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The Captain and the Kid

Elton John - The Captain and the Kid Audio CD

A fair review of the Elton John "The Captain and the Kid" 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: The Captain and the Kid
Rating:

Release Date: 2006-09-19
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Postcards From Richard Nixon 2: Just Like Noah's Ark 3: Wouldn't Have You Any Other Way (NYC) 4: Tinderbox 5: And The House Fell Down 6: Blues Never Fade Away 7: The Bridge 8: I Must Have Lost It On The Wind 9: Old '67 10: The Captain And The Kid

One of his best!
I heard this album before I ever heard Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy and instantly fell in love with it. I am a younger generation fan of Elton, so I'm familiar firstly with his more current material from the 90's and 2000's. To me, this is one of his best albums, and is great from beginning to end. I've since heard Captain Fantastic and while there are some timeless classic songs on that album (Someone Saved My Life Tonight, Curtains, We All Fall in Love Sometimes), I prefer this album, and feel it's much more cohesive and really tells a great story with each song. You really feel the journey Bernie and Elton have been on the last 30 years through the lyrics and Elton's piano riffs on some of these songs are just fantastic. "Just Like Noah's Ark," "And The House Fell Down," & "The Bridge" are good examples. The only song on the album I'm not terribly fond of is "I Wouldn't Have You Any Other Way," but it's not a terrible song. My favorites are "The Bridge," "The Captain & the Kid," "And the House Fell Down," and "Tinderbox," but really I enjoy them all. It's amazing after all these years they still have it! They should be extremely proud of this work! .

Another Elton Classic
This album recaptures none of that same Majic!! It Can't!!! This isn't the 70's. To compare this to "CAPTAIN FANTASTIC" is as stupid as comparing "BAND ON THE RUN" or "MIND GAMES" to SGT PEPPER!!!
You cannot re-capture (Unfortunately) the feeling of a classic time or album like that (Captain Fantastic) and trying to compare this to it is simply Stupid!!
Man weren't the 70's a blast, and Elton is one of the reasons. . . SORRY. I'm sure those of you who grew up listening to albums in there rooms in the 70's after THE MIDNIGHT SPECIAL on Friday night will understand what I'm sayin'.
Great album tho!!

John L. Book
Palm Springs, Ca.

The Captain and the Kid
The album chronicles the events in the lives of Elton John and Bernie Taupin for the last 40 years since they started working together. The Captain and the Kid being Elton John's 2006 release and his 29th studio album is his second autobiographical album and picks up where the 1975 release Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy left of. Songs that can be said to stand out on this release are "The Bridge", "Postcards From Richard Nixon" "Wouldn't Have You Any Other Way (NYC)". The book-let is a mixed bag with nice photos of Elton John and Taupin. The lyrics are easy to read and we get a nice list of whom plays what on the album. 4/5.

Elton John - The Story Continues.......
The album continues the autobiographical tale of Elton and Bernie Taupin's rise to fame, fortune, drugs, loss and redemption in the music business. Elton's latest album is a sequel to the 1975 album "Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy". Hopes were that the album would capture some of the magic from Elton's 70's heyday. On that level the album only half succeeds. Elton's voice is significantly different today from when the first album came out and the music seems to follow a more soft, at times almost country-ish bent not all that different from albums like "Honkey Ch�teau". Nothing really rocks here, which may or may not be a turn off depending on how you like your Elton. On first listen I was quite disappointed with this disc, but I have to admit that with repeated listenings many of the songs grew on me. Highlights include "Postcards From Richard Nixon", "Blues Never Fade Away", and "The Captain And The Kid". These songs rank right up there with Elton's better work over the years. The rest of the album is good enough, although nothing mind blowing. Overall I don't think that this one quite captures what Elton and Bernie were trying to achieve and it can't quite measure up to the duo's 70's hey day, but it is a solid Elton John album that is worth picking up. Give this one several listens and some of it's subtle charms will begin to grow on you.

A Musicians review of the album
The songs themselves are very good and could stand up to quite well to a lot of his artistic output over the years. **This review is based on the music, lyrics, and production value of the album**

"The Captain and The Kid" is an album with very well written and inspired tracks that lacks from an overall 'production' point-of-view. . . But this albums achillies heal is the overall 'sound' that it produced. . Here's a quick rundown of the overall 'idea and sound' of this album:

Lyrically, Bernie's still on fire. . Since 2001's 'Songs from the west coast', Bernie Taupin has been displaying a newly invigorated and inspired sense to his lyrics that were sorely missing for the better of almost 2 decades. . NOT saying that his lyrics were bad in that time, I'm simply saying that his recent lyrics are showing signs of that character-based, metaphoricle paintings in peoples minds that he was so quickly churning out in the early 70's. I believe this has always been the key to whether or not Elton's albums/songs have been successful. . .

Musically, here Elton is writing very simple yet diverse styles of music and melodies to accompany the lyrics. . Centered mostly around slow tempoed pop arrangements, each of the tracks have enough catchy melody and hooks to keep each one of the tracks interesting. One might say that the slower tempos of the songs could get a bit much and the listener wants the album to pick up a bit, but what I like is how the dirtiness or 'energy' of the songs themselves compensate for the lack of upbeat tempos. A lot of the melodies are standouts and Elton's piano playing and voice is definitely in the forefront of each track, which is how it should be. . :o)

Now my only gripe about the album is completely from the production standpoint. The tracks are well written, Obviously they are well performed. . I just really do not like the mixing and production value this album ended up with. Personally to me the album sounds like an unfinished demo. . Elton really should have had some help in having a professional mixer and masterer put their hands on it and give the album a bit more sparkle and shine to make the songs more 'accessible'. Mastering gives the album more intensity and energy. . Though I completely respect that he was probably going for that 'in the room as we recorded it' feel, the final product ended up sounding uneventful and middle of the road. A good production can be a huge key to whether or not someone without much musical knowledge will like an 'album' or not. . This to me is the difference between "Songs from the west coast" and "The captain". . Songs was produced to a fine 'T', and this album's feel suffers because of that.

Again, I'm not saying this album is bad. . The songs themselves are great, the performances are great. . Just as an average listener when you purchase this important piece of the Elton John Puzzle, please look past the 'demo' sound and really listen to those brilliant lyrics and exceptional melodies. .

All The Best,
-Andy Anderson-.

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