Tumbleweed Connection [Remaster] - John, Elton (CD 1996)

In 2004, Island Records released a group of Elton's earlier albums in the SACD format. I am always hungry for these types of releases and when they finally release titles by a great artist I am first in line. I luckily snagged up the five of them I needed, (I already owned Goodbye Yellow Brick Road on DVD-Audio) via the BMG music club. They were having this amazing sale of free shipping and buy one, pay half price for everything else. I think I paid somewhere around $45 for five SACD titles. You can't do much better than that.

The last one I finally played was this title, Tumbleweed Connection. There were two song titles I recognized because of the tribute album I owned Two Rooms, and the rest of the songs I had never heard of.
I think like most people, I consider myself an Elton John Greatest Hits fan. Outside of that box, I was very new to all of these songs that were now new to me. From what I gather of the six studio albums I own of Elton's, Tumbleweed Connection is the only album that was written without an attempt for a hit single, and there were no singles released from this album either. My deduction is that it is because of this reason that Tumbleweed is one of Elton's strongest albums as a whole. The last album that I reviewed Honky Chateau, has two hit singles, and the rest is mediocre or worse. This album remained in the UK top 10 for five weeks without a hit single, but it may have been due in part of this album's predecessor, Elton John, which featured the huge single Your Song.

Ballad of a Well-Known Gun is one of the few songs with a real old west feel, or at least in the Country & Western genre. The song sounds quite dated to the early 70s, but in this instance it's not such a bad thing. It's a strong track, it sounds like a cross between Marc Bolan and Derrick & The Dominoes. It has a Mississippi Blues feel with Elton's piano and guitarist Caleb Quaye's blues leads and fills. Tumbleweed is really a collection of lyricist Bernie Taupin's best lyrics arguably. Even when they're not so poignant, like in Ballad of a Well-Known Gun, they're still very interesting to contemplate and sing along to.

Speaking of poignant, Come Down In Time has some excellent lyrics. Elton did these words justice with his gentle melody and with the help of producer Gus Dudgon, a beautiful arrangement. Before each verse, an oboe plays a haunting melody that completes the picture the lyrics paint.
In the quiet silent seconds I turned off the light switch
And I came down to meet you in the half light the moon left
While the cluster of night jars sang some songs out of tune
A mantle of bright light shone down from a room
Also little things like the ultra-smooth jazz bass riff throughout the song adds to the colors of the song. It's like a gentle wind blowing the curtains back on a summer evening.

Country Comfort is a splendid country ballad done right. From the pedal steel guitar, to the harmonica and fiddle, it's a real joy to listen to. Reading along to these lyrics I grow a little suspicious if Elton asked/instructed Bernie Taupin to write some C&W style story lyrics. Sometimes the lyrics read like a commercial for pancake syrup.
And it's good old country comfort in my bones
Just the sweetest sound my ears have ever known
Just an old-fashioned feeling fully-grown
Country comfort's any truck that's going home

The verses and chorus to Son of Your Father sound like classic Elton John music, but with the amazing harmonica performed by Ian Duck and the female backing vocals featuring Lesley Duncan (Everything Changes, Sing Children Sing) and Madeline Bell (Picture Me Gone, What Am I Supposed To Do?) add that country flavor again. This is a very upbeat number complete with an effective horn section and Elton's very honky-tonk piano.

My Father's Gun starts off with a quiet gallop of piano, acoustic guitar, bass and some jazzy lead guitar. I love it, and it's over so quick, this intro lasts too short a time. The song continues right from where Son of Your Father left off. They both have the American Civil War overtones in the lyrics. Film Director, Cameron Crowe utilized this song brilliantly in his film, Elizabeth Town. Actually, I think Cameron used two songs from this CD.

This album is so different from all the Elton records that I've heard, and a song like Where To Now St Peter? proves that. It's possible it's because he didn't have the band that he would have forever yet. Guitarist Caleb Quaye adds such a different flavor to Elton's music. St Peter shows a lot of a different sort of emotion in Elton's voice than what we're used to. The lyrics are interesting, they seem to be about a man dying to a riffle shot, and having crossed over asks St Peter, you guessed it, "where to?"

Love Song is a cover song of Lesley Duncan, one of the backup singers featured on this album. It's such a departure from the usual Elton sound. Elton sings to an acoustic guitar and some beach sound effects. This gentle heartfelt ballad is one of the highlights of the entire album. Lesley Duncan plays the guitar and sings backing harmonies. On first listen, it's an instant favorite of mine, and the more I hear it, the more I like.

Amoreena exhibits more of the Elton we know and love, and boy it makes sense as I sit and read the liner notes. This is the first song that features then future mainstay players with Elton, Dee Murray on the bass and Nigel Olsson on the drums. This seems to be the only song that they play their respective instruments on. They sing back-up on Where to St Peter?.

Talking Old Soldiers is a quiet ballad featuring just Elton singing from his piano. There seems to be almost a theme running through many of these songs. Perhaps this was thought to be a concept album, I'm not sure. There seems to be lyrics about Civil War, guns, riffles or soldiers. The piano is a simple melody that functions just as an almost reciting of Taupin's wonderful lyrics. This sounds like one of those songs George Michael would love to cover. It has a great melody line to show off your vocal talents.

Burn Down the Mission is one of the songs I knew already because of the Two Rooms CD. Phil Collins performed on that cover, I didn't like his version too much, and now I know why. When it is in the context of the rest of the songs here, I understand what picture Elton was trying to paint. I cannot understand what story the lyrics are telling, but it is still a strong track.




Bonus Tracks

Into the Old Man's Shoes was originally the b-side to Elton's hit single Your Song from the album before, Elton. It fits very nicely here as it has that same feel almost as the original ten songs from Tumbleweed Connection.

Madman Across the Water (Original Version) is what it says, the original version of the song that was the title track of Elton's next release. The song is vastly different than that of the official release. It features Mick Ronson on guitar; he was a Spider From Mars back then, one of David Bowie's band.



SACD

The SACD mix is superb. The production of this album is great anyway, so I suppose it's only natural the multi-channel mix should be awesome as well. On some of the songs, like Love Song or Come Down in Time the surround factor makes listening a magical experience. I think that all my favorite music should be released in a surround format, and this album makes a good argument.


The Layout

The booklet is a CD sized 22-page book. It contains all the lyrics to the original ten songs, as well as the song credits to learn who played what. John Tobler, renowned NME journalist, had written the four page liner note section which serves as a somewhat insightful back-story to the making of this album. It also contains all the original artwork of the first issue, which is a butt load of sepia toned 'old west' pictures to complete the Americana illusion.


The Songs

1. Ballad of a Well-Known Gun
2. Come Down In Time
3. Country Comfort
4. Son of Your Father
5. My Father's Gun
6. Where To Now St. Peter?
7. Love Song
8. Amoreena
9. Talking Old Soldiers
10. Burn Down The Mission
BONUS TRACKS:
11. Into the Old Man's Shoes
12. Madman Across the Water (Original Version)


Credits:

Elton John ~~~~~~~~ Lead vocals, piano, organ,
Caleb Quaye ~~~~~~~ acoustic guitars, lead guitars
Roger Pope ~~~~~~~~ Drums, percussion
Dave Glover ~~~~~~~ Bass
Ian Duck ~~~~~~~~~~ Harmonica
Dee Murray ~~~~~~~~ Bass, backing vocals
Nigel Olsson ~~~~~~ Drums, backing vocals
Leslie Duncan~~~~~~ Backing vocals, acoustic guitar
Dusty Springfield ~ Backing vocals
Barry Morgan ~~~~~~ Drums
Chris Lawrence ~~~~ Acoustic Bass
Les Thatcher ~~~~~~ Acoustic Guitar
Madeline Bell ~~~~~ Backing vocals
Lesley Duncan ~~~~~ Backing vocals
Kay Garner ~~~~~~~~ Backing vocals
Tony Hazzard ~~~~~~ Backing vocals
Tony Burrows ~~~~~~ Backing vocals
Skaila Kanga ~~~~~~ Harp
Karl Jenkins ~~~~~~ Oboe
Mick Ronson ~~~~~~~ Guitar


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~For More Elton Reviews~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elton John - SACD
Tumbleweed Connection - SACD
Madman Across the Water - SACD
Honky Chateau - SACD
Don t Shoot Me I m Only the Piano Player
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - SACD
Greatest Hits Volume 2




The Legend
SACD - Super Audio Compact Disc - usually a multi-channel (as opposed to stereo, two-channel) mix of the music. Your DVD player must have SACD capabilities in order to hear it properly. Of course, this is a hybrid disc which means you can hear the music with any CD player, but it doesn't compare to the SACD sonically.