Like your favorite FM station, I bring you the best of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. As the vinyl revolution continues, here are three recent A+ reissues from three different decades.
“Honky Chateau”, Elton John
Elton John’s career was so damn epic that entire albums were lost. During his early ’70s phase (seven albums in half a decade, four of them multi-platinum), blockbusters tended to supplant “small” albums. “Honky Château” is one of those records (probably the greatest, greatest “little” masterpiece ever made).
UMe record label is celebrating the album’s anniversary this week with a couple of different packages: two CDs, two LPs, a limited edition gold vinyl LP. Feel free to dig into a Deluxe or Special Edition (the live version of the title track is simply stunning!), just make sure you add one of the sets to your collection.
John and lyricist Bernie Taupin spent this record doing what they wanted, when they wanted, making it wild but never uneven. That means reminiscent of the cowboy fetish of “Tumbleweed Connection” but adding New Orleans horns (the title track). It means writing a country soul power ballad (“Salvation”) and glamorous southern rock (“Susie”).
No whim is dismissed; no whim is not elevated to art. Goofiness and smug takes mingle with two of rock ‘n’ roll’s most glorious statements: “Rocket Man” and “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters”.
“Low Life”, New Order
“Low Life” begins with a song about a soldier returning home to a woman he was told had died in action. The lyrics have an overwhelming heaviness. The music is bright and sweet, almost the invention of lively indie pop, touched with a dash of cacophonic menace.
And from a dance band!
New Order is a dance band. And a post-punk outfit. And an art rock act. And a new wave artist capable of doing 80’s prom ballers. New Order is all that and more on their third album, Low Life, which Rhino recently reissued as a deluxe box set.
The extras in the box are great: a book, lots of remixes and two DVDs. But the original tracks still stand out. Bernard Sumner and Peter Hooks never drive a crescendo harder than the clash of guitar and bass on “Sunrise”. “Face Up” opened the door for Erasure, Enigma and the Postal Service. Oh, and “The Perfect Kiss” and “Sub-Culture” defined mid-’80s synth-pop.
“Small Earthquakes”, Tori Amos
Amos’ debut came out in 1992, the year that Nirvana and Pearl Jam went mainstream. The year Garth Brooks and Billy Ray Cyrus made country the new pop. The noise and marketing storm should have buried Little Earthquakes. Ha!
Amos fearlessly confronted a million brothers trying to hide under flannel or cowboy hats with her vocals and lyrics, piano hits and delicate melodies. Any of her talents would have been enough to make the record a classic: her skill is conservatory level, her grasp of melodic power rivals that of pop masters (Carole King, Paul McCartney, Joni Mitchell – whom she remembers easily). But she doesn’t need a piano or whistles to crush a listener. The lyrics to “Me and a Gun” are enough.
Put the acapella “Me and a Gun” on a record of blossoming, bold and exploding “Silent All These Years” and “Precious Things” and you have an album that both defines and transcends an era.
Source