Captain Fantastic: The Definitive Biography of Elton John in the '70s by David DeCouto

Author:David DeCouto [DeCouto, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Triple Wood Press
Published: 2016-11-17T00:00:00+00:00

After having succeeded so well in Great Britain, “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me” was released in America on June 10. The harmony-soaked ballad bettered its performance in England, peaking at Number 2. Another Gold single for Elton, the mellifluent ballad would also earn another him a pair of Grammy nominations, for Pop Vocalist of the Year, Male, and Record of the Year.

The single’s mothership, Caribou, was issued in America two weeks later. The album proved that the public’s appetite for all things Elton had only grown more voracious in the interceding months since his last long-playing release had debuted. Caribou entered the charts at Number 5 on Billboard’s Top 200, only the fifth album to ever make so high a debut. Four days later, the disc was released in Elton’s homeland. It quickly reached the coveted Number 1 spot in both countries, and would remain in the charts for well over a year. Caribou would also prove popular across the globe, reaching the Top 20 in Japan and New Zealand, Number 6 in Italy and Norway, Number 5 in Yugoslavia, and Number 1 in Australia, Canada and Denmark.

The album featured the most striking cover yet, with a photograph of Elton—taken in a miniscule studio office above a Chinese laundry off of 3rd and Sycamore in L.A.—posing jauntily before a stylized Maxfield Parrish-esque backdrop in black, red-trimmed trousers, his tiger-skin bomber jacket, six-inch platform heels and oversized pink-tinted glasses. Inside was a pull-out sleeve with the lyrics printed on one side and a hand-tinted black-and-white portrait of the star on the other. Taken by Ed Caraeff, the pin-up-like photograph was the result of serendipity. “When the [photo] session finished,” album art designer David Larkham said, “Ed and I followed [Elton] out to his car. And as he got into the back seat, Ed said, ‘Elton’, and Elton looked up just as Ed pressed the button for the last shot of the day.”

Critical reaction to the album, while mostly positive, was not quite as glowing as it had been for its predecessor. “I give up,” Robert Christgau wrote in the Village Voice. “Of course [Elton’s] a machine, but haven’t you ever loved a machine so much it took on its own personality? I was reminded of my first car, a ‘50 Plymouth. Then I decided Elton was more like a brand-new Impala I once rented on a magazine’s money. Then I remembered that I ended up paying for that car myself. Yes, I hate the way he said ‘don’t diszgard me’ too, but ‘The Bitch is Back’ is my most favorite song. B+.”

“Is it as good as Yellow Brick Road?” Melody Maker’s Chris Welch asked. “Well, it’s different. An entertaining selection of hot ditties…Overall, an excellent compilation which shows the old firm haven’t lost their ability to push forward the boundaries of the pop song, and keep close to the path of good rockin’ music.” Writing in Phonograph Record, Bud Scoppa gave the record passing marks. “For an

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