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''Tumbleweed Connection'' is the third Album by British Singer/songwriter Elton John , released in 1970 (see 1970 In Music ). TRACK LISTING All songs by Elton John and Bernie Taupin , except where noted. #"Ballad of a Well-Known Gun" - 4:59 #" Come Down In Time " - 3:26 #"Country Comfort" - 5:07 #"Son of Your Father" - 3:48 #"My Father's Gun" - 6:20 #"Where to Now St. Peter?" - 4:12 #"Love Song" ( Lesley Duncan ) - 3:41 #"Amoreena" - 4:59 #"Talking Old Soldiers" - 4:08 #" Burn Down The Mission " - 6:37
THE ALBUM ''Tumbleweed Connection'' is part of the early catalog of Elton John's work that Guns N' Roses singer Axl Rose reportedly once said he would love to own the publishing rights to as a work of art. Indeed, it does contain some of John's most expressive work as an artist, but with the showy stage presence and pop melodicism still under construction. ''Tumbleweed'' is characterized by John's balladeer approach, with John at his storyteller best on songs like "Burn Down the Mission." Even if the lyrics were generally written by Bernie Taupin, John's voice and inflection made every song seem deeply personal. "Come Down in Time" displays the subtleties and sophistication of his talent, with the piano not yet serving as the instrumental focal point it would later become. The album also features the favorite "Ballad of a Well-Known Gun" and "Where to Now St. Peter?" ''Tumbleweed Connection'' is a concept album based on the 19th century American West. THE SONGS The opening number, "Ballad of a Well-Known Gun," is not a ballad but a sizzling mid-tempo rocker built atop Elton's syncopated piano. The lyrics portray a fugitive whose jig is up; Elton's confident vocal radiates resentment on behalf of the apprehended fugitive. Behind his piano are members of Hookfoot. Caleb's lead guitar gives the song a razor's edge, befitting the distasteful character who, until now, had been running from the law. Backing vocals are provided by, among others, Lesley Duncan and Dusty Springfield. (Not long before, Springfield had thrilled Elton backstage at the BBC's Top of the Pops by complimenting him on "Border Song.") The next song, "Come Down in Time," is a hunting number with a sparse Paul Buckmaster arrangement. It has nothing to do with the old American West or South, and may be about nothing more than the missed opportunity of potential lovers. In the end, one of the two is left "counting the stars in the night." Elton sings, accompanied only by harp and oboe. (His piano and voice demo, which may have been recorded at the same time as the demo for "Your Song," featured harplike piano that would have just been as effective on the album as Buckmaster's arrangement.) "Country Comfort," which attracted some covers, including one by Rod Stewart, follows. Bernie's lyrics include several vignettes of sweet, imagined nineteenth-century country life that hint at impending economic strife. "Grandma" was "really going fine for eighty-four," but needed someone to "fix her barn." There was old, old-fashioned Clay who, observing the plight of the employees at a well, disapproved of the "new machine" their employers favored that would "cut manpower by fifteen." "Son of Your Father" is next, the tale of a mean-spirited freeloader who takes advantage of "blind" Joseph on an "East Virginia" farm. A gun battle follows, leaving both men dead. The music is as rough and dirty as the fight. Elton sings like a tough farmhand, his piano is as mean as the song's two characters. The recording is a full-blown effort by Hookfoot - with harmonica by Ian Duck - and was undoubtedly drawn from Elton's live work with the group. The same day he had taped the Empty Sky track "Sails" (July 11, 1969), he had taped a performance of "Son of Your Father" with Caleb, Glover, and Pope for a July 20 BBC radio broadcast on Symonds on Sunday. In "My Father's Gun," which follows, the setting is the Civil War and the perspective is the South's. (Bernie favored the underdog.) A young man whose father has been killed by the Yankees determines to avenge the death by joining the fighting in New Orleans. The song starts quietly, with tentatively delivered gospel-style piano chords and Caleb's muted acoustic and lead guitars. Elton's vocal begins quietly, too, but before long increases in volume, sounding convincingly angry, like the young man whose father was killed. Backing vocals by Dusty Springfield, Lesley Duncan, and others lend a spiritual righteousness befitting the Civil War setting. The song ends with an extended interplay, reminiscent of New Orleans music, between Elton's voice and those of the backing singers, laced with horns and honky-tonk piano. Side two begins with the eerie "Where to Now, St. Peter?," a look at passing to the "other side." A soldier has been killed in action. The sensations are odd ("I floated like a leaf/dazzling, dancing,/half enchanted/in my Merlin sleep") Then his fate sinks in ("I understand I'm on the road/where all that was is gone"). The opening piano notes invoke the soldier floating "like a leaf," a sound that runs throughout the song, even as it reaches rock tempo. Elton's melody also captures the feeling of passage between worlds and provides a challenge, in range and forceful-ness, for which he was ready. Nigel and Dee contribute ghostly backup singing. The next track, "Love Song," written by Elton's friend Lesley Duncan, is another that features him singing without piano. Duncan provides harmony and acoustic guitar accompaniment. The second number on the album alien to the overall Western and Southern feel, it constitutes a welcome interlude after all the shooting and dying in the three previous songs. Elton had clamored to get his new band of Tumbleweed Connection and succeeded with "Amoreena," the next song. This provides the only clue of what it was like to hear the group live then. The lyrics are a fictional remembrance of a past love affair with a young, energetic woman of the countryside called Amoreena (a "lusty flower" with a "bronze body"). Very nearly an update, with change of venue, of "First Episode at Hienton", the protagonist here is more obviously amorous. The song allows Elton another foray into the funkiness, with percussive, syncopated piano pulsating about the lyrics, a trademark of his live performances. He also plays organ on the song, and sings the lyrics in a lower voice than elsewhere on the album. he would later attribute this to Van Morrison's influence. "Talking Old Soldiers," which comes next, offers one of the most affecting vocals of Elton's career, though his voice was still developing. As the title implies, the song is a dialogue between two old soldiers. "Old Mad Joe" tells of the terrible things he has seen, hinting that these terrors took his only friends from him, though no one understands or cares ("Well do they know what it's like/to have a graveyard as a friend/'cos that's where they are boy, all of them"). Elton's voice, as piano performance, are heartrending, the piano providing an accompaniment that crescendos with the pain in his voice. The last song on the album, "Burn Down the Mission," is one of the most musically inventive of Elton's career and has provided him with a crowd-raising concert staple. The song includes some of Bernie's most striking imagery: The have-nots ("restless folks") are "getting desperate" and must do more than covet the "fat stock" of the wealthy, proclaiming, "It's time we put the flame torch to their keep." A mob descends on the "mission." After torching it, they hoard what they can ("Take all you need to live inside"). Elton's introductory piano brings to mind a nice, quiet day in the country that, with the chords' increasing speed, gives way to the boiling rage of the populace and a fiery riot. Paul Buckmaster's orchestral arrangement seems unnecessary for the most part, lending too much civility to the recording, but the ending, which features frantic piano chords and an undercurrent of Buckmaster's strings. Successfully suggests the ongoing, frenzied efforts of the rioters. It would be months before Tumbleweed Connection was released. Meanwhile, there were other completed projects, frustrations - and planning for the future. PERSONNEL
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CHARTS Album - Billboard (North America) |
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