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Elton John: Tumbleweed Connection

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: DMJ Records
Released: 1970.10.30
Time:
 46:56
Category: Pop/Rock
Producer(s): Gus Dudgeon
Rating:
Media type: CD
Web address: www.eltonjohn.com
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2012
Price in €: 1,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Ballad of a Well-Known Gun (E.John/B.Taupin) - 4:59
[2] Come Down in Time (E.John/B.Taupin) - 3:25
[3] Country Comfort (E.John/B.Taupin) - 5:06
[4] Son of Your Father (E.John/B.Taupin) - 3:48
[5] My Father's Gun (E.John/B.Taupin) - 6:20
[6] Where to Now St. Peter? (E.John/B.Taupin) - 4:11
[7] Love Song (L.Duncan) - 3:41
[8] Amoreena (E.John/B.Taupin) - 5:00
[9] Talking Old Soldiers (E.John/B.Taupin) - 4:06
[10] Burn Down the Mission (E.John/B.Taupin) - 6:22

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Elton John - Piano, Organ, Keyboards, Vocals
Caleb Quaye - Guitars
Roger Pope - Drums
Dave Glover - Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals
Herbie Flowers - Bass Guitar
Jason Barnhart - Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals
Nigel Olsson - Drums, Backing Vocals
Barry Morgan - Drums
Gordon Huntley - Steel Guitar
Brian Dee - Organ
Ian Duck - Harmonica
Lesley Duncan - Acoustic Guitar, Vocals, Backing Vocals
Mike Egan - Acoustic Guitar
Kay Garner - Backing Vocals
Tammi Hunt - Backing Vocals
Tony Burrows - Backing Vocals
Dusty Springfield - Backing Vocals
Madeline Bell - Backing Vocals
Paul Buckmaster - Conductor
Dee Murray - Bass

Gus Dudgeon - Producer
Robin Geoffrey Cable - Engineer
Gus Skinas - Editing
Ricky Graham - Digital Transfers
Greg Penny - Surround Mix
Bernie Taupin - Lyricist
Paul Buckmaster - Arranger
David Larkham - Art Direction, Design, Cover Design, Artwork, Photography
Barry Wentzell - Photography
John Tobler - Liner Notes

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


Instead of repeating the formula that made Elton John a success, John and Bernie Taupin attempted their most ambitious record to date for the follow-up to their breakthrough. A loose concept album about the American West, Tumbleweed Connection emphasized the pretensions that always lay beneath their songcraft. Half of the songs don't follow conventional pop song structures; instead, they flow between verses and vague choruses. These experiments are remarkably successful, primarily because Taupin's lyrics are evocative and John's melodic sense is at its best. As should be expected for a concept album about the Wild West, the music draws from country and blues in equal measures, ranging from the bluesy choruses of "Ballad of a Well-Known Gun" and the modified country of "Country Comfort" to the gospel-inflected "Burn Down the Mission" and the rolling, soulful "Amoreena." Paul Buckmaster manages to write dramatic but appropriate string arrangements that accentuate the cinematic feel of the album.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine - All Music Guide



Tumbleweed Connection is part of the early catalog of Elton John's work that Guns N' Roses singer Axl Rose reportedly once said he would love to own the publishing rights to as a work of art. Indeed, it does contain some of John's most expressive work as an artist, but with the showy stage presence and pop melodicism still under construction. Tumbleweed is characterized by John's balladeer approach, with John at his storyteller best on songs like "Burn Down the Mission." Even if the lyrics were generally written by Bernie Taupin, John's voice and inflection made every song seem deeply personal. The beautiful "Come Down in Time" displays the subtleties and sophistication of his talent, with the piano not yet serving as the instrumental focal point it would later become. The album also features the favorite "Ballad of a Well-Known Gun" and "Where to Now St. Peter?"

Steve Gdula - Amazon.com



The only criticism heard with any frequency of Elton John's first American album, Elton John, was that the production was too grandiose. The melodies were superb, and lyrics frequently very good, and the performances flawless. However, Elton did inevitably get lost on many of the tracks and like many of his admirers, I am glad he toned things down a bit on Tumbleweed Connection. In fact, my main reservation about the new album is that he didn't go far enough.

Tumbleweed Connection centers around and is structured by Bernie Taupin's lyrics. Like the Band and Creedence, both of whom have influenced him, Taupin writes about the mythical American south and west and seems to prefer the past to the present as a subject. "There Goes a Well Known Gun" is about an outlaw on the run; "Country Comfort" concerns the pleasures of the farm. One of its verses brilliantly announces the coming of industrialization:

Down at the well they've got a new machine
Foreman says it cuts manpower by fifteen
But that ain't natural, well so old Clay would say
You see he's a horse drawn man until his dying day.

"Son of Your Father" is a moralistic tale which, after describing a fight between friends that leaves them both dead, concludes that "... charity's an argument that only leads to harm."

Violence is very much a part of the vision Taupin has created here. Besides in "Well Known Gun" and "Son of Your Father," it recurs in "My Father's Gun," which is distinctly reminiscent of "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down." Oddly, Taupin too takes the Southern point of view. I guess the grey was always synonymous with romanticism in American history but from what source does Taupin draw his emotions on the subject? "Oh I'll not rest until I know the cause is fought and won/From this day on until I die I'll wear my father's gun." And then, describing the joys of imagined victory for the South, "To watch the children growing and see the women sewing." When the South has won the Civil War? How strange.

The violent theme serves as the conclusion of the album as well. Here he seems to be vaguely echoing the sentiments of revolution although the historical context established in so many other songs on the album is no longer clearly present.
Bring your family down to the riverside
Look to the east to see where the fat stock hide
Behind four walls of stone the rich man sleeps
It's time we put the flame torch to their keep
Burn down the mission
If we're gonna stay alive
Watch the black smoke fly to heaven
See the red flame light the sky.
The several love songs on the album express old fashioned sentiments and one wonders if the context is understood by now or if the song represents a departure from the historical approach.

Taupin's constructions are often awkward and hard to sing and sometimes the ambiguities get out of hand. He is not a great lyricist but he is certainly an interesting one and he provides Elton John with a fine vehicle for expressing himself.

John is a fine singer in the soul-folk vein. His singing and his melodies on this album are exceptionally good. What isn't so exciting is the busy arrangements that seem to diffuse the energy of the performances. For example, John's "Country Comfort" has nothing close to the power of Rod Stewart's simpler, more straight-forward interpretation. Especially irritating are the recurring use of such instruments as harmonicas, steel guitars, and other producer touches. It sounds too complicated to my ears and a simpler approach would have left more room for Elton to shine through without distraction.

Most cuts do feature just bass, drums, piano and guitar but every one is so busy that the sound loses its focus. Elton's piano is at the center and his overly-syncopated style contributes to the fragmented and sometimes chaotic style of the band tracks. One place where things do get themselves together is on "My Father's Gun." The big soul chorus conjures up the appropriate images brilliantly. The large sound on "Burn Down the Mission" is also effective, and the beginning of "Amoreena" is just great. Still, more cuts with the limited instrumentation of "Talking Old Soldiers" and "Love Song" might have given the album greater personal depth.

Tumbleweed Connection is interesting primarily because of the themes that Taupin has taken on and the melodies John has created. The performances are fine but somehow they lose the force one can envision them having had in some earlier stage of production. It is still an exciting album, one that I have played endlessly for a week, but it is also something of a missed opportunity. Tumbleweed Connection is simpler than John's last album and next time around I hope he goes all the way and gets down to nothing but the basics. He is one of the few who is good enough not to need anything else.

Jon Landau - February 18, 1971
RollingStone.com



Elton pushed hard for his breakthrough, releasing albums with prolific zeal which the industry today would view as counter-productive. His self-titled second had emerged in April 1970, and just six months later the superior Tumbleweed Connection came out. With Your Song from its predecessor finally giving him a hit, this country-tinged set – often described as a concept album, on the basis that several songs reference cowboys and guns – was expected to clinch his star status. Yet he had to wait a little longer, as despite making the US top ten, it lacked singles.

It’s the sound of a songwriting team hanging on to their perceived rock credibility, not yet stumbling on the pop chops that sent the Elton brand supernova. Produced by Gus Dudgeon with orchestral arrangements by Paul Buckmaster, this is almost as laden with Americana as Bernie Taupin’s lyrics. Elton sings in a distinctly Yankee twang and the influence of The Band’s Music from Big Pink is evident throughout. Ballad of a Well-Known Gun sets out the album’s stall, a mid-tempo country-rocker gilded by period guitar fills from Caleb Quaye and a backing choir including one Dusty Springfield. Themes flicker here which reoccur between tracks: gunslingers young and ageing, a sepia sense of saloons and one-horse towns. My Father’s Gun and Talking Old Soldiers overtly try to enter the heads of ailing John Waynes.

The best songs are those which transcend Taupin’s Western fantasies. Come Down in Time is an exquisite ballad which remains one of John’s most under-acclaimed tracks. Where to Now St. Peter? allows itself more time to float than the formulaic structures which later became his trademark, and he exhibits a keening falsetto. Amoreena (used over the opening sequences of Sidney Lumet’s Dog Day Afternoon) bristles with drama, although Lesley Duncan’s Love Song (a rare case of Elton covering a friend’s song) can’t glide past its cheesy lyrics. The climactic Burn Down the Mission – a live showstopper at the time – enjoys a grandstand finish, all bombast and infectious enthusiasm. Relatively (it’s sold a million) overlooked in the canon, Tumbleweed… is a crafted, often impassioned work.

Chris Roberts - 2010
BBC Review



It is a concept album based on country and western/Americana themes. All songs are written by John and Bernie Taupin, with the exception of "Love Song" by Lesley Duncan. The album was recorded at Trident Studios, London, England in March 1970 and released in October of the same year. It peaked at #2 on the UK Albums Chart and #5 on the US Billboard 200 chart. In the US, it was certified gold in March 1971 and platinum in August 1998 by the RIAA.

In 2003, Tumbleweed Connection was ranked #458 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Dee Murray and Nigel Olsson appear for the first time together on this album as the rhythm section on "Amoreena". Olsson had played on one track on Empty Sky for John in 1969. It is Murray's first appearance on an Elton John album.

In 1975, the film Dog Day Afternoon featured "Amoreena" in the opening sequence. In 1998, a bootleg CD was released called Tumbleweed Collection. This was a collection of piano demos and live tracks.

The song "Country Comfort" was released as a single from the album as a b side to "Your Song" by A&M, and one of the songs recorded during the sessions, "Into the Old Man's Shoes" was released as a b-side for at least one single issue of "Your Song". An early version of "Madman Across the Water", featuring Mick Ronson on electric guitar, was also recorded during the sessions for the album. It was released on several albums and reissues of Tumbleweed Connection, though the track was ultimately re-recorded for the Madman Across the Water album. Country Comfort was recorded in 1970 for Gasoline Alley, the second album by Rod Stewart. Rod Stewart also performed the song live with Elton John dressed as a hornet, live at a fund-raising gig at the Vicarage Road Stadium of the Watford Football Club (the Watford Hornets) on the 5th May 1974 (Nazareth were the opening act) (the same month that Elton John's eighth album, Caribou was released), for the price of 1 pound.

The cover photo of the album was taken at the Bluebell Rail Station in Horsted Keynes, England, approximately 30 miles south of London. Photographer David Larkham photographed John (seated, right) and Taupin (standing, left) in front of the station to add a sense of Americana realism to the album concept, despite the rail station being English. Additional photos were made from the interior of a train on the rail line for the album liner notes and libretto.

Wikipedia.org
 

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