12/16/2023 0 Comments Blue moves album elton john![]() ![]() “Boogie Pilgrim” sounds as dull as the title suggests… it’s six minutes and it plods along at a most-tedious pace. Unfortunately, these parts are pretty lame. Luckily for us, Elton throws in a few dance songs to keep things from becoming too boring. It doesn’t even have a memorable theme, which I suppose is why the T.V. Series” on the other hand isn’t worth a whole heck of a lot. When I think about instrumentals, I’d want something that seemed a little more improvised. “Out of the Blue” is also an OK instrumental with a nice theme, and this one isn’t so cutesy, but it’s still seems way too polished. “Your Starter For…” has a nice theme and it has rather complex structure, but it’s so freaking cutesy and insubstantial. Elton John wasn’t too interested in becoming a piano virtuoso (though I don’t have much doubt that he could), but these instrumentals don’t strive to achieve anything beyond ordinary elevator muzak. Honestly, what’s the point of an Elton John instrumental? Sure, we can easily fall in love with the beginning of “Tonight” and “Funeral For a Friend” from Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, but those were the exceptions. There are an awful lot of instrumentals here. (Nothing against John Denver in particular… I liked him in that George Burns movie.) “Between Seventeen and Twenty” is so forgettable that it’s a wonder I even remembered to write this sentence. I suppose that’s why everybody loves the guy! “Cage the Songbird” is such a stale and boring ballad that it had me wondering if he was covering a John Denver song… Not exactly the dude we want Elton John to turn into. But we should give Elton credit for at least singing it like he believes it. The only problem with it is it doesn’t capture that same majesty melodically or harmonically. (I suppose now’s the time to mention that one of the problems with Blue Moves is its lack of diversity.) “Chameleon” is nice and seems to specifically recall his Tumbleweed Connection days. Where that song falls a bit short is the melody and harmonies, while good, it doesn’t quite capture me.Īnd then there’s the other 15 songs! Erm, where do I start? …Well, I suppose I could talk about all the other low-key ballads. ![]() It’s also virtually indistinguishable from those two songs, stylistically, except he uses synthesizers instead of a real orchestra. While it doesn’t measure up to those two previously mentioned giants, “Someone’s Final Song” is another excellent melancholic ballad. The idea to bring in a harmonium to increase that mellow atmosphere was a stroke of genius, in my opinion. There is also a full-orchestra backing him there, and it’s perfectly used. Once again, Elton completely nails this vocal performance he sounds so heartbroken here that he makes most other singers who want a similar effect seem like fakers. It’s very similar to the ballad section of “Tonight.” It’s very low-key, very melancholic, and a breathtakingly beautiful experience. “Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word” is the only song from Blue Moves that anybody knows… At the very least, it proved that Elton was still capable of producing famous hits in 1976 even if he was descending from his peak. ![]() It gets more sweeping as a full orchestra (strings, woodwinds, brass and all) gradually comes into support him… almost nothing could get better than these orchestrations. That said, the melody is gorgeous, and that melancholic way he sings it makes it quite a heart-wrenching experience. At first, anyway, all he’s doing is singing and playing a very plain piano pattern. The second half of that song is a more traditional Elton John ballad… surprisingly this is where the song starts to get boring. The harmonies might have been borrowed, but they were used well, and it’s a very beautiful experience. That was quite a bold undertaking for a puny popster like Elton John, and I find it refreshing that he succeeded so well at it. It begins with an incredibly pleasant piano-led classical number that at times is reminiscent of either George Gershwin or Aaron Copeland (…as a complete non-expert in classical music, that is the best I can do). That’s not to say there isn’t anything worth hearing here. So, why listen to Blue Moves when you can just pull out Captain Fantastic again? Making it worse, Blue Moves is a double album-a double album so massive that they couldn’t even fit it all on one CD, which means this costs quite a pretty penny at record stores. While on all accounts Blue Moves is a decent album, it’s a lot like the stuff from his back catalog except it’s nowhere near as memorable. By this time, his muse had lapsed, his energy was spent, and he wasn’t interested in experimenting with other types of music. This marks the official beginning of Elton John’s endless string of mediocre albums, which he still hadn’t emerged out of. ![]()
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