties that come with it: “while the other climb reaching dizzy heights, the world’s in front of me in black and white, I’m on the bottom line.”

The young songwriters are wary of the music business but need a record deal to make it and this song typifies that experience: “shake a hand if you have to, trust in us, and we’ll love you anyway". Guitarist Davey Johnstone’s opening hook may be his best since “Saturday Nights Alright For Fighting” - his guitar soars on this song.

The next song, “Writing” is a relatively simple song that seeks to wonder if the duo have a lengthy future in front of them. “We’ll we still be writing in approaching years?", Elton sings passionately. “We All Fall In Love Sometimes/Curtains” closes the album in what must be the best closing to an Elton John album ever. The first part ("We All Fall In Love Sometimes") deals with the brotherly affection Elton and Taupin discovered when they met; and is blended right into “Curtains” a song about your childhood dreams coming true. Elton has never sounded so sincere as he does here.

While it’s true he has been delivering Taupin’s words for years as if he wrote them himself, there is something distinctively different about his deliverly this time. Frankly, this could be his best vocal performance ever recorded.

Producer Gus Dudgeon give each song here a pristine shine and each band member showcases their incredible talents. This also represents the last album by the original band (Davey Johnstone, Nigel Olsson, Dee Murray and Ray Cooper). While they didn’t realize it at the time, this was to be their swan song until 1983. Elton moved on into different areas after this and things were never really the same again.

It’s hard to believe that just two years prior, Elton released “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” - another masterpiece. Within 3 years, Elton delivered two albums of career peaking quality. And while “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” usually gets the nod as his finest album because it has more pop accessibility then this release, “Captain Fantastic” shouldn’t be over looked.

If “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” was his answer to, say, The Beatles “Sgt. Pepper", then “Captain Fantastic” would be Elton’s equilvalent to “Abbey Road.”

On the album before “Peachtree Road,” “Songs From The West Coast” was a welcome return to the sound and style of Elton’s mid-70s heyday. From the inspired piano playing and melodies to the classic narratives from Bernie Taupin, “Songs” had the feel and quality of their best work. Better yet, produced by Patrick Leonard, it was Elton’s most organic sounding album in decades.

Unfortunately, “Peachtree Road” fails to build on that success mainly because the songs just aren’t that strong. Opening with a whisper of a song called “Weight Of The World", the tone is set for a reflective and soul searching experience (once again, Taupin’s sentiments courtesy of John’s voice). This song is one of the better tracks here with it’s wonderful backing vocals and great piano solo. And it seems to sum up Elton’s mood these days: “happy today, happy to play with the weight of the world off my back".

Things pick up a little bit with the next song, “Porch Swing in Tupelo,” a fine tribute to Elvis complete with backing vocals swinging back and forth between Elton and the small choir that accompanies this and nearly every song.

But most of these songs follow a formula that becomes evident for each arrangement: basic same lyric sentiment just repackaged, choir on every song, instrumental break and, worst of all, most of these melodies lose momentum because they have a tendency to slow down just when the beat picks up. The best example of this is “Answer In The Sky", just when the song shifts into high gear, Elton and the band bring it right back down losing all energy and spirit the song should have inspired. Think of a slowed down version of “Philadelphia Freedom.”

Meanwhile, “They Call Her The Cat” is the only real uptempo (even rocker) song here and comes across better live than on this studio version and the only lyric that breaks the mold. While “All That I’m Allowed", which starts out nicely and is a testament to being thankful for what you have in life. But the word “thankful” is repeated at the end for what seems like forever until you’re tempted to hit the skip button on your player. Ok, I get it, I’m thankful!!

The old school country effort “Turn The Lights Out When You Leave” is perhaps the best song here and certainly one of the better crafted. It easily have been a hit for Ray Price in 1974. And on “Too Many Tears", Elton’s piano intro is inspired here and had an element of surprise in the melody - the first time I listened to it I wasn’t sure where the melody was going. A nice surprise.

But most of “Peachtree Road” this is just too slow, safe and tame.

Produced by Elton himself, it’s obvious that this is the album he wanted to make and good for him. However, it is another mild, mid-tempo release that manages for the most part to bring out the worst elements of previous releases such as “The One” and “The Big Picture".
The production is rather dark and these songs could have benefited from sharper arrangements and a crisper touch.

The much heralded return of Elton’s original drummer from the ’70s Nigel Olsson,(full time, as opposed to just a couple of songs on “Songs From The West Coast") is another disappointment not because of his performance. It’s just that the drums are so buried in the mix, that his trademark fills and style is virtually lost.

If you can pick up the UK cd single for “All That I’m Allowed", and “Turn The Lights Out", they have a combined five songs that didn’t make the album. Those songs, were surprisingly much more upbeat and frankly, much stronger that half of what made this album. It’s too bad they weren’t included on this official release.

After 30 some years in the business, it’s fair to give Elton John and Bernie Taupin some slack.

Peachtree Road, has grown on me since it was released. It’s a more reflective compilation of songs and you’ll have to be in the mood for it. It’s one of his more soulful and country-ish efforts which, unfortunately for this listener, never quite takes off.