CD Odyssey Disc 900: Elton John

Yeehaw! My 900^th review! Hard to believe I’ve come so far – and in only seven short years!

I’ll do a recap of the last 100 shortly, but for now let’s let Disc 900 have its moment.

Disc 900 is….Tumbleweed Connection

Artist: Elton John

Year of Release: 1970

What’s up with the Cover? If England were the old west, I suppose this would be it. Someone needs to move that listless hippie along, though. What’s that? That hippie is the star, you say? Welcome to 1970.

How I Came To Know It: Sheila had a run on a bunch of reissued Elton John CDs a few years ago, and this was one of them.

How It Stacks Up:  We have seven studio albums. Because of a recent purchase a lot of those albums got bumped down a spot, but “Tumbleweed Connection” holds its own at #2 in my heart.

Ratings: 4 stars

If you are expecting Elton John to do country because of this album’s name you’ll be disappointed. “Tumbleweed Connection” is better described as “Elton thinks about country music, while still doing Elton”.

Whatever you call it, it appeals to me. Most Elton John albums have at least one or two songs that sound like they belong on the Muppet Show (and some even ended up there). I like Elton better when he sounds earnest and soulful. Due to the experimentation with some of country music’s forms, “Tumbleweed Connection” has a toned down quality, while still maintaining Elton’s signature warbling voice and trilling piano.

A good example of this is the opening track, “Ballad of a Well-known Gun.” The song still has that boogie woogie swing that is so indicative of many of the Elton John songs that annoy me (“Honky Cat” and “Bennie and the Jets” come to mind). However, the song is restrained enough that you could hear it playing in some old western saloon. The lyrics, about a man trying to escape his violent past as a gunfighter, also helps ground the song in a narrative about something other than a bunch of yeehaw.

Most Elton John albums from his heyday have a signature track, and on “Tumbleweed Connection” it is “My Father’s Gun,” one of a number of songs on the record about a character’s relationship with his father. The album is a concept album, and this song informs just how our character became known as a gunfighter through soldiering in the U.S. Civil War. It is a song full of oath-taking and imagined glory, made tragic because as listeners we know that the narrator’s chosen side (the Confederacy) is destined for defeat. Elton is faithful to the viewpoint of his character, who sees himself fighting for love of family and freedom.

The most country-flavoured song is the appropriately named “Country Comfort” which is pretty solid, but here Elton is too good at mimicking the style, and as a result it is missing the interesting twist he puts on many of the other songs.

“Burn Down the Mission” is innocence lost as the poor storm the local mission to get what little food is available. The song is triumphant in tone, quickly shifting the frenetic in the bridge as the music captures the restless energy of a mob that spills out of control, before slowing again as it returns to the regret of crimes done, and the debt that must be paid.

“Burn Down the Mission” is driven by Elton’s masterful piano playing, but the record benefits from a lot of great musicians. This includes some pretty sweet guitar from Caleb Quaye, who manages to match up with Elton’s piano style but insert a bit southern-flavoured rock ‘n’ roll like you might hear on a Little Feat record.

The album ends with another song about a father (Elton explores serious daddy issues on this record), “Into the Old Man’s Shoes.” Here the character turns his back on the responsibilities left by his dead father, leaving town to what sounds like a dissolute pursuit of fortune, with the judgment of those he leaves behind weighing on his shoulders:

“And all they say is you ain't half the man he used to be

He had strength and he worked his life to feed his family

So if that's the way it has to be, I'll say goodbye to you

I'm not the guy, or so it seems to fill my old man's shoes”

The weight of family on “Tumbleweed Connection” is like a Greek tragedy. No matter whether our characters embrace their duty, or flee from it the resulting narrative leaves us empty and uncertain.

As great a fit as “Into the Old Man’s Shoes” is, it was not part of the original album, but is a bonus track on my remastered edition. It is followed by a bloated nine minute version of “Madman Across the Water” proving that bonus tracks are almost always a mixed blessing.

“Tumbleweed Connection” is probably the best Elton John album that you don’t own (unless you only own a greatest hits package in which case, God help you). This record didn’t chart as well as many other Elton John records of this era, but it is every bit their equal nonetheless. If anything, I like it better than most.

Best tracks:  Ballad of a Well-known Gun, My Father’s Gun, Burn Down the Mission, Into the Old Man’s Shoes