Elton John - Here And There (1976) Album Score: 12

What a cool live album! This package contains two CDs that were filled to the brim with 25 tracks. This is quite a dramatic change from the original LP release, which contained just eight tracks on a single record. I typically ignore CD-age additions to an album released in the vinyl-age, but this is an obvious exception. According to the All-Music Guide, the original release of the album was viewed as a sort of tossed-off contractual obligation. Whether or not that’s true, this is a really fabulous collection of his live performances in the mid-1970s! Elton John apparently loved putting on live shows, and it shows. Even in his 60s, he seems to delight touring the world and performing to his screaming fans who never seem to thin out! He oftentimes gives these performances all that he can give them, and his back-up band is as solid as it gets.

Though every review of this album comes with the disclaimer that 11-17-1970 remains the guy’s ultimate live album. No one can deny that 11-17-1970 showed Elton in a much more raucous state. He wasn’t very famous back then, and most of his hugely popular ballads weren’t even composed yet. This gave him the freedom to make it an incredibly energetic rock ‘n’ roll album where he played the piano in a tremendous flurry and he could sing until his lungs practically exploded! (In fact, he didn’t even have a lead guitarist there, so he *really* had to go at it.) By the mid-1970s, Elton John had already assumed the role of a respectable pop statesman. His vocal performances were far more reserved, he had a full band (including a full brass section), and people expected him to sing all those wimpy songs (including two renditions of “Your Song”). But on the other hand, I love all those wimpy songs, and this is pretty much the only place where you’ll find them performed live. Sure, the studio versions are superior to these live renditions; they typically had better vocal performances and the arrangements were usually better when they were polished. But they’re solid renditions nonetheless, so this collection is something that real Elton John fans should treasure.

The album is titled Here and There. “Here” is The Royal Festival Hall in London, and “There” is Madison Square Garden in Blue Fork City. He seems to concentrate on his earlier material in the first disc, starting with a touching rendition of Skyline Pigeon from his 1969 debut and covering his Tumbleweed Connection stuff fairly thoroughly. The second disc has more extensive coverage of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road including (to my great delight) a full-length version of his masterpiece “Funeral For a Friend / Love Lies Bleeding.” From this information, however, I can’t really say if his concerts were actually *like* that, or they simply programmed the live disc to sort of progress quasi-chronologically through his discography. Probably a little bit of both.

Isn’t it great to hear him sing all his great, classic songs? “Burn Down the Mission,” “Honky Cat,” “Crocodile Rock,” “Candle in the Wind,” “Rocket Man,” “Bennie and the Jets,” “Daniel,” “Don’t Let the Sun Shine Down on Me” ..... they’re all there! (Well, “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” is nowhere to be found, for some reason. Why didn’t he include a version of that instead of performing “Your Song” twice? Ah well.) As if that wasn’t enough, Here and There has an incredible historical significance that has nothing to do with Elton John. This album contains John Lennon’s final public concert performance. Yeah! The Walrus himself comes out on stage to sing with Elton on three tracks. One of the songs was “Whatever Gets You Through the Night,” which the two worked on together. And they also do a fun performance of “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” and an incredibly exciting performance of “I Saw Her Standing There.” It was good enough that we heard Elton John concert performances through this, but having John Lennon in here is an added and verrrrrry valuable addition.

It might not be as exciting as 11-17-1970, but this is a remarkable live album all the same and a fantastic bargain, too (for two CDs it costs roughly the same price as one of his regular albums). Don’t expect these live versions to be superior to the studio versions (because they’re not ... not at all), but this is still something that every Elton John fan ought to love having.

TRACKS

Skyline Pigeon A

I’m not going to get too detailed with these song reviews. I hope you understand. I’m not the god of rock reviewing! So... here we go... Elton John himself introduces this as the first song that he and Bernie Taupin ever felt excited about. And it’s quite clear why. It’s a GREAT SONG!!! All he does is sit down and sing his heart out with the piano. Basically, that’s I need in life. Very simple. Very elegant. The melody is one of those hopelessly classic things that only Elton John could have written. Yes!

Border Song A-

Once again, all you really need in life is Elton John singing one of his classic tunes and the piano. It sort of adds an extra dimension to his songs when he does that. When the drum comes in halfway through, I almost want to just flick it away. It doesn’t need that. Off with ye!

Take Me to the Pilot A-

This is one of his more rock ‘n’ roll “obscure” tunes, so he needed other instruments than him and the piano. We hear some electric guitar and a busy drum track. There’s a bit of a jammy part toward the end, but they don’t pretend that they’re Cream or anything, so it’s all very tolerable. The guitarist doesn’t think he’s the god of guitarists. He solos for a bit, and he’s through. A fine fellow indeed.

Country Comfort A-

Aw such a pretty song! It’s one of the few country-western sorts of songs that I completely adore. It’s very genuine, doesn’t rely on cliches and give me this singer over any of those real country-western singers any day. Even those really long, long slide guitar notes in the middle of the song was a cool, non-cliched idea.

Love Song B+

I didn’t care for the original incarnation of the song, but how could it be bad if it is from a classic Elton John album? Alright, I still find it to be a little drab I suppose, but I think the heavier instrumentation here makes it a little more enjoyable. And there’s even a nice, non-flashy electric guitar solo in here. Cool. Quite a bit more engaging than the original, I think.

Bad Side of the Moon B+

This reminds me that Elton John had that other live album 11-17-1970, which also has this song on it. That was quite an exciting live album, and you can hear him give a more boisterous performance there! I guess he was younger and not a statesman yet! But this version is still very good. It goes on for almost eight minutes, but they had a good hook to sustain it, and there’s a really pleasant and reserved jamming session in the middle.

Burn Down the Mission A

This was such a beautiful song from Tumbleweed Connection and it was an excellent idea for them to do another rendition of it here. They manage to extend it to well over eight minutes, and they fill it out with some exciting rock ‘n’ roll jams. (Seriously, these are about as good as it gets for live jams without sounding wanky.) Very fun!

Honky Cat A

I asks ya? Does it get any better than this? I suppose I’d take the original over this one, because this doesn’t have that cool skiffle groove. But still. It doesn’t get better than Elton John singing one of his classic tunes with his piano (and a drum beat and a little bit ‘o electric guitar). It’s extended about two minutes more than the original... but he could have kept playing it for 20 more minutes considering how solid this hook is. He lets the band evolve a bit with it, too, so it never grows tedious. ......and someone sounds like they were opening and closing a door in the middle of this. Erm..... And there’s some fun audience participation at the end ...... they all get to sing “wooooooo!” with him...

Crocodile Rock A-

Oh man! Now he’s singing one of the most fun songs that he’s ever done. Of course, it’s that cutesy ‘50s nostalgia pop thing. You all know it. Somehow, though, I think the band ought to have played this a little more tightly... and Elton’s voice isn’t mixed that well. Fun song, though!

Candle in the Wind B+

What would an Elton John concert be without this classic? While a classic it might be, this does seem to be an awfully straitlaced rendition of it. Nothing special about the vocal performance or anything. Should I count it down for that? ........ I suppose.

Your Song A

I hope you don’t mind, but this is a very pretty rendition of this excellent tune. Again, it’s just Elton with his trusty old piano, and that’s all it needed. I can’t say that about too many songwriters. Most of them write bland music that need all the accompaniment they can get. But not Elton.

Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting B

This concludes the “Here” portion of this collection, and he decides to go out with a BANG! Again, I wish I could hear Elton’s voice more clearly... he fades away pretty badly in here. Though I guess this is supposed to be more of a dance song, so the instrumentalists are playing as loud as they can!

Funeral For a Friend / Love Lies Bleeding A

Elton John skipped the Atlantic, landed in Madison Square Garden, and delivered a rousing rendition of his masterpiece from Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Naturally, the original was finely produced and this looser version doesn’t quite pack the same punch. But anyway, this is a great note to open any concert with. It has that extended instrumental intro, which means Elton can sort of gradually enter the stage ... first he comes on to play the piano, and then the audience gets to hear them sing.

Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going to Be a Long Long Time) A

The Americans get all the cool songs! Elton John’s touching sci-fi epic is played here to good effect. There are only minimal instruments ... just him, a piano, and an electric guitar making bending space noises. This is one of my favorite songs of his, so I’ll listen to it anywhere...

Take Me to the Pilot A-

Hey, this song was already on here before!! ...Oh man, you mean he performs the same songs in England as he does America? ... Um ... I guess that’s OK. But why do we need to hear this twice?? I suppose this version has more of a rollicking pace, and it has that rather bare, extended introduction. So, there was good reason to have this twice I guess.

Bennie and the Jets A-

I was never the biggest fan of the original, and I still haven’t seen what everybody sees in it! ...But it’s not like I hate it or anything. The best thing the original had going for it was Elton John’s incredible piano, which evolved to grow more violent toward the end... If you also liked that, you won’t be disappointed here. He plays the juice out of it!!

Grey Seal B+

At first, this is a very straightforward rendition of that more rock ‘n’ rolling song from Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. It’s an excellent song, of course, but probably not one of the more inspired performances on the album. At the end, they go incredibly nuts by the end of this, reverting to an energetic rock jam sort of thing. It’s aimless energy, but kinda cool.

Daniel A

He doesn’t bother switching out his regular piano for an electric one, so this is a little bit nicer than the original. Naturally, this is one of his finer ballads, and I’m sure you all know it by heart.

You’re so Static B

He bring in a full scale brass band for this one, and they can bring some swing to the tune! Though this track from Caribou was far from my favorite piece from that album, they give a very rousing rendition of it here, and I’m sure it created dancing in the aisles!

Whatever Gets You Through the Night A-

And here comes John Lennon in his last public stage appearance ever. I know an Elton John record is the last place you’d expect to find that, but here it is. John Lennon’s last public live performance ever. The only reason that he showed up was because he lost a bet with Elton... Elton thought this song would make it to the top of the charts, and Lennon didn’t. Anyway, here he is giving a rousing rendition of the center of the bet. Neither of them takes lead vocals... they just sing it together. There’s even someone playing a colorful saxophone solo.

Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds A

And together they sing this incredibly obscure song!!! ... Elton John also happened to release a cover of this himself, which can be heard on the Captain Fantastic bonus tracks. And what an exciting rendition of this it is! They use that back-up band to full effect, and we can hear both of these guys have the time of their life singing the crap out of the chorus. Very cool!

I Saw Her Standing There A

This isn’t the sort of song you’d expect John Lennon to revive at such a stage in his career, but here it is in all its glory! They’re having even more fun singing the crap out of this than they did in the previous track. Elton John gets to live his fantasy of being a member of The Beatles, if that’s what he was shooting for! And the brass band is still there lending the experience some kick.

Don’t Let the Sun Shine Down on Me A-

John Lennon left the stage, of course, and so Elton goes back to performing his regular songs. Just like it was in the studio version, he takes two minutes to get to the chorus, but when he does, it’s like magic! The studio version was better though, because his vocals were more passionate. I’d imagine he was a little tired at this point after singing the crap out of the previous song!

Your Song A

It’s been so long that I almost forgot that there was already a version of this song on the album! Oh well, this is one of those songs that I can hear time after time and never grow tired of it. He’s playing this more directly to the audience (well he dedicates it to them ... plus we can hear them erupt in cheers throughout this). It’s quite a rousing vocal performance, too, and he does some frilly things that weren’t present in the original.

The Bitch is Back A

And the whole freaking album ends with an incredibly exciting rendition of what’s widely considered Elton’s most hard rocking song ever written. That horn section also helps give that glammy classic some extra swing! What a fun live album!