Released - November 1971
Genre - Rock
Producer - Gus Dudgeon
Selected Personnel - Elton John (Vocals/Piano); Davey Johnstone (Guitar); Caleb Quaye (Guitar); BJ Cole (Pedal Steel); Roger Pope (Drums); David Glover (Bass); Rick Wakeman (Organ); Herbie Flowers (Bass); Ray Cooper (Percussion); Chris Spedding (Guitar); Nigel Olsson (Drums); Terry Cox (Drums); Lesley Duncan (Backing Vocals); Paul Buckmaster (Orchestral Arrangements)
Standout Track - Tiny Dancer
I've chosen to locate the story that introduced me to this incredible album in Christmas 2004. It might have been another holiday at around the same time, but I believe me, my brother and my dad were en route to New York for New Year. As I've pointed out elsewhere, by this time I'd already spent a good ten years becoming obsessed by Elton John's greatest hits, but I had yet to make the realisation that diving into an artist's complete discography could yield great stuff you might otherwise have missed out on. In hindsight, that realisation was a seminal moment in the development of my musical consciousness, and it started here. I was on one side of the airport, buying a magazine I think, when my brother, who at this stage was the bigger music-lover of the two of us, rushed over and dragged me back to the departures lounge, claiming they were playing Elton John's "best song" and I needed to hear it. On being told it was a song I'd never heard of called "Tiny Dancer," my curiosity was piqued - how could his best song be one that I hadn't heard on his greatest hits album? By the time we got back there, the song had finished, but I was curious and, through my brother, soon discovered Tumbleweed Connection and the masterpiece therein that is "Talking Old Soldiers." Having had my Road to Damascus moment of realising that artists made good songs outside of their big hits, I made my next objective to track down the parent album to the song my brother had raved about. That album was Madman Across The Water, and it took a hold of me instantly. I still cite it as Elton's best album (his great masterpiece Goodbye Yellow Brick Road contains some better songs but lacks the consistency and maturity of this earlier classic), and when I saw Elton live back in September, he had the album cover embroidered on the back of his jacket, so I like to feel it's an album that's similarly close to his heart.
Having assembled their first truly great album with the previous year's Tumbleweed Connection, which was stylistically (and at least loosely conceptually) built around themes of Americana, Elton and lyricist Bernie Taupin followed it up by going back to basics somewhat, no longer writing songs to serve any sort of overarching concept but simply aiming to make an album of simple, phenomenal piano-based rock. No longer are any compromises being made to shoehorn in a story about the Old West or a country vibe (the most overtly conceptual song on the previous album, the rather forced country vibe of "Country Comfort" is by far the most laboured song on offer), and in the place of those compromises is a near-perfect selection of songs. The only song that does go out of its way to make some sort of conceptual point is the masterful "Indian Sunset," a sort of world-weary, resigned battle cry of an Indian chief that, despite its corniness, saves itself by virtue of its musical ferocity and sheer guts, escalating as it does from an a cappella meditation to a full-blown band workout. By and large, the same band returns from before, with the significant addition of Davey Johnstone on electric guitar. Johnstone has, with a few occasional sabbaticals, been a mainstay of Elton's live and studio band to this day, and brings several significant new things to the table here. Elton now feels very comfortable writing for a full band in a way that doesn't detract from the focus of his own voice and masterful piano playing, but that also doesn't sideline his band members or make them redundant. Indeed, what really shines about every single one of these songs is their dynamic range. The two opening tracks, an emotionally hefty double bill of committed ballads, both range from a tender piano-led verse to a rousing, yelping, full-band chorus in a way that doesn't feel cheap or contrived but simply serves as a masterful display of dynamic control. Elsewhere, the aforementioned "Indian Sunset" develops like some sort of Hollywood epic in fast forward, and "Madman Across The Water" starts with the hushed, almost menacing strums of Johnstone's guitar and swirls into a ferocious maelstrom at the chorus.
Lyrically, Taupin is on fine form on Madman... - as with Bowie, the idea of the lyrics on an Elton John song is rarely to tell a specific story or convey a specific idea, but rather they take the form of impressionistic poetry that the listener can use to paint their own canvas. Elton's impassioned vocals imbue these lyrics with swathes of emotion, nowhere more so than on the beautiful "Levon," but it's anyone's guess as to what the random images of "Tiny Dancer," "Razor Face" or "Madman Across The Water" actually mean. It's arguable that that makes Taupin a weak lyricist, that a lyric should be able to convey a meaning, but for me the collage-like nature of his words has always made it easier to adapt these songs to any personal interpretation one requires. For me, these songs have taken on a whole host of different meanings over the years, always shifting depending on what's going on in my own life when I listen to them. I think "Tiny Dancer" is about being in love, I think "Levon" and "Razor Face" are about growing old, but it doesn't really matter. What matters is that these songs are masterpieces played to perfection by a band and an artist at the peak of their powers. There is only one misstep on the whole album, and that's the fairly tepid "Rotten Peaches," which is almost close to being a misguided retread of the country territory of the previous album's "Country Comfort." Everything else here puts a huge smile on my face whenever I hear it and every one of them has a good stab at being among the best rock songs of the early 70s.
In the greater sweep of things, Madman Across The Water would be the peak of the more "credible" singer-songwriter era of Elton's career, the time when the focus was more on writing organic, authentic rock music rather than crafting hit singles. He would follow it up with the excellent Honky Cheateau, which was great but a bit of a step down, before fully committing to the idea of being a hit artist. That later stage of his career would continue to deliver incredible music even if it was behind a glossier commercial sheen, but for many people (myself included), this is where Elton John and his cohorts were at the absolute peak of their abilities - anybody who dismisses him as a purveyor of light entertainment and radio-friendly singles needs to listen to this album to realise just how talented he can be at delivering top-quality rock music.
Track Listing:
All songs written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin.
1. Tiny Dancer
2. Levon
3. Razor Face
4. Madman Across The Water
5. Indian Sunset
6. Holiday Inn
7. Rotten Peaches
8. All The Nasties
9. Goodbye
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