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Travis: the tumblewizzle

Tyler: Taupin. John. Connection.

Travis: Tumbleweed Connection, that is. The second(?)(ish?) album from Elton John. What made you single this one out for potential discussion?

Tyler: It’s a personal favorite.  I find myself returning to it as much as any Elton album, and I’m an Elton fan. It’s got so many good tracks, and it’s got a classic Elton John sound that of course is welcome.  That earthy, analog production.  Revisiting it this past week wasn’t difficult in the slightest.  Even the songs I don’t need are worthwhile exercises. Honestly, I figured I might not be able to kick off our discussion without saying something like “Travis, this album is fire.”

Travis: I agree. This is excellent. There are a couple of duds on it for me which we can get into as we go, but 7 or 8 out of 10 is a really good hit rate. The album has a consistent sound and vibe throughout, the songs are good, the instrumentation hits hard where it should. While I’ve come to appreciate Elton John later in life so I’m not too surprised about liking this one quite a bit, preteen-to-teenage Travis could not imagine an Elton John joint that bangs this hard.

By the time I came of age as a music fan, Elton John was the dude who did The Lion King and rereleased “Candle in the Wind” to commemorate Princess Diana. I had really no conception of his rich 1970s catalog, just thought he was another annoying piano guy who made music for children and moms, a la Billy Joel (who I still do not like) and Randy Newman (it’s complicated).

Tumbleweed Connection is …. none of that.

Tyler: Oh, Elton’s image was pretty dated and weak throughout the ‘90s.  And “Candle In The Wind 1997” was a misstep. I had a soft spot for the guy throughout, though, as my folks played a few of his songs frequently in my youth.  We’re talking “I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues” and “Sad Songs (Say So Much).”

Children and moms like Randy Newman?  Toy Story, I suppose.

Travis: Yeah Randy Newman made plenty of plork-plomp children’s music in that era. It seemed like every year he was up for best original song at the Oscars for some piece of shit or other.

I never really had occasion to revisit Elton John as I became more musically openminded in the way I did, say, Rod Stewart, who I was also pretty sure was terrible based on his 80s and 90s output. Not till much later. I inherited the self-titled album when my parents handed over their record collection and realized, oh, this dude made rock and roll music.

That’s the only album of his I’ve really explored in depth beyond the hits, and I think Tumbleweed Connection is…better? Maybe the highs aren’t as high, but the album is more consistent for sure.

(the high of the self-titled for me being “Take Me to the Pilot”)

Tyler: I’ve never wandered back as far as Elton’s self-titled, simply because of middling reviews here and there.  I mean, it’s got “Your Song,” which is perfect, and I know “Take Me To The Pilot” well from its memorable appearance on the very memorable live album 17-11-70.

Eltonian jinx.

Travis: “Take Me to the Pilot” bangs. It also soundtracks some banging, between Eggsy from The Kingsmen and Robb Stark from Game of Thrones, in the Elton John biopic-musical Rocketman.

Tyler: You recommend that flick, right?

Travis: Yeah. It has larger-than-life moments that make it better than the typical music biopic. But, “Take Me to the Pilot” is not on Tumbleweed Connection. And some of TC‘s top jams come close for me, those being in order of excellence according to me, “Where to Now St. Peter?”, “Ballad of a Well-Known Gun,” and “Amoreena.”

I also rock with “Son of Your Father” and “Come Down in Time” pretty hard.

What are your standouts?

Tyler: “Where To Now St. Peter?” is tight.  “Ballad” is a mountainous way to kick off an album.  I’m only shy on “Amoreena” because it’s a song I hear my dad singing in my head, even though he’s never heard it.

“Son Of Your Father” is absolutely bomb.  “Come Down In Time” doesn’t ever grab me right out of the gate, but by the time the chorus arrives, I’m in.

Only a couple non-starters for me all around.  Big question.  Rod’s version or Elton’s of “Country Comfort?”

Travis: I’ll go Rod on that one. “Country Comfort” was my half-dud, I’m not buying Elton’s twang in the chorus.

Tyler: I’m biased.  I go Elton.  “That ain’t natural!”

I might cut “Talking Old Soldiers.”  Nothing particularly wrong with it, and highlighting Elton alone with his piano is a fine idea.  I’m not always feeling it on this collection, though.  Not that I don’t always like when someone refers to a “glass of beer,” as opposed to a mug or bottle.

Travis: My other duds were “Love Song” (just doesn’t grab me) and “My Father’s Gun” (similar pieces to the rest of the album, but it doesn’t fit together right to me, and drags). “Talking Old Soldiers” didn’t bug me but it wasn’t a favorite. It felt like it fit though.

Tyler: I kinda dig “Love Song.”  Oddly enough, “My Father’s Gun” was the very first song I heard from Tumbleweed Connection, used as it was in a long early online trailer for Elizabethtown.

Travis: A comment on “Amoreena”: the “western” stuff feels shoved in, like hey we wrote this good song but we gotta make it fit on this album, quick, rhyme “cattle town’ with “eiderdown.” None of this makes me like the song any less, just kinda funny.

Tyler: Bernie Taupin, man.

Travis: I think the concept here allows ol’ Bernie to shine. Sometimes I can find his lyrics overwritten and precious and saved by Elton John’s extreme gifts of melody and composition, but not here.

Meredith Baxter Bernie Taupin.

Tyler: Bernie’s inscrutable streak can wear me thin, but yes, absolutely he is on point here.  He’s doing some real storytelling.

Travis: Additionally, there’s some great musicianship going on here. Mixing R&B and country and blues and occasionally little hints of English folk without any of it turning corny. I love the guitar work throughout. “Son of Your Father” is downright funky.

Tyler: Ain’t it though! As noted, I’m all about “Son Of Your Father.”

Travis: And like you mentioned, the warm analog sound. They literally do not make records like this anymore. The equipment is all gone!

Tyler: Back in 2001, Elton released a damn solid album entitled Songs From The West Coast, an open effort to recapture the sound you describe, and Elton acknowledged that you can’t recapture Gus Dudgeon production, not least digitally.  Gus was really onto something.

Travis: Random notes on Tumbleweed Connection:

It’s amusing to hear Elton sing “the Pinkertonnnnnnnnns” in “Ballad of a Well-Known Gun.”

“Come Down in Time” reminds me of some of the softer Led Zeppelin songs. Though if Led Zeppelin did it, there would be lyrics about ringwraiths.

“Where to Now St. Peter” has one of those familiar melodies that feels eternal. Like I’m pretty sure I never heard it until sitting down to listen to this album but it feels familiar in a good way.

I wouldn’t have minded if they toned down the strings JUST a bit on “Burn Down the Mission”

Tyler: See, “Burn Down The Mission” is a classic Elton anthem that’s never quite won me over.  I bet it crushes live.  On tape, I’m never blown away.

My random note on “Where To Now St. Peter” is that it’s always fun to hear that Brit pronunciation of “St.”  “Sinn-Peter.”

I know you weren’t grabbed by “Love Song,” but I’m a fan.  Got a softness to it that we both appreciate in “Come Down In Time.”

Travis: Perhaps it will grow on me. I anticipate this being an album I revisit.

Tyler: I’m happy to hear that.

It’s really good!

The album, I mean.

Travis: Oh one other thing I wanted to mention. Based on this album, I’m guessing that Elton John is a big fan of Ray Charles’s Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music.

Which I am as well.

Tyler: Elton used to hit up record stores on release day and buy all the new CDs.  Dude has got an appetite for music old and new.

Travis: To create some continuity with previous entries. Just as I hate critics calling Dylan “Zimmy,” I also do not dig them referring to Elton John as “Reg'”

Tyler: Reg Strikes Back is an album from the dark late-‘80s Elton era.

Travis: So as a relative newbie to the Elton John canon, where should one go after enjoying Tumbleweed Connection?

Tyler: Madman Across The Water and Honky Chateau are wonderful examples of this Elton sound, both featuring at least a couple of classic radio staples.  Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy is awesome and features “Someone Saved My Life Tonight.”  Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is one I’m exploring more as the years go by, and it is good.

The ’01 one I mentioned, Songs From The West Coast, really is a good one as well.

17-11-70, finally, is a shredder that I wager will speak to you.

Elton John: transcendent musician, and seemingly tremendous human being.  How rare, and lovely.

Travis: Indeed. I personally find his journey out of the depths of addiction into long-term sobriety inspiring as well. It’s a music industry cliché at this point probably but he’s one of the few that came out the other end. Beyond that, I don’t have much else to say. Tumbleweed Connection is, as The Source magazine might say, a 5-mic album.

Tyler: His is a damned inspiring story indeed.  He’s a survivor, and here in 2022 he’s still making collaborations that top a billion streams on Spotify.  Simply magnificent.

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