Review Summary: looking back over the past 30 years since the release of the original captain fantastic album, elton john and bernie taupin trace their lives and often tumultuous relationships (both personal and professional) in an attempt to update the classic.
And you can't go back and if you try it fails
Looking up ahead I see a rusty nail
A sign hanging from it saying "Truth for sale"
And that's what we did
No lies at all just one more tale
About the Captain and the Kid
so sings elton john in the title track to his new cd, the captain and the kid, an album which is devoted to either proving or putting the lie to the above statement, depending, i think, upon the reaction of the listener as much as the intent of sir elton and lyricist bernie taupin. by intentionally invoking, both lyrically and musically, perhaps his most famous (and certainly one of my favorite) early albums, from the first time one reads the title of the cd, elton is not only setting up certain expectations, but also setting the listener up for what is contained within, a personal exploration of the journey both he and taupin have been on over the past 30 years since the original's release.
perhaps his most personal cd in decades, it begins with the track "postcards from richard nixon" a song exploring the duo's initial arrival in the united states and their reaction not only to what was going on in the world but also to what was happening in their personal lives as they began to deal not only with this new country that they found themselves in, " And Richard Nixon's on his knees he's sent so many overseas / He'd like to know if you and me could help him in some way / A little camouflage and glue to mask the evil that men do / A small diversion caused by two, pale kids come to play / And we heard Richard Nixon say 'welcome to the USA'"
but also with their newfound fame "Neither of us understood the way things ticked in Hollywood / We just loaded in and grabbed the bat / With little room to swing a cat / And pretty soon we were where it's at / Or so the papers say". it's a dual theme that carries on throughtout the cd, with the personal/professional themes being carried into songs such as "just like noah's ark" (an exploration of being gay in the 70's), "tinderbox" (expressing the often explosive relationship, both personal and professional between the two), "i must have lost it on the wind" (a somewhat confessional track dealing with the period of elton's life when he was having trouble with both drugs an his personal sense of identity) and "the bridge" (answering the question of how one matures when most of his adult life - indeed, the largest part of his life - has been spent in to music industry). the theme of elton's love for his newfound homeland and dealing with the issues presented here also resurfaces in "wouldn't have you any other way" (a love song, yes, but not to taupin or any other person, but rather to new york city), and "blues never fade away" (a response / tribute to those who have fallen to aids).
lyrically, then, there is a lot going on in these ten tracks, but how does it hold up musically? does the john/taupin team still have it thirty years later? or have sir elton's years of writing programmers for disney films and broadway plays (he is currently penning the music for lestat opening next year) dulled the edge that brought us fiery tracks like "benny and the jets" "saturday's all right (for a fight)" and even the original "captain fantastic"? honestly, the opening track ("postcards from richard nixon") though satisfying on it's own, seemed a bit ominous, as its balladry would not be out of place on the broadway stage as the opening song for any "new kid n town" type play. upon listening to it, i was immediately filled with foreboding that the entire cd wold be similar. fortunately, those fears were displaced with the very next track "just like noah's ark". from it's bluesy opening cords to it's pumping drum track, it became quickly obvious that sir elton had not forgotten his reginald dwight roots and remembered how to rock the house. from there on, the tracks in many ways are as evocative of different periods of elton's life musically as they are lyrically, with, for example, "and the house fell down" reminiscent of his mid-eighties sound characterised by the tom bell sessions and too low for zero. then, of course, things finally come full circle, with the opening and closing bars of "the captain and the kid" echoing those of the original "captain fantastic".
from a production standpoint, the cd is definitely pared down. for some this will be a problem, especially those used to over-produced studio albums, but for this listener it allows the focus to be less on what is being done to the music and more on the quality of the lyrics and elton's vocals and piano playing, which, on an album that is a celebration of exactly those things and, in the end, of the partnership not only between john and taupin but of the partnership that also exists between their music and lyrics, is exactly as it should be.
so, which is it? does the cd put the lie to the "you can't go back and if you try it fails" lyric? for this listener, yes. and no. it is certainly a cd that does whatit sets out to do, namely explore where both elton and bernie have been over the past thirty years and bring those experiences to their listeners. and yet at the same time, it seems to come so full circle, to bring so much closure to these years that it also can't help to lead one to wonder "what's next?" "where do they go from here?" for elton and bernie, perhaps that is a good thing as it certainly opens up possibilities for whatever their next project together might be. for me, i think it means a trip back onto rhapsody to relisten to and savor the original captain fantastic once again.
