Product Description

When Elton John went into the studio to record ROCK OF THE WESTIES, he did it with a revamped line-up. Davey Johnstone and Ray Cooper stayed on while Dee Murray and Nigel Olsson were replaced by Kenny Passarelli and Roger Pope respectively. Also added to the band were old mate Caleb Quaye and synthesizer player James Newton Howard, whose keyboard talents combined with John's and considerably broadened the unit's sound. WESTIES found EJ sounding revitalised after scoring seven consecutive top five hits in the preceding two years (The tropical-flavoured "Island Girl" kept the streak alive by ending up at number one).
With the Bernie Taupin/Elton Johnjuggernaut creating up-tempo numbers such as "Grow Some Funk Of Your Own" and "Street Kids", the new band played with such magical synergy that even oddly titled numbers "I Feel Like A Bullet (In The Gun Of Robert Ford)" and "Billy Bones And The White Bird" had their own quirky appeal. Although most of this record is fairly obscure, ROCK OF THE WESTIES is asprightly collection often overshadowed amidst better-knownalbums like TUMBLEWEED CONNECTION and HONKY CHATEAU.

Track Listing

1. Medley: Yell Help / Wednesday Night / Ugly
2. Dan Dare (Pilot Of The Future)
3. Island Girl
4. Grow Some Funk Of Your Own
5. I Feel Like A Bullet (In The Gun Of Robert Ford)
6. Street Kids
7. Hard Luck Story
8. Feed Me
9. Billy Bones And The White Bird
10. Don't Go Breaking My Heart - Elton John, Kiki Dee

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8809 in Music
• Released on: 1995-07-31
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 48 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Although it was viewed as one of Elton John's more lightweight efforts upon its 1975 release--possibly because it followed only half a year after the acclaimed Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (and partly because many thought the album was released to fulfil a contractual obligation)--Rock of the Westies appears in retrospect to be his last great rock album. It certainly does rock consistently harder than any other John album, with guitarist Davey Johnstone even getting cowriting credits (with John and Bernie Taupin) on the opening "Medley: Yell Help/Wednesday" and "Grow Some Funk of Your Own". Lyricist Taupin seems to be going off the deep end here at times with titles like "Dan Dare (Pilot of the Future)" and "Billy Bone & the White Bird", but "Island Girl" was another huge hit for the pair. And the CD version adds the wonderful pop gem "Don't Go Breakin' My Heart", which turned KiKi Dee into an eternal Trivial Pursuit answer. --Bill Holdship

Customer Reviews

this is a real rocker.........
i have to say i had this on vinyl and i think even if you not a big Elton John fan this is real hard rocking effort from Elton John,there are more loud guitars "Yell Hell,Dan Dare,Street Kids,Grow Some Funk are all hard rocker and Elton John lets rip with his vocals-for to recommand this album is not problem-if you like "Saturday Night's All Right For Fighting" you will love tihs album,as all the previous reviewers have said Nigel Olsson and the Late Dee Murray were dropped from the line-up but replacement in Kenny Paserelli,Roger Pope and Rev.Caleb Quayle all do a great job-it is good album to buy

Rocking
This is considered the worst album from Elton's classic years but....

Actually its an album that frequently rocks in way that most Elton albums don't. You can definitely hear an early 70's Stones influence on some of these tracks. Having said that my favourite tracks are the wonderful ballad "I Feel Like Bullet (in the gun of Robert Ford)" and the rocking "Hard Luck Story".

Eltons regular drummer and bass player (Nigel & Dee) had been dropped for this album and to some extent this accounts for the different feel to the album. I think this is also the first album where Ray Cooper played as regular member of the band. His distinctive touches are felt throughout the album, noteably his Conga and Vibes playing.

So perhaps not the best album of Eltons classic era, but its still a fine album.

I LOVE ELTON!!!!!!!
I bought this album in a bargain bucket part of a music shop. A great classic album lying underneath a pile of pop flops. I got this album for 30p! Sadly though its only on tape. I didn't expect it to be too good, because it was so cheap, but after 3 or 4 listens I have grown to love it. This album has more of a rocky side to elton(although you can tell that by the title). The first two songs soud quite funky. "Yell help" is fantastic, and I can't help turning it up really loud. The first few songs are so catchy, and I love them more and more each time I hear them. "Dan dare" might be my favourite one on it, I can't help shaking my head about to it. The first 3 or 4 songs are rocky and fast, but then "bullet in the gun" slows down the pace. This is one of Elton's beauitiful slow songs. I listened closely to the words of it too. He is such a great songwriter. I haven't got that many EJ albums, but even if I got another 10, i'm sure this one would stay one of my favourites. its brill.