Made in England

Every song on "Made in England" has it's own breathe taking quality. From the title track with Bernie using a "blue cortina" to show how good England is.I agree the cortina was a great car.Shame they stopped building them. To "House" with it's magical waltz time quality. Eltons vocal - the best i've heard since "Madman.....".Bernie writes like painting. "Pain" a great drum and thumping bass classic. "Latitude." Here Bernie's lyric's paint a picture in your mind with such ease. You can imagine leaning out of the window feeling lonely.Such brilliance. All of the songs are a gathered together to give an eleven track start to finish master.With Elton singing like he's never before and playing the piano with new vigour and enthusiasm,to Bernie's always stunning lyrics- you'd be missing out on something special.The mans a genius.

... but, even if I didn't, I would love this CD.

A colleague gave me a copy recently; I was sceptical at first, because I knew the title track was a former top-40 hit that hadn't really thrilled me too much.

Contrary to that first impression, I found and find the CD very much to my liking.

It is quite easy listening for now over-40 year old ears, but the voice of Elton John sounds as crystal-clear to me as it ever did and the simple titles mask the magnificence of the song makers prowess and especially of the magic Elton John and Bernie Taupin not only can but do create. Add to this the fact that the duo have been composing for decades and the still powerful reality of their shared talent will bowl you over. It is amazing as it is unique. We are indeed "blessed" with the thrilling honor of living in their lifetime.

Ok, there are no real epic, sweeping sagas here - except for maybe - Belfast, which is the only tune I still can't really get cozy with (somewhat dull and lackluster) - but the rest is for my taste nevertheless attention-grabbing.

"Pain", for example, with its catchy, up-beat tune and ingenious lyrics.

I warmed up to "Cold" immediately - it's beginning belying a bitter-sweet development, all superbly sung with that great warmth of feeling that Elton John puts out time and time again.

"Man" is sort of tongue-in-cheek affair ("have a little faith - in man"), though thoroughly enjoyable with a bluesy feel and an erstwhile lisping Elton John ("you sthee through me").

"House" is as snuggly as a bed-time lullaby.

All that furious piano at the beginning, opening up into a song about "Lies" is unbelievably true to life. I love it! The words, earnestly promising "I'd lie about most anything, but I'd never lie to you ... if I could only find something, that sounds like the truth" reminds me of a drug-abusing friend I once had - who never lied either! This tune is lyrically right on the money. The over-embellished playing and frenzied orchestration highlight a chaotic antihero frantically trying to forge credulity. Wow and Cudos! Great effort!

However, my favorite track in the works is "Believe". I listen to it every morning and am consistently overwhelmed by its gripping dramaturgical beauty. Elton grinds his way through this thing with a willful, relentlessly steam-roller-like effect - perhaps underscoring(literally) the power and energy required to make love work - the will to want to believe. Maybe the progression of this song does not come unexpectedly, but whenever I hear it, it takes my breath away up until the bottom-line ending - the whole work is fascinating and well-worth many awe-inspiring listens. Thank you Elton John - and Bernie Taupin - you guys are fantastic.

After the releases of the celeb-packed novelty "Duets" album and his move into Disney film scores, this was Elton and Bernie's apparent attempt to get back to basics and what they're essentially great at (Some of the promotional blurb for the release of this album had the slogan "Made in England...By true craftsmen"). Certainly, on a stylistic level this album is evocative of the "Elton John" album of 1970 (his first great album)...grand classical allusions, slight R'n'B, the odd rocker, and lush simple ballads. For the sweeping orchestral arrangements, Elton enlisted the help of the man who figures largely on his eponymous album and other notable songs of the period...Paul Buckmaster.
With producer Greg Penny at the helm (who's work, such as K D Lang's "Ingenue" album, Elton had admired) this album was a brave attempt to hark back to his very early years and, as such, the songs are deliberately littered with past references.
At the time of this album's release, Bernie Taupin had been vocal about his appreciation of John Lennon's songwriting style and the influence is all too apparent in the lyrics here....Taupin's sparse writing and construction is quite quite different from any other time of his songwriting career, and so makes an interesting pointer in his oeuvre. Apart from "Made In England", all the song are one-worded titles which is very Lennonesque. It would also seem that Bernie Taupin had been checking out the solo-Beatle's "Plastic Ono Band" album were the lyrics were at their most stark, simplistic yet direct. However, thats where the resemblence ends because Elton opts for the lush chamber-music ensemble, in the style with which the record-buying public have come to expect. It would take him another six years to break the mould and make a truly great album again.
To start the album off, and a song which was also the lead-off single is "Believe"...the most direct John Lennon lyrical influence...its a song of epic proportions and boosted by Buckmaster's grandiose arrangement. Its powerful but does chug along in a linear way with its predictable Minor chord progressions. It's interesting to speculate what this song would sound like had it been handed in during the alt.country style of the "Songs from the west coast" recording sessions six years later. As the song dissolves into descending violins, we hear industrial mechanics that precede "Made In England", a rocker which sounds like "Runaway Train", "I'm Still Standing" and "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That" all rolled into one with the type of Taupin lyric which raises a smile (he tends to write them occasionally!).
After this, the songs just coast along..."House","Man" "Please" and "Pain" sound like Elton just rattled them off in ten minutes (he probably did!) and there isn't much interesting musicianship going on. "Belfast", whilst having good wordplay and evocative images is, to be quite frank, overblown to the point of nausea.
The album picks up at the end..."Lies" is a catchy pop song with multi-layered vocal harmonies in the chorus which is reminiscent of Abba. Despite hackneyed lyrics it wins through for its joie de vivre alone. "Blessed" is a fine end, a love song to a future offspring (Bernie's?) which includes a lyrical nod to "Your Song".
"Made In England" is perhaps the best Elton John album of the 1990s. Like all his post-"Blue Moves" work, its a patchy affair with some worthwhile moments, but nestled between "The One", "Duets", "The Big Picture" and all the Disney/Musicals hokum...it stands out pretty well.