MUSIC REVIEWS
Elton John - The Captain & The Kid
David Allun Jones
Since 2001’s surprising return-to-form Songs From The West Coast, Elton John has made it his current passion to reclaim the spirit of his best days. Back alongside lyricist Bernie Taupin, the duo have lost none of the chemistry that brought about the lengthy list of amazing music they created in the late ‘60’s and ‘70’s. With The Captain & The Kid, John and Taupin take things a step further with a personalized set of songs that reflect on their long-lasting partnership and endearing legacy in a immaculately realized concept that stands proudly next to the work it evokes.
Hinted at by the title, The Captain & The Kid is a continuation of Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, the 1975 classic that gloriously captured their earliest days as musicians. Picking up where that album left off, we get a chance to live through the career highs and personal lows that came about as their bank accounts bulged and music soared. As subtle strokes of country, bluegrass, gospel and rockabilly glaze John’s polished piano-pop in a Broadway-like retro allure, Elton opens up his diary, taking us on a ride through the past “Quantum Leap”-style. “Postcards From President Nixon” captures E&B first touching down on US soil with the horrors of Vietnam War serving as a reality-checking backdrop to their new-found fame. Awe-stricken as a fantastical place brought to life, the album’s earlier tracks relish upon America as a magical land of treasured landmarks (“Through Brian Wilson’s promised land/ Where Disney’s God and he commands”) where the rock star lifestyle can be fully imagined.
As album sales plummet, we follow as the end of Elton and Bernie’s stay at the top is painfully relived, leading to a series of revealing, introspective records that unfold like the mid-section of an “E! True Hollywood Story”. No longer the delicate sprite of yesteryear, Elton’s aged voice brings upon a defiant sturdiness as he narrates his darkest days. “Godzilla came in disguise/ Tore the building down right before our eyes”, John muses on “Tinderbox”, followed by the ghoulish laughter and finger-snapping melody that supports “And The House Fell Down” where “a diet of cocaine and wine” has become the new reality. After admitting luck of surviving such a period of despair on the powerful “Blues Never Fade Away”, John and Taupin spend the remainder of the album stuck in an adult pop wasteland, delving into the bland mush that ruined the singer’s output in the ‘80 and ‘90’s. The quality and lyricism remain top-of-the-notch as this inspired duo stay true to the on-going saga, but the sentiment does tend to veer a little too far into Hallmark territory on the final tracks as the two fondly sum up their enduring union.
That The Captain & The Kid accomplishes it’s conceptual goal in such nearly perfect fashion is a testament to the unnerving chemistry that Elton and Bernie share. This is an album that sticks to the seemingly lost idea of having a beginning and end while also doing well in succeeding in individual terms the way it does as a whole. It would’ve been nice to hear more of the gaudy, homo-kitsch that they mastered during the Captain Fantastic days, a vibe that would’ve completed this journey to the past and taken away from the middle-aged prose that somewhat stunts this album, but even without that fun touch, The Captain & The Kid still positions itself as being a marvelous presentation of how a lyric writer and piano player once took the world by storm.
