Elton John - Caribou

Released - June 1974

Genre - Glam Rock

Producer - Gus Dudgeon

Selected Personnel - Elton John (Vocals/Piano); Davey Johnstone (Guitar/Mandolin); Dee Murray (Bass); Nigel Olsson (Drums); Ray Cooper (Percussion); Dusty Springfield (Backing Vocals); David Hentschel (Synthesiser); Lenny Pickett (Saxophone/Clarinet)

Standout Track - The Bitch Is Back

Recorded in a scant two-week period in between touring commitments and sandwiched chronologically between the two best-loved albums of Elton John's 70s commercial peak (namely 1973's outstanding Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and 1975's less good but still great Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy), 1974's Caribou is an album many a casual Elton John fan probably forgets exists. Perversely, the two hit singles from the album, the grandiose ode to life of "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" and the glam rock sass of "The Bitch Is Back" are two of Elton's best-loved greatest hits, but still their parent album remains largely neglected. To be fair, it doesn't do itself many favours by having a major dip in quality in the middle of the album, and anybody who genuinely tried to defend it as being as good as either of the albums it nestles between has something wrong with them, but if you give it time it's actually far more than just two great singles and a whole bunch of filler, and is worthy of respect as an album in its own right.

By the end of 1973, Elton John was riding a wave of success that saw him as one of the most prominent musicians in the world. Having more than proven himself as a serious and thoughtful singer-songwriter with his run of early albums, Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road had proven that he was also enormously capable of really having fun through music and of rocking out on occasion, while his outlandish and colourful fashion sense had momentarily placed him at the vanguard of the glam rock movement. By 1974, glam rock was on the wane ever so slightly, with Marc Bolan's greatest successes behind him and David Bowie consciously trying to distance himself from that scene and towards American soul with Diamond Dogs. Elton John had none of the same concerns as Bowie about creative exhaustion or about continuing to try and satiate a musical audience that was already looking for something new, and Caribou very much sees him in business-as-usual mode. The outrageous cover shot of Elton in huge sunglasses and tiger-print shirt showed that, more than on any other album yet, the principal aim of the album was a sense of humour and fun, and most of the album bears out that promise, from his highly mannered, tongue-in-cheek nonsense vocals on "Solar Prestige A Gammon" to the smirking country twang of "Dixie Lily."

It's a shame, in a way, that the album wears its naffness on its sleeve so boldly, as its strongest moments are actually far from naff and approach either genuine cool, or even profundity. But from "Grimsby" all the way through to "I've Seen The Saucers" the album consists basically of very simple, upbeat, smirking pop rock that's essentially generic at best. "Solar Prestige A Gammon" is perhaps the most interesting of this mid-record lull, as it saw Elton challenging his lyricist and longstanding songwriting partner Bernie Taupin to write him a set of total nonsense lyrics which he then had to make musically compelling. It's the sort of "sonic invention above lyrical insight" lateral approach to songwriting that would have made Brian Eno nod in approval, and the template for a truly interesting song, but sadly that over-stylised sense of pomp in Elton's voice as he sings matched with a not particularly compelling melody make it something of a failed experiment. "You're So Static" has a cool, punchy horn section lending it some interest but beyond that really struggles to ignite the listener's excitement.

As far as I can tell, it can only be down to this run of uninspired and faintly dull songs that clogs up the middle of the album that accounts for its bad reputation, because if you were to judge it from its opening and its ending it would score hugely. "The Bitch Is Back" is, pure and simple, perhaps the finest rock song Elton ever wrote. Picking up from "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting" on Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, where he first truly worked out how to write a stomping glam rock classic around a genuinely cool guitar riff, it features a thrashing, clanging riff and a solid, tight drumbeat over which Elton takes more gleeful pleasure in his energetic vocal performance than anywhere else on the album. The horn section makes for an added dose of funk, and altogether it's by far the best non-piano-based song of his career. "Pinky" is hardly a classic track, but has a genuinely pretty tune that follows on from the clatter of "The Bitch Is Back" in fine form. From there it's rapidly downhill before "Stinker" picks things back up towards the album's close.

With its slow, sluggish groove anchored by Dee Murray's bass and Nigel Olsson's drums, Elton adds the jazzy ornamentation of further horns and flurries of jazzy organ while belting out a spirited vocal in a meaty slab of plodding, arrogant and outright cool rock music. It's followed by one of the most timeless and beautiful ballads of his career in "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me," a song that emerges from a quiet, soft, contemplative voice accompanied only by delicate piano into a gloriously orchestrated and passionately triumphant chorus that ranks as one of his most musically cathartic moments as he tries to resolve his feelings for a friend or loved one. It's one of Taupin's finest lyrics, too, and is characteristically opaque in terms of an absolute meaning. Whether it's a plea to a loved one to stay, or an attempt to break things off with a loved one but to remain friends is open to interpretation, but what really comes through is a powerful sense of trying to communicate the value of a person in your life, and to try and get them to understand the effect they've had on you. It's followed up by the epic "Ticking," a breathtakingly beautiful song and one that's all too often forgotten about. Taupin rarely goes for literal storytelling in his lyrics, preferring imagistic poetry, but "Ticking" tells the story of a troubled and lonely child who is misunderstood by family, friends and teachers while growing up and ultimately snaps in early adulthood and attacks and kills a waiter before being gunned down by police. While it by no means demonises the police who mistakenly think he's about to reach for a gun and shoot him down, it does certainly place more empathy and understanding with the killer, which was a strikingly bold move by Taupin, to try and explore and understand the troubles that drive somebody to desperation and to explore the fine line between sanity and madness. Elton wisely chooses not to decorate or orchestrate the song at all but to limit it to just him and his piano for nearly eight minutes, improvising around melodic lines while telling the most heart-breaking story Taupin ever chose to write about.

Like I mentioned, by far the standout moments of the album are a million miles from the grinning, clownish figure we're presented with on the cover, and the more upbeat pop songs that feel like they gel with this image do the album a disservice. The cool rock of "The Bitch Is Back" and "Stinker" and the huge emotional power of "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" and "Ticking" all indicate a musician of real power and depth and resonance, as any fan who had been listening to him since his early albums already knew. Whether that cover shot was an attempt at misdirection by John to hook in the starry-eyed glam rock crowd to get them to discover some of his more profound music via a collection of further pop tunes is impossible to say, but it's certainly true that Caribou has been lumbered with an unjust reputation as something of a blip between two stronger albums. Admittedly, it's not a patch on Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and it's less consistent than Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy, but that later album, in my opinion, actually has fewer outstanding songs, and there are moments on Caribou that really take your breath away. Well worth overcoming the prejudice surrounding it and giving it a proper chance.

Track Listing:

All songs written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin

1. The Bitch Is Back

2. Pinky

3. Grimsby

4. Dixie Lily

5. Solar Prestige A Gammon

6. You're So Static

7. I've Seen The Saucers

8. Stinker

9. Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me

10. Ticking