Elton John - Madman Across The Water flac mp3 download

You know those places where you can order a burger and have it trimmed anyway you wish, well, that’s pretty much how I have handled Elton John for my entire life, though after Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, there was little that interested me, where he became an artist who’s best material was relegated to cassette tape, and now I burn CDR’s of my favorite songs. That being said, for the most part I’ve seldom connected with Elton or more-so, with the lyrics of Bernie Taupin, as they don’t make a great deal of sense on a linear basis, often coming across as merely ideas strung together, leaving me lost and wondering. Talk the song “Levon” for example:Levon sells cartoon balloons in town
His family business thrives
Jesus blows up balloons all day
Sits on the porch watching them fly
And Jesus, he wants to go to VenusI have no idea what those theatrical lyrical themes mean, what I do know is they flow elegantly well, almost dreamlike with the music, and if that were his intentions, then he succeeded wondrously. But methinks that’s not the case at all, because the entire album worsens from there, losing all of the character and depth that was laid down by “Tiny Dancer” and “Levon,” leaving me with something that feels rather disjointed and uncomfortable, forever questioning what in the world is it that so many people throughout the career of this artist heard that I’m missing, from a man who was uncomfortably outrageous for the sake alone of being over the top … where he’d show up dressed as a duck, a piano, a garden gnome, a cat, some sort of glam-punk and more. A good (though embarrassing for me) show will not make up for a weak album, and Elton John, like Bob Dylan, have strung together more weak albums based around a single song than anyone walking the planet, as this is an album based entirely on wordplay, leaving me feeling that Bernie was using the cut and past method that Dylan lifted from Andy Warhol, with David Bowie then trying his hand at it. You’re going to have great moments with memories of Tumbleweed Connection here, though to build an album around memories of past songs such as “Amorena” is just not the way to go. Certainly the album’s title track “Madman Across The Water” is one of the weakest numbers on the album, yet it comes off as a series of musical acrobatics, where again the lyrics don’t match up with the ideas, though with the song being about madness, perhaps that makes sense, but then there’s that huge arrangement of charging stings, where nearly every syllable is punctuated with aggression and giant periods that just thump, a song that is impossibly dense, one nearly impossible for Elton to sing, and I’ve yet to mention that “Madmen Across The Water” was both recorded and discarded as part of the Tumbleweed Connection sessions.With this, the third album Elton was working on within a year, I sincerely believe he had no idea where to go, more apply, I feel that producer Gus Dudgeon had no idea what to do, or where to go, as together they laid out a series of music based around baroque aesthetics that incorporated elements of blues, rock and some country flavors. Even Elton John said in Sounds magazine during a 1972 interview, that with this release, one he was not fond of, that “I’d say I’ve got rid of three years of shit.” So there you have it ladies and gentlemen, from the man himself, yet still, those in the music business would have you believe that on this album you would find Elton to be “more mature,” “thoughtful,” “evolved,” “in his element,” and “in control of his destiny.” Those are not my words, those are the inherent folly of music critics and reviewers who disregarded the fact that the album never achieved a slot higher than number 41.Others will insist (and please excuse me for laughing here) that with most of the tracks being over five minutes in length, and filled with deep arrangements along with musical complexities, that Madman boarders on progressive rock, and that this, along with an array of session musicians has kept the record viable and fresh for decades after it’s ascension.Yes, I can hear your question … ”Why am I devoting so much time to an album that I don’t like?” The answer is as convoluted as this album, yet basically, people need to understand fact from fiction, and while I’m usually more than happy to allow others to enjoy what they wish, there comes a time when I need to put my hand down and say that some things are just not that good, that an album such as this should not have gone on to make Elton John the extravagant substance addicted Liberace he became, where Lee’s tired desert museum will pale when compared to that of Elton John’s, though perhaps for the most part, Elton will be forgotten just as quickly.Review by Jenell Kesler

Did you review electric ladyland for Rolling Stone ? Few albums reach multi platinum status This did!

Got to say that's a rather harsh assessment of this album. Many of the songs (e.g. All The Nasties, Rotten Peaches, Indian Sunset) stand up and the opening two tracks are amongst the best EJ ever recorded. I'm also not a fan of anything past the end of the Yellow Brick Road, but I believe this album is easily as strong as any of his early works. And "Goodbye" is as poignant a couple of minutes as you'll ever hear.