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Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player

Elton John - Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player Audio CD

A fair review of the Elton John "Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Elton John reviews here, or go back to the Elton John tabs.

Band: Elton John
Title: Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player
Rating:

Release Date: 1996-02-20
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Daniel 2: Teacher I Need You 3: Elderberry Wine 4: Blues for My Baby and Me 5: Midnight Creeper 6: Have Mercy on the Criminal 7: I'm Gonna Be a Teenage Idol 8: Texan Love Song 9: Crocodile Rock 10: High Flying Bird 11: Screw You (Young Man's Blues) [*] 12: Jack Rabbit [*] 13: Whenever You're Ready (We'll Go Steady Again) [*] 14: Skyline Pigeon [Piano Version][*]

A High Flying Bird of a Great Album
In rating this album it would have scored higher if not for the mixed bag of the bonus tracks on the re-master. Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only the Piano Player - (1973) 14 tracks (4 Bonus) **** (56:25)

The Don't Shoot Me album is another great 70's era Elton John album with many excellent 5 star songs, including Daniel, Blues for My Baby and Me, Have Mercy On the Criminal, and one of my favorites, High Flying Bird, and many other really good tracks you may not have ever heard before. Over all, they did not help the album. The piano version of Skyline Pigeon is good, as is Screw You (Young Man's Blues) is also, but Jack Rabbit is a throwaway song and Whenever You're Ready (We'll Go Steady Again) is mediocre at best. This album contains many very good songs that you probably have never heard on the radio because they are not "hits", but, none the less, are very good songs. In fact, minus the bonus tracks, this album is filled with nothing but 4 and 5 star songs and would easily end up in the top 5 of 70's era Elton John albums. It comes in just behind Captain Fantastic on my list.
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THE QUINTESSENTIAL ALBUM THAT MAKES ONE MISS THE 70'S
This landmark release encapsules what would be Elton's very first Top 5 singles, including the #2 Daniel and what would be Reggie Dwight's first chart-topper, namely the unforgettable Crocodile Rock. Released between the progressive Honky Chateau and the all-time classic double-LP, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, is the often overlooked and underrated Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player.

Besides being a disc that contained what were then Elton's biggest hits, it included some interesting tunes that received their share of airplay on FM radio, including Teacher, I Need You, Elderberry Wine, and High Flying Bird. These songs were intertwined with other tracks that would shed light on an Elton John who was carefree when necessary and yet was somber in the same respect.

I would not say that Don't Shoot Me. . . is Elton's very best, but if any particular work of art ever showcased an Elton John who seemed to let loose and enjoy life after having heavy burdens lifted, then that was it. Arguably, the energy emanated ideally reflects what many fondly remember about 1973. Not only was that when Don't Shoot Me. . . was released, but it was also a time when, for millions, several days, months, and years of perpetual worry and stress over domestic and international affairs, including wartime combat, were finally coming to a close.

Again, Don't Shoot Me. . is probably the release that perfectly highlighted Elton's lighthearted and serious sides, with the first part serving as a continuation of the humor nicely put forth in Honky Chateau and the second part, which would pave the way for pensive songs that would come to summarize the first phase of Elton's career and thus complete the first volume of his greatest hits, including Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me. .

A landmark album for Elton
Four bonus tracks have been added to this re-issue but (unlike some of Elton's other re-issues) none of the bonus tracks were A-side singles. Some people may now remember this album as the one before Goodbye yellow brick road, but this was an important album that remains one of Elton's best. In fact, they were all originally released as B-sides, one of them being a re-recording of Skyline pigeon, originally released on Empty sky. The re-recording features Elton playing piano instead of harpsichord.

As originally released, the main album became the first Elton John album to top the British album charts. It was also the first album to spawn two British top five singles hits. In America, this was Elton's second chart-topping album. The two singles both made the top three there, with Crocodile rock (a look back at the rock'n'roll era) giving Elton his first American number one single hit. The other single, Daniel, was originally written about a Vietnam war veteran but, like many great songs, it can be interpreted to mean a lot of different things.

There are many other excellent songs on this album including Texan love song, which the writer of the liner notes suggests may be some kind of tribute to country singer Merle Haggard (never mind that the Hag is Californian). That's possible - Elton once recorded a duet with Tammy Wynette and later covered Stand by your man, for in her memorial album, so he has shown some interest in country music - but I'm not sure if it's true.

Other excellent songs include Blues for my baby and me, Midnight creeper (with its references to Tina Turner), I'm going to be a teenage idol and High flying bird. This has always been one of my favorite Elton John albums and remains so.

Great SHM-CD Sound!
(That's what many of you who are thinking of repurchasing the CD are probably wondering about anyway. Since most of us can sing this soundtrack of our youth word-for-word in its entirety, and since others here have detailed the songs with much more detail and authority than I can, I'll just stick to the SHM sound quality. )

I own a few of these CD's and am a big fan of them. The sound is crisp and clear, and there's a lot of air in the reproduction. It's true that they are pricey, but to me, it's worth the few extra dollars. I don't think you will be blown away by the technology, but if clean sound and subtle nuances are important to you, then I think you'll be satisfied with this CD. I certainly am.

A good album enhanced by strong bonus tracks
Usually b-sides are throwaways but all four collected here are worth owning. "Don't Shoot Me" was a good album to begin with, one of Elton's best pop efforts, but with the addition of four solid b-sides from his 1973 singles, this becomes a four and a half star collection. Three of the four are included on the "To Be Continued. . . " box set. All four are compiled on the odds-n-ends catchall "Rare Masters".

The best of the four b-sides is the remake of "Skyline Pigeon". This was originally the b-side of "Daniel". What a great a/b pairing that was - I went through two copies of the 45 specifically for that song and have just replaced the crackly warped second copy with Amazon's mp3 download. This ballad originally appeared on Elton's debut effort, "Empty Sky", but you'll find this version much more polished and, simply put, much better.

"Whenever You're Ready" and "Jack Rabbit" appeared together as the b-side to "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting", the rare single from Elton's powerhouse years that didn't blast into the top ten. And "Young Man's Blues", the b-side of "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", is sometimes more recognized by its catchphrase, "Screw You". These were four of Elton's best b-sides ever. Later non-album b-sides such as "Cold Highway" and "Sick City" just didn't measure up to the expectations set by these tracks.

As for the album itself, it was supported by two great singles, "Daniel" and "Crocodile Rock". Another two tracks, the tedious "Have Mercy on the Criminal" and "Midnight Creeper", were the kind of filler that inspired you to lift the needle from the vinyl album and skip to the next track or flip the album. The other six songs were uniformly strong. Thirty years later most of them still sound pretty good, they've aged well. Oh, if I were downloading just the best tracks, "Texan Love Song" would be the kind of hateful little number I'd leave on the cutting room floor but that's a quibble.

If you've already got one of the many 'best of' collections and are just looking to pick up a couple of the best album cuts to complement "Daniel" and "Crocodile Rock", start with the ballad "High Flying Bird", follow up with the rocker "Elderberry Wine", and make sure you get the bonus track "Skyline Pigeon" in there somewhere as well. Any more than that and you might as well pay for the whole collection. . . and it'd be worth it.
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You can see a complete list of all Elton John discography, or go back to the Elton John tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.