will the things we wrote today sound as good tomorrow?

[primroseburrows]

croosa just linked me to this wonderful thing. Dude. It's actually written by the guys who created TMNT. It's gotta be good.

Trailer here.

I'm waay too excited about this. I wonder if mr_t00by knows about it.

Also? i_am_a_hannah called me last night from a Rolling Stones Concert, just to tell me she was there. She didn't get to see much, because she was doing something

Comments

[eltonroo]

A wise strategy.
I agree that the 80s was the low point from a recording perspective (although there would be the odd gem on an album). Fortunately he kept touring and his live concerts were still very enjoyable (note Live In Australia where he, despite voice problems, breathed new wonderful life into some old songs like Sixty Years On, Greatest Discovery, and of course Candle In the Wind).
I kept waiting for a return to form in the recording studio and that started to happen in the 90s and has continued right up to this most recent effort.
Unlike during the 80s, when I now go to an Elton concert I look forward to the new material and don't want to just hear greatest hits from the 70s.
I am so proud that Elton is not just a "nostalgia act" and can still put out music that is relevant and enjoyable.
I don't know that I will ever be able to say how this album compares to the original CF. I was 15 at that time and, being 15, thought that Elton and Bernie wrote everything just for me. And furthermore, the tracks were different from anything I had ever heard before. All I know was that I loved the original back then, and I love the sequel now. The fact that an artist can have two great albums more than 30 years apart is a hell of an accomplishment.
He could have stopped recording after CF and would still go down in history as possibly the greatest artist of all time. The fact that we have over 30 years of other wonderful material is just one big happy blessing.
Sorry for going on I am just very passionate about this topic!!

[primroseburrows]

Oh, I agree with you. And although I think he did their best work from 1970-76, I'm still a fan of a lot of later stuff. I think that "Sacrifice" is a gorgeous, gorgeous song, and I had a period of time where I would listen to "The One" on repeat loop ad nausaeum. I also love "Nikita", so maybe I'm not all hating on the eighties stuff as much as I thought. And those are just a few examples. I will admit to being completely tired of "Candle in the Wind," which makes me sad because it used to be one of my favourite songs. Contrarily, I've never gotten tired of "Someone Saved My Life Tonight", mostly because it's a chapter in a story. I'm all about concept albums.

Also, Bernie was doing his own thing off to the side during the eighties. Some was good, some wasn't. I like Last Stand in Open Country a lot. Not so much Tribe, because it sounds like a lot of the eighties-ish stuff that Elton was doing. So, yeah, a lot of the mediocrity of the songs can be blamed on sai Taupin as well. They were pretty bad off healthwise back then, IIRC, each with their own addictions and such. So, as I do, I forgive them. The music they're making now is some of the best in years.

I've only within the past few years fully realised that Bernie is a musician as well as a poet, and I wonder why he wasn't part of the (various incarnations of) the band. It's odd, I think.

I don't know that I will ever be able to say how this album compares to the original CF. I was 15 at that time and, being 15, thought that Elton and Bernie wrote everything just for me. And furthermore, the tracks were different from anything I had ever heard before.

Woah, we're the same age! I was fourteen, just a little younger. The world had crushes on Jan-Michael Vincent and the Bay City Rollers. Me, I was all about

Bernie Taupin:



and Paul McCartney:

and such.

I don't think I knew anyone, in 1975, who knew who Bernie was, and it bothered me then and it still does. Captain Fantastic brought Bernie some recognition, at least (although he's always said he didn't want Elton's level of fame). Then, of course, Two Rooms didn't hurt, either. I don't know if it's a better album (CF, that is) than its sequel. My gut says it is, but my gut is directly connected to my heart in this case, so I don't know if I'm qualified to judge. *shrugs*

[eltonroo]

Two wonderful choices!! I was lucky I always had a few friends who were Elton and Bernie fanatics like myself. And of course I have converted Noelle into a huge fan. It wasn't hard. All she had to do was listen to the music. And in turn she has converted me into a Peter Gabriel fan. A wonderful humanitarian and musician. Anyway, as for deciding where this album ranks in comparison to all his others, I usually find it is best to wait a few years for the euphoria to wear off. Time will be the ultimate judge, but I have a feeling that I am going to continue to love this.

[primroseburrows]

The review in East End Lights is very favourable.

[eltonroo]

Thanks. I read a couple of newspaper reviews from the concert in Salt Lake City or somewhere. While they were very positive, it showed that the reviewers knew nothing about Elton and Bernie. The one guy thought that Elton and Bernie had not written together since the 70s and that all the material Elton had done in the 80s and 90s was without Bernie and was therefore "shmaltzy" and not musically relevant. Of course we all know that they were only apart for about two years at best, and furthermore while I don't love all the 80s stuff, his 90s stuff is mostly excellent and sure as hell not "shmaltzy". The idiot reviewer went to on say how Elton was a fabulous "retro act". This drives me insane. HE IS NOT A RETRO ACT. In fact when I go to his concerts I pray he will play newer material and not just greatest hits. Jeez Louise.

[primroseburrows]

In fact when I go to his concerts I pray he will play newer material and not just greatest hits.

*nods vigourously* Yep. Just because my favourites are mostly his classic stuff does NOT mean I want him to only play that stuff. Because otherwise, nobody would know his new stuff and realise that um, no. Not a retro act by any means.

Also, the more I hear this new CD the more I fall in love with it. I'm pretty sure that "Blues Never Fade Away" is my favourite, but subject to change, most likely.

[eltonroo]

I think Bernie got you with "and I miss John Lennon's laugh".

[primroseburrows]

Yeah, maybe. But it's all the rest, too. I think Elton's voice is better than it has been in ages. He even said himself that he likes the way the vocal turned out. And the music's gorgeous.