Elton John: Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy

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Elton John has always liked having it both ways. He’s flamboyant and vain, yet empathetic and sincere. He sits at his piano playing sentimental melodies, but the words come not from inside his soul but from friend Bernie Taupin. For Captain Fantastic, he and Taupin wrote a concept album which sketches their career together. “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” is easily the strongest song outside of the concept. The addition of several songs “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” featuring John Lennon, “Philadelphia Freedom,” and “One Day at a Time” blow the concept but up the entertainment value considerably. –Rob O’Connor

Product description

Personnel: Elton John (vocals, strings, piano, electric piano, harpsichord, Clavinet, Mellotron, keyboards, synthesizer, ARP synthesizer); Elton John; John Lennon (guitar); Dee Murray (bass guitar, background vocals); Ray Cooper (congas, bongos, cymbals, Jew’s harp, shaker, tambourine, triangle, percussion, bells, hand bells, gong); Davey Johnstone (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin, piano, synthesizer, background vocals); David Hentschel (keyboards, synthesizer, ARP synthesizer); Nigel Olsson (drums, background vocals). Audio Mixer: Greg Penny. Audio Remasterer: Tony Cousins. Audio Remixers: Gus Dudgeon; Phil Dunne. Liner Note Author: John Tobler. Recording information: Caribou Ranch, CO (06/1974-07/1974). Ensemble: Elton John. Illustrators: Harry Willock; Alan Aldridge. Arranger: Gene Page. Sitting atop the charts in 1975, Elton John and Bernie Taupin recalled their rise to power in Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, their first explicitly conceptual effort since Tumbleweed Connection. It showcases each at the peak of his power, as John crafts supple, elastic, versatile pop and Taupin’s inscrutable wordplay is evocative, even moving. Although the musical skill on display here is dazzling, as it bounces between country and hard rock within the same song, this album needs time to reveal its treasures, but once it does, it captures John and Taupin at a career pinnacle. They collapsed in hubris and excess not long afterward, but this remains a testament to the strengths of their creative partnership. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine