Page 93 - TheGoldBug1971-72

APRI L 17, 1972 THE GOLD BUG PAGE FIVE Records Il£iner Notes Elton John creates intellectual rock compositions Elton John is a myth, a schizoid. He is a raving phantom who jaunts and frets behind:" over and under a battered Steinway piano before hordes of screaming fans passionately immersed in going mental. Visually, he is "different." Often sporting a top hat, cape, purple jumpers and boots fitted with the wings of Mercury, he knocks over his piano stool, prances up and down the stage, shakes random hands from the crowd and goes into wild gyrations on top to his piano. Exhausted, he finishes up the concert by kicking off his jumpers and en- ding with a series of "giant bunny kicks." Off-stage, the charisma is lost, bringing to the surface something of the real person. Reggie Dwight, an Englishman from Middlesex, is actually a serious musician. Somewhat of an introvert, he is sensitive to the point of being fragile. An heir to the tradition of such artists as Mendelssohn and Mussorgsky, he is very competent in composing his own brand of "intellectual" rock. He is a per- fectionist whose autonomic control over his material allows him to clown around on stage. The response he evokes is overwhelming. Listeners often throw gifts onto the stage. As he mentions in "Rolling Stone," "In Scotland some girl took off her knickers and threw them on stage-- along with a bowler hat, can you get that one together?" People throw pineapples too. At a certain point during one of his concerts the audience inevitably goes mental; that is,' they' become ecstatic and given to wild and often lewd dance. - Reggie began playing the piano at the age of three. After studying at the Royal Academy of Music for five years, he began playing with Long John Baldry and the Bluesology. Quitting the Bluesclogy, he answered an advert in a music magazine and subsequently met Bernie Taupin, a struggling lyricist and poet. Together they created material which attracted the attention of Dick James, who promoted their first album, Empty Sky. in 1969. Two years and another album later, they caught the attention of Norman Winter and UNI, whose promotion is largely responsible for Elton John's superstardom. w~~~~~~h~~~r~~fi~i:v~~I~~I~ti~i~h:~t~~~'. ~=p~; Sky is an interesting blend of classical harmonies and romantic lyrics which comes off a bit rough around the edges. It is both a springboard and a testing ground for the techniques which were to become Elton John's trademark, and is not without its moments. Elton John (above right) as mild-mannered Briton with lvracist Bernie Taupin, and (top) as demon Elton John, aI,>pearing in England in 1969, shows behind his 88. measurable refmement over and above his first effort. "Your Song," "Take Me to the Pilot," "Sixty Years On" and "Border Song" became hits, both in England and the States. Taupin's lyrics seem Three reasons to watch television overawed by Elton John's flawless piano work. Strongly orchestrated (the prelude of "Sixty Years On" seems to have been borrowed from Ligeti's "Atmospheres"), many of these songs sound as if Haydn himself had composed them. They are as varied as they are intricate. Reggie runs the gamut One day in July, Anthony was sitting on a bus stop betwe.en gospel and country, classical and rock, bench with 3 Eskimo Pies (look for the little frozen tree branch and stunned a Gila monster, who handling them all convincingly well. The eerieness proceeded to roll down a hill at a lightning pace of "Sixty Years On" is an odd bedfellow for the guy on the label) in his baseball jacket with a until he ran into a white oak tree. twang of "No Shoe Strings on Louise." genuine Philadelphia Athletics patch on it. You might comment that there are no Gila No. 42bus Grockmore pulled up in front of him so Reg and Bernie make a unique pair. Reggie Anthony got on. monsters Inwyomlng. It hink it's because of these admits that he is hopeless when it comes to writing The Eskimo Pies in his pocket started to melt, bombos throwing a-pound globs of JeUo out of dorm song lyrics, while Bernie evidently cannot read or causing his newly acquired Fred Laty (Detroit windows. write music, let along pay an instrument. They Lions) baseball card to have a delicious chocolate work independently of each other. Elton John coat on it.That didn't bother Anthony as much as Norman Bombity wandered into the street describes it this way, the baby who was in the lap of the sleeping aimlessly (bad eyes). He had forgotten the name of passenger next to him. He, she, or it (you never can the cafe he frequented each moon. "When Bernie brings me the lyrics, I read them be quite sure about babies) kept saying, "Aaahque "The Blue Danube?" he queried. "Toulouse and then Iget the first line of the song and deal with whanew?" to Anthony. Anthony, however, didn't Lautrec? La trek's too loose? Oooh." that first. I never work to the chorus or the hook. I know quite what to say, so he got off the bus. He went to see his psychiatrist that afternoon. ?tartat the top and gradually work down, I can't do He dodged the neighbor's lawn sprinkler and "Doc, you gotta do something about that nurse. It any other way. 'Your Song' went straight off in went into his house. He consumed his 3 delectably How come she's always playing with jujubes?" ten minutes. I go round to Bernie and say 'listen melted Eskimo Pies and watched T.V. What fun. "We can't afford a water cooler. What seems to I've done it' and he can't believe it. I don't think I'v~ After dinner all the kids in the neighborhood ran be your problem?" around watching it get dark. "My memory." ever taken more than half an hour or three quarters of an hour because Iget so bored with it, I just give "Too much?" "It's fading, like my T.V." up." As Iwas walking across a patch of dirt next to the "Maybe you're not solid state." Elton John was followed by Tumbleweed Con- Montezuma College cafeteria in Bollix, Wyoming, nection featuring "Country Comfort" and "Burn somebody threw a a-pound glob of cherry Jello at "Not solid state? But I live in New York." "Aha, there's your problem. Down the Mission." The Elton John style was to be me from _adorm wmdow.It dtdn't hit me or my dog your bill. See ya next week." I'll put the-$40 on . (cont. on page 6) Alleycat, but it landed on a rock, bounced over a -- Rasputin the Mad Porcupine