
- You’ll find excellent Double Plus (A++) grades on both sides of this early British import LP – quiet vinyl too
- There’s some real Tubey Magic on this album, along with breathy vocals and plenty of rock and roll energy
- I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues – the best song Elton’s done in the last 35 years – is killer here
- One of engineer Bill Price’s best efforts behind the boards in the ’80s, and Chris Thomas’s production is State of the Art as usual
- Allmusic 4 1/2 Stars: “Happily, this is a reunion that works like gangbusters, capturing everybody at a near-peak of their form.”
Much of the production — the smooth, sweet harmony vocals, the rich, grungy guitars, the solid, warm piano — reminds me of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, one of the classics from back in the day when Gus Dudgeon was running the show.
Caribou (1974) and Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (1975) have a similarly glossy, perfectionist approach to production as well of course. It was 1975’s Rock of the Westies that went off in another direction. (more…)