Elton John Project: Part 1

In the summer of 2019, inspired by the movie Rocketman, I decided to acquaint myself with the classic 1970s albums of Elton John. The project would involve thoroughly and repeatedly listening to his first 11 studio albums, along with various soundtrack and other non-LP tracks. I had long enjoyed the long stream of Elton's hits from this period—"Philadelphia Freedom," "Rocket Man," "Someone Saved My Life Tonight," "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," "Crocodile Rock," "Your Song," "Daniel," "Tiny Dancer," "Bennie and the Jets," "Island Girl," "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"—all of them are top-tier 1970s smashes, and make up a big part of "the soundtrack of my life." Of the tunes from this era, "Candle in the Wind" is about the only one I would not include on my list of favorite Elton John songs, even though it is not terrible by any means. The question that I hoped to answer was simple: How many of the songs on Elton's dozen (or so) 1970s albums contain songs as good as the ones I just mentioned? The answer turns out to be as agonizing as it was predictable: not very many.

But first, a quick flashback: A few years ago, I did attempt a different sort of "Elton John deep tracks" project. I asked two friends, Mark and Robert—both major Elton fans—to recommend 10-12 lesser-known songs apiece that they thought were excellent. Unfortunately, most of their picks were songs that I didn't particularly care for, although roughly a third of them were good; a few of those were from his later albums. This year's project would be a far more comprehensive undertaking, leaving me to discover for myself which "deep tracks" were the outstanding ones.

After going through the process I have come to refer to as "drilling," I have learned that all of the truly great songs of Elton were the ones that became hits. Of the roughly 150 non-hits I listened to incessantly over several months, spread across the albums starting with 1969's Empty Sky and ending with 1976's Blue Moves, most were graded 1, 2 or 3 stars out of 5. However, just over 50—about a third—were graded at least 4 stars, with only a handful ("Bitter Fingers," "Skyline Pigeon," "I've Been Loving You," "Love Lies Bleeding" and "Where to Now, St. Peter?") landing the perfect 5-star rating. "Love Lies Bleeding" is unfortunately attached to a separate full-length song, "Funeral for a Friend," that I don't really care for, so some musical surgery was required to attach it for my personal enjoyment. Meanwhile, I would reckon that "Where to Now, St. Peter," "I've Been Loving You" and especially "Bitter Fingers" are the songs that deserved to have been hits. ("I'm sick of tra-la-las and la-de-das" is a lyric that has gotten permanently stuck in my head.)

Going into this project, I was particularly excited to hear the iconic, universally beloved LPs that Elton and lyricist Bernie Taupin made, specifically Don't Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, and Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. I think it was only natural for me to assume that these bestselling records would contain a higher ratio of excellent material. However, this proved not to be true. Practically all of Elton's albums from this period contain at least one hit, some good songs, some mediocre songs, and a couple of clinkers. (Indeed, if you were going to average out all of my ratings, you'd probably discover that I like the Friends soundtrack more than any of the previously mentioned "iconic" records!) Moreover, upon learning that I was initially prepared to stop after 10 albums, Mark implored me to include the experimental double album Blue Moves, as it's one of his favorites. But this, too, was really not any better than his other albums.

After the 1970s, Elton's parade of irresistible singles dried up. Not to say he didn't continue to make the charts, but his best-known songs in the 1980s and beyond—"Can You Feel the Love Tonight," "Blue Eyes," "Sad Songs (Say So Much)," "I Don't Wanna Go on with You Like That," "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me"—do not measure up to the strength of his '70s masterpieces, and that's a huge understatement. There are a few that I like: "I'm Still Standing" and "Sacrifice" are excellent, especially in comparison to his other charting singles from those years, and "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues" is pretty decent. So...do I really need to explore his subsequent 19 albums? Logic would suggest that if I couldn't find a juggernaut of amazing material from the 1970s, then the ratio of great "unknown" songs from the 1980s and beyond will be even smaller.

And yet, I am curious. Clearly there must be some good songs spread across those 19 later albums. But how many? If there is a Part #2 of this project, I will definitely not be including the 1979 Victim of Love album, as he didn't play piano or write any of the album's songs. So that brings it down to 18 albums, which would probably best be split into two groups of nine. Only time will tell if I get to them, but in the meantime, I will be enjoying the 50 very good Elton John songs I have discovered in 2019—plus the five awesome ones.

Here were my grades:

August 2019

Other than work, August was uneventful. For the third year in a row, I flew to Chicago, rented a car and then drove to Michigan City, IN, for the boat races. BOOKS: I finished Last Words by George Carlin, A Life in Parts by Bryan Cranston and The Last Lie by Alex Lake, and began reading Dangerous to Know by Margaret Yorke. The new Dick Tracy comic-strip anthology was released, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading that as well. MUSIC: Continued listening to my Elton John playlist through 1974’s Caribou.

Here are the movies I saw in August:

SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK (2019)—Directed by André Øvredal and produced by Guillermo del Toro, this sort-of anthology horror film is an adaptation of a popular children’s book. And though it is squarely aimed at younger audiences, it is occasionally scary (particularly a scene where a teenage girl suffers a nightmarish facial blemish from which spiders emerge. A bit too juvenile, but enjoyable enough. (8)

WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE (2019)—Director Richard Linklater adapts Maria Semple’s comedic novel about a woman whose daughter must figure out what happened to mom after circumstances prompt her to vanish. Not bad, but seems haphazardly edited. Cate Blanchett is always marvelous, and Kristen Wiig has a great supporting role as Cate’s next-door neighbor and nemesis. (8)

BLINDED BY THE LIGHT (2019)—Having only recently seen Yesterday, the Beatles-worship movie, and Rocketman, the Elton John-worship movie, and Bohemian Rhapsody, the Queen-worship movie, Bruce Springsteen is next in line to have a movie built around his music. Viveik Kalra is a Pakistani high-school student oppressed by his domineering father, but when he discovers the music of the Boss, his whole life changes. In fact, virtually every aspect of his life becomes informed by songs like “Born to Run.” The movie is passably entertaining, especially when it isn’t focusing on Bruuuuuce. (7)

READY OR NOT (2019)—Comedy-horror film about a young woman (Samara Weaving) who marries into something akin to the Addams Family. Per tradition, this crazy clan welcomes any new bride or groom into the fold by making them play a game, but when Weaving draws the “Hide and Seek” card, it spells doom for her. Or does it? The movie is one long chase through the family mansion; it’s beyond preposterous, but basically hard to look away from. Weaving is a very attractive Margot Robbie clone. (8)

July 2019

I am filing this post late, and since I didn’t take very good notes on what I did this month, I’m a little hazy on the events of July. But I do recall some of the highlights. On Saturday, July 6, I attended the 78th birthday party of Barry “Dr. Demento” Hansen (with Joan, of course—why would I be there otherwise?). It was also attended by comedy-music genius Henry Phillips, who I actually got to talk to, although I doubt he was really listening, and why would he be? It was a fun affair, although no ice cream was served (despite the event being heavily advertised as a party at which ice cream would be served). I also got to meet my online friend Tonya Poirier after a great many years of only seeing her preternaturally beautiful self depicted on Facebook. We had a marvelous dinner with her husband, Mike I think his name is, at the Wood Ranch BBQ restaurant. They found a good parking spot at the Farmer’s Market. OK, this might be too much information. TV: I know I watched some stuff, but I don’t remember what I saw. BOOKS: I finished Alex Lake’s After Anna and started another one of his/her books (Lake being an intentionally gender-neutral pseudonym): The Last Lie. MUSIC: I started going through Elton John’s early albums in search of “hidden gems.” Here are the movies I saw in July:

SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME (2019)—This final entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s “Phase Three” is a follow-up to Avengers: Endgame, released in April. Peter Parker/Spider-Man is not my favorite comic-book character, and Tom Holland is far from my favorite Marvel performer, but the movie provides adequate escapism. The main highlights are Jake Gyllenhaal as a superhero with suspicious intentions, and Zendaya as a love interest for Holland. More than most of the Marvel movies, this one transcends comic-book antics into straightforward juvenilia—a fancy way of saying this movie is mostly for kids. But I didn’t hate it. (8)

YESTERDAY (2019)—I had no plans to see this, but then an opportunity arose to see a movie with Cindy, so we went together (she had already seen it). The bad news is that my fear that I would be left with a million plausibility questions was not exactly allayed. But more concerning is the fact that Himesh Patel is the most bizarrely and outrageously miscast actor of any movie I’ve ever seen. Fortunately, the movie has Lily James (of Downton Abbey fame) to look at, and a pleasant soundtrack of Beatles songs—mostly Paul’s. On the bright side, I didn’t dislike the film nearly as much as I feared I would. (7)

THE FAREWELL (2019)—Playing against type, comedic actress/rapper Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians, Oceans 8) is cast as a young NYC woman whose Chinese grandmother (living in Changchun, China) is diagnosed with cancer; the news causes Awkwafina to spend the entire movie sad, depressed and totally dour—her considerable comedic gifts totally wasted. But the elderly woman’s extended family opt to do the Chinese thing, and not tell her. This leaves Western-cultivated Awkwafina at a crossroads; she travels to China to see grandma for the last time, but has a hard time keeping the family’s big health secret. Instead, the grandmother is told that a wedding is the reason for the family reunion. It’s a reasonably engrossing movie, not a classic, but an interesting story based on actual events experienced by director Lulu Wang. (8)

ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (2019)—Quentin Tarantino’s latest movie is a fictional story playing out against the events of the Charles Manson “Helter Skelter” killings. Made-up characters played by Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio appear with real-life Hollywood people like Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), Bruce Lee (Mike Moh) and "Squeaky" Fromme (Dakota Fanning). The movie takes its time reaching its climax, but it’s a fun and mesmerizing ride. The two male leads are absolutely perfect, especially Brad Pitt as a larger-than-life stunt man. (9)

June 2019

Highlights of this month included a trip to Lake Elsinore, CA, to participate in my magazine’s annual bikini shoot, featuring nine boats we’d invited to take part in the event. I lasted about five hours before the crippling heat finally got to me. Still, we shot a large amount of materials for me to fill numerous pages of our July issue, plus lots of feature stories to mete out over the following 12 months or so. I also had a lovely breakfast with my friend Anna, who was in town just for a few hours during a layover at LAX. Joan and I saw Roy Zimmerman perform in a very warm room sitting on uncomfortable chairs, and there was no new material, and some of the audience members (the ones sitting right next to us, natch) were talking during the performance. TV: The new season of Black Mirror dropped, but only one episode was exceptional. I also watched the first episode of Dead to Me. BOOKS: I finished I Found You by Lisa Jewell (thanks to Connie Ogle for the recommendation) and started After Anna by Alex Lake.

Here are the movies I saw in June:

TANGENT ROOM (2017)—Director Björn Engström’s short (64 minutes) sci-fi movie locks five characters—all scientists—in a room. They’ve been given the task of solving an existential math problem or face almost certain death if they don’t crack the conundrum’s cryptic clues. From what I could gather from the scientific double-talk, it seems that the Earth is in imminent danger of collapsing on itself (or something), which leads to some very creepy special effects and a life-changing conclusion. This otherworldly thriller, sort of a modern-day Twilight Zone episode as conceived by Stephen Hawking, is helped by the always extraordinary acting chops of Britain’s Vee Vimolmal. (9)

BOOKSMART (2019)—Two graduating high school girls (Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever) set out to finally break the rules and party on their last day of classes. This coming-of-age comedy is meant to remind viewers of movies like Superbad and Adventureland, but it’s actually a bit more inventive and offbeat than those movies. It takes a bit of time for the picture truly take off, but once it does, it’s extremely enjoyable, and quite funny and clever. Dever is fondly remembered in the episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm about a Girl Scout who experiences getting her period for the first time. (9)

TOY STORY 4 (2019)—Here’s the year’s best-reviewed movie that is actually a colossal disappointment. Disney/Pixar brings back the familiar characters from the first three (excellent) Toy Story movies, then all but ignores most of them in favor of introducing a large amount of new—and much less interesting—toys. The story is an irritating retread of the “toys get separated from the others, and then they must find their way back home” trope that has been done to death in this franchise. The filmmakers load up the movie with frenetic scenes intended to fill the screen with a lot of action and chaos to keep small kids interested; as a result, there is a marked lack of humanity. This is the first Toy Story movie that left me feeling bored. I did like Forky, a new character, and the ending is touching, but many of the main characters are sorely missed. (5)

ROCKETMAN (2019)—To tell the Elton John story, Rocketman’s filmmakers decide to turn the story into a something like a traditional musical, using Elton’s songs to advance the storyline. For a while, it works just fine. Unfortunately, because this is the story of a pop singer, the movie ultimately starts shunting back and forth between diagetic musical number numbers (“I don’t ‘know’ I’m singing!”) and non-diagetic numbers (i.e., live concert performances or songwriting sessions), and never seems to decide for sure what kind of movie it wants to be. Much of it is entertaining, but it’s one of many films I’ve seen about a superstar who is universally worshipped but spends the movie wallowing in a sea of drug- and alcohol-fueled self-pity anyway. Thus, I felt like I’d seen this movie innumerable times already, instead of feeling like I was seeing something fresh and unique. Having said all that, Taron Egerton is utterly perfect as Elton John, and all of Elton’s wonderful hits are performed exquisitely. (8)

LATE NIGHT (2019)—Mindy Kaling’s first big-screen comedy is about an aging host of a late-night talk show (Emma Thompson) who hires a token minority female (Kaling) for her writing staff—strictly for appearances. Unfortunately, Thompson’s character is so inhumanly cruel and repugnant that it sends the movie into a tailspin before she is finally, finally (sort of) redeemed at the end. Kaling is very funny, as always (I saw every episode of her TV show), but this movie isn’t quite as hilarious as it needed to be. (8)

WILD ROSE (2019)—A young Irish mother of two, newly released from jail on some drug-related charge, dreams of being a country-music star. She struggles between choosing to follow her dream, or being a responsible mom. We’ve seen this kind of “making of a pop star” movie many times before (i.e., the recent Teen Spirit and A Star Is Born), but Jessie Buckley is breathlessly perfect in the title role, and the movie is genuinely appealing on virtually every level. Extremely well done. (9)

May 2019

This month, I headed to San Jose to see South Bay Musical Theater’s excellent production of Thoroughly Modern Millie (thank you, Jay Steele!), attended the Desert Storm Poker Run in Lake Havasu City, AZ (nearly fainting from heat stroke in the 100+ F temperatures) and wrapped up tutoring duties at John Muir Elementary School for the final time after seven glorious years. TV: I watched the final episode of The Big Bang Theory...so sad the series has ended its run. Jay and I watched several episodes of The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’s final season. BOOKS: I finished listening to Rachel Abbott’s The Shape of Lies and neared the end of Neil Simon’s Fools. MUSIC: I finished grading all 140+ songs of Death Cab for Cutie.

Here are the movies I saw in May:

LONG SHOT (2019)—Very entertaining romantic comedy about how presidential hopeful Charlize Theron falls in love with writer Seth Rogen (yes, it’s a science fiction picture). As preposterous as the plot is, and as silly as some of the scenes are, it’s amazingly enganging. Theron in particular is quite funny. (9)

A LITTLE PRINCESS (1995)—Adaptation of the Frances Hodgson Burnett novel follows young Sara Crewe (Liesel Matthews), whose rich father must go off to war; after leaving the child in the care of despicable boarding school headmistress Miss Maria Minchin (Eleanor Bron), he is apparently killed in action, leaving Sara no option but to become an indentured servant. Disney-type production hits most of the right notes, altering the original story somewhat, but improving it overall. The cast is uniformly excellent. (9)

A DOG OF FLANDERS (1959)—Another famous children’s story, this time by Marie Louise de la Ramée writing as Ouida, adapted as a Disney-type family drama. A young orphan farmboy in Belgium, living with his milkman grandfather (Donald Crisp), take in an abused dog and nurse him back to health. The kid, who aspires to become an artist, is taken under wing by a local painter (Theodore Bikel). It’s a gentle and moving story; the only drawback is the comparatively lackluster performance by David Ladd as the boy. (8)

ECHO IN THE CANYON (2019)—Documentary about the development of the Southern California “Malibu Canyon” folk-rock style of music (Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Mamas and the Papas, Beach Boys), featuring interviews with most of the key players by Jakob Dylan (son of Bob Dylan). Mostly engaging; only frequent clips from the film that inspired the movie (Model Shop) distract from the musical entertainment. Featuring numerous classic songs re-worked by Dylan and various other contemporary singers and musicians, including Regina Spektor, Beck, Norah Jones, Cat Power, etc. (8)

SURVIVAL ISLAND (2005)—A married couple (Billy Zane and voluptuous Kelly Brook) and a hot Latin boathand (Juan Pablo Di Pace) are the only survivors of a yacht disaster. Washed up on a desert island, the trio go through various Lord of the Flies stages before someone gets killed. This is a pretty schlocky film—a guilty pleasure, if only for the psychological love-triangle drama and the fact that sexy Brook is frequently nude. The worst thing about it is a voodoo subplot that should have been taken out completely—without it, the movie would be 100% better. Enjoyable, for all of the wrong reasons. Original title: Three. (7.5)

THE PERFECTION (2019)—Apparently, this Netflix horror movie is the latest scarefest entertaining the nation—this month’s Bird Box. From what I understood, people are seriously grossed out by the disgusting and shocking nature of the film, so I felt I needed to check it out. It’s true that there are several extremely lurid images in the movie, many involving body mutilations and people vomiting, but I have a pretty strong tolerance for that kind of thing. What I don’t have a tolerance for is stupidity, and there are at least a couple of plot developments in The Perfection that preventing me from suspending my disbelief. Having said that, like the previous movie, much of it is enjoyably trashy; the cast is very good and the leads are quite attractive. Bonus: several gorgeous views of Shanghai’s Oriental Pearl building, which I love. (7)

April 2019

This month, I got my tooth #5 pulled, after cracking it while eating a sandwich (thanks, Jersey Mike’s Subs!). It was also the month of Desert Storm in Lake Havasu, which I attended to cover for Speedboat. It was over 100 degrees, so I had to curtail some of my outdoor activities. BOOKS: I read more Neil Simon plays (finished Barefoot in the Park and I Ought to Be in Pictures). I listened to the audiobook of Cary Elwes’ As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride, and started The Shape of Lies by Rachel Abbott. MUSIC: I began listening to and grading every song by Death Cab for Cutie. TV: I watched every episode of Hot Date, a very funny sketch-comedy series recommended by my friend Anna.

Here are the three movies I saw in April:

HIGH LIFE (2019)—Another overrated sci-fi drama to put on the shelf next to Interstellar. In this one, Robert Pattison leads a group of criminals aboard a spaceship who are tasked to travel to a black hole to find an alternate energy source. I found it to be long, muddled and boring. (4)

TEEN SPIRIT (2019)—Elle Fanning plays a bored British high-school girl of Polish descent who gets a chance to compete in a kind of American Idol-type TV singing contest. All the odds are against her, but she perseveres in what amounts to a fairly by-the-numbers competition movie. However, what the film has going for it is some very good music, plus Elle’s above-average performance and amazing beauty. Rebecca Hall also has a nice role. (9)

AVENGERS: ENDGAME (2019)—This is the movie that wraps up the Avengers storyline that began with last year’s Avengers: Infinity War. Half of the superheroes have evaporated, thanks to ultimate villain Thanos (Josh Brolin), who got the “infinity stones” and wiped out half of humanity. Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) devises a plan to bring them back, and it involves time-travel. I’m not a huge time-travel fan, but the movie is generally entertaining, if overlong. (8)

March 2019

This month flew by very quickly. No real highlights or lowlights. I bit down on a sandwich and apparently cracked a tooth, which will need to be extracted and (hopefully) replaced with an implant. Also, an old friend from New Zealand got in touch after many years of estrangement. BOOKS: Listened to the audiobooks of Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell, which I thoroughly enjoyed; then immediately listened to her earlier novel The Girls in the Garden, which was passable but not as engaging. (A third attempt, Watching You, was abandoned about a third of the way through.) I also continued to read Neil Simon plays, including Little Me, California Suite and (currently) Barefoot in the Park. TV: I watched the first season of Ricky Gervais’s dark comedy After Life, as well as the first episode of Brian Clemens’ old Thriller series.

Here are the movies I saw in March:

GLORIA BELL (2019)—Julianne Moore stars in this carbon-copy remake of the 2013 Sebastián Lelio-directed Gloria; he also directed the English-language version. Despite very strong critical acclaim, Joan and I were bored by this story of a lonely middle-aged woman looking for love in the bars and dance floors of L.A. She hooks up with divorcee John Turturro, who turns out to have some negative baggage. Moore is good, and looking quite attractive at 58, but the movie is a snooze. (4)

US (2019)—Another movie with strong critical acclaim, Us is Jordan Peele’s follow-up to his 2017 smash Get Out. This hyped-up horror movie is illogical and not remotely scary. It contains so many plot holes and ridiculous concepts that I spent the entire movie wishing it would end. I would have walked out, but star Lupita N’yongo is absolutely drop-dead gorgeous—the only reason for seeing this third-rate M. Night Shyamalan clone. (4)

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD (2019)—Third in the Dragon series is every bit as adventurous, funny and well-animated as its two predecessors. Toothless gets a girlfriend, while the humans and dragons encounter a malevolent enemy and set off to search for a new land. (9)

CAPTAIN MARVEL (2019)—Brie Larson as the new female superhero and the start of a new franchise from Marvel. Like most of the other Marvel comic-book adaptations, this one is non-stop action from start to finish. Very entertaining! (9)

ON THE BASIS OF SEX (2018)—Felicity Jones stars as up-and-coming attorney Ruth Bader Ginsburg in this biopic that traces the Supreme Court Justice’s early cases. Decent legal drama suffers from a draggy middle third, but it comes alive in the final court case that challenges an antiquated and sexist law. This is one of those “textbook” movies that seems more like homework than pure entertainment, but it is educational and fairly thought-provoking. Jones is good, but her Brooklyn accent tends to fade in and out. (7)