Product Description

BLUE MOVES was Elton John's first double-album since 1973'sGOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD and his last full collaboration with Bernie Taupin before taking a two-year break from the lyricist. MOVES also signaled the end of a Golden Age marked by a string of wildly successful albums (including the aforementioned ROAD and CARIBOU) and non-stop, sold-out tours. This melancholy 1976 release includes what would be EJ's last Top 10 hit for three years ("Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word") and is loaded with numbers reflecting the ennui and burnout both John and Taupin were experiencing at the time ("Between Seventeen And Twenty", "If There's A God In Heaven [What's He Waiting For?]"). Elsewhere, John and Taupin write songs in tribute to Edith Piaf ("Cage The Songbird") and a depressingly debilitated Elvis Presley ("Idol").
Despite theinclusion of these and other heart-wrenching compositions like "Tonight", John's irrepressible upbeat attitude comes tothe fore on tracks such as the Caleb Quaye instrumental "Your Starter For.".. and "One Horse Town", a peppy song about life in the rural South. Most gratifying is a collaboration with the Reverend James Cleveland and his Southern California Choir on the funky "Boogie Pilgrim".

Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Your Starter For ...
2. Tonight - Elton John, James Newton Howard, London Symphony Orchestra
3. One Horse Town - Elton John, Paul Buckmaster, The Martyn Ford Orchestra
4. Chameleon
5. Boogie Pilgrim
6. Cage The Songbird
7. Crazy Water
8. Shoulder Holster

Disc 2:

1. Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word
2. Out Of The Blue
3. Between Seventeen And Twenty
4. The Wide-Eyed And Laughing
5. Someone's Final Song
6. Where's The Shoorah?
7. If There's A God In Heaven (What's He Waiting For?) - Elton John, Paul Buckmaster, The Martyn Ford Orchestra
8. Idol
9. Theme From A Non-Existent TV Series
10. Bite Your Lip (Get Up And Dance!)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #70836 in Music
• Released on: 1996-06-03
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Running time: 84 minutes

Customer Reviews

It Was The Best Of Elton, It Was The Worst Of Elton
The double-album "Blue Moves" continues the great Elton John tradition of coupling sublime excellence with appalling dreadfulness, but the unique thing about this record is the fact that the delta between the good and the bad is so exceptionally wide. Herein you will find some of EJ's finest moments - and also some of his worst crimes. The album contains a number of terrible tracks, notably: "Crazy Water", an unworkable tune that sounds a bit like "Philadelphia Freedom" - only worse; "Boogie Pilgrim", a lazy piece of trash with horrible background adlib vocals from Elton; "Shoulder Holster", a track that is reminiscent of the theme from "Minder", and "If There's A God In Heaven", a pedestrian slice of muzak that struggles to marry lyrics and melody. There are also sundry pointless instrumental pieces.
However, a pretty good single album does struggle to find its way through this mess. The heavily orchestrated "Tonight" remains an excellent song about love on the rocks; "Chameleon" is a unique and complex number that is clearly the work of an occasional master; "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word" is a fine break-up song with a Parisian vibe; "Someone's Final Song" is a beautiful, despairing tune about a wealthy individual on the edge of suicide; and "Idol" is an utterly original slow, jazzy ballad - ostensibly about Elvis Presley, who was in steep decline at the time of this album's release. "Blue Moves" could have used a fair bit of editing, it is true, but it does contain several essential pieces and shouldn't be overlooked - despite its faults. Sometimes you've gotta take the rough with the smooth.

Elton's most mature work
Twelve reasons why this is Elton John's all-time greatest album: Some of his best, most sophisticated (and underrated) songs; mastery of a bewildering variety of styles; some of his best singing; a brilliant and sympathetic band; superb production by Gus Dudgeon (an all-time best); vocal arrangements by Bruce Johnston of The Beach Boys; Crosby/Nash on backing vocals; the Brecker Brothers on horns. The whole thing plays like a widescreen epic aural movie and throws in a gospel choir, the LSO, sitars and instrumentals. Then, at the end, he sends the whole thing up with a feverish rock/disco finale to remind us he's one damn fine entertainer. And it's a double. And the cover's great. And it knocks socks off the otherwise worthy Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. This is his Sgt Pepper...no, it's much better than that. Oh, sorry - that's more than 12.

Nearly great
This album is often considered a poor effort in comparison to the previous 'classic' 70's releases. The reason for this that the overall mood of this album is 'blue', hence the title. Furthermore apart from "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word" there really aren't any obvious choices for singles from this album.

However the full breadth of the John/Taupin writing partnership can be found on this double album. "Tonight" is a masterpiece, both lyrically and musically, with a full orchestral arrangement, its nearly 8 minutes of magic. "Bite Your Lip (get up and Dance)" is a stonking rocker, one of the best Elton has ever done. The problem with it is that is too long at nearly 7 minutes. I love the feel on this track, Roger Popes drums and Ray Coopers conga's drive the track along fantastically and Davey Johnstones burning guitar is great. The fade should have been earlier though!

Too long is also the reason I've only given the album 4 stars. If it had been a single album it would have ranked amongst Elton's greatest work but as it is its a good double album where it could have been a great single album.