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That time Elton John crashed a Stooges show wearing a gorilla outfit
03.06.2019
08:19 am
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You don’t normally think of Elton John and Iggy Pop together, but the two highly expressive musicians do know each other and did enjoy at least one noteworthy incident, when Elton pranked the Stooges by dressing up as a gorilla and interrupting a gig halfway through, without any prior notice. Remarkably, the prank came about as part of what seems to have been a serious bid to sign the Stooges to Elton’s Rocket label, which ultimately proved unsuccessful.

The year was 1973. The venue, Richard’s Club, in Atlanta, Georgia. According to diehard Stooges fans Per Nilsen and Jim Lahde, in mid-October 1973 the Stooges played Richard’s on several dates over the course of about a week—it’s worth noting that the energetic Stooges were playing two shows a day during this stretch! Elton was in the middle of his own rather more remunerative U.S. tour at the same time. On October 19 Elton John played the Georgia Coliseum in Athens, Georgia, but that show actually occurred a few days after the Stooges were done in Atlanta. It seems likely that Elton flew in on a free day expressly to prank the Stooges.

The legendary Detroit-based magazine Creem seems to have been involved with the prank on some level, and the whole thing appears to have been at least partly motivated by a desire on the part of Elton to sign the Stooges to his label, the Rocket Record Company, the lineup of which featured Cliff Richard, Neil Sedaka, Colin Blunstone of the Zombies, and the Dutch band Solution.

There’s been plenty written about this so I’ll turn the topic over to the more accredited chroniclers.

Let’s start with Paul Trynka, whose Iggy Pop: Open Up and Bleed tells the story as follows:
 

Several of the band’s fans, including Ben Edmonds of Creem, conspired to raise their morale with endorsement by Elton John. Elton was sweeping across United States on a hugely successful stadium tour that significantly outgrossed the performances by his friend and rival David Bowie, with whom Elton was engaged in semi-friendly sniping. Elton decided to signal his support for the Stooges, plus his own general zaniness, by renting a gorilla suit and planning a one-ape stage invasion during the Stooges’ stint.

Creem had prepared a photographer for the stunt. Unfortunately no one had prepared Iggy. Indeed, the previous night he had disappeared off with the usual local “Rich Bitch,” to use the Stooges’ term of endearment. Early in the morning she brought him back to the band’s hotel unconscious; she’d gobbled down her entire supply of Quaaludes. Scott Asheton and a friend of the band, Doug Currie, were called to lift his dead weight out of her Corvette; carrying him into the hotel, they dropped him and were overcome with a giggling fit, seeing him peacefully sleeping, sprawled over a spiky Mediterranean bush.

Jim was still hardly conscious that evening when Doug and Scotty carried him into the club (“God knows what the poor club owner thought!” laughs Currie), and after a quick discussion of what to do, Doug announced that he had some speed. James Williamson managed to find a syringe, and they duly shot their singer full of methamphetamine sulphate in order to get him onto his feet.

Unsurprisingly, during the performance for which Elton had planned his jolly jape, Iggy was “unusually stoned to the point of being barely ambulatory, so it scared the hell out of me,” he says. For a couple of seconds, as Elton emerged from the wings in his gorilla suit, Iggy thought he was hallucinating, or else a real gorilla was raiding the stage. The Creem photograph documenting the event is hilarious, showing James Williamson transfixing the uppity ape with a malevolent glare that signals, he says, his intent to “take him out. He lucked out, because he was smart enough to take his head off to let people know who he was, just in time.”

Once Elton had discarded the ape mask and revealed his cheery face, Iggy realized what was happening, and he danced around with the fur-clad Elton for a song or so. The event was duly plugged in Creem, with Iggy telling the magazine “Elton’s a swell guy.” (Off the record, he would tell people that Elton only pulled the stunt because he wanted to get in tough-guy guitarist James Williamson’s pants.) Yet, although there would be ongoing discussions with Elton’s manager John Reid, and his record imprint, Rocket, the encounter failed to lift the Stooges’ spirits, and soon the band was becoming more obviously frazzled.

 
Here’s the picture of the moment, as it appeared in Creem just a few weeks later:

 

 

This next bit comes from Gimme Danger: The Story of Iggy Pop, by Joe Ambrose:

 

At a Stooges show in Atlanta, Elton John showed up with his pop star retinue, commandeered The Stooges dressing room, and walked on stage wearing a gorilla suit. Iggy was in pretty bad shape when Elton chose to join him. He’d spent the previous night taking a mountain of downers and sleeping in the shrubbery. When he woke up in the bushes he couldn’t speak a word. “A doctor had to shoot me full of methedrine just so I could talk,” he said. “I was seeing triple and had to hold on to the microphone stand to support myself. Suddenly this gorilla walks out from backstage and holds me up in the air while I’m still singing. I was out of my mind with fear. I thought it was a real gorilla.”

Chris Ehring: “I went back to the dressing room when someone tried to physically stop me. I said, ‘This is our dressing room!’ Someone from the club said, ‘Elton John is in there.’ ‘Big fucking deal! What’s he doing in there?’ I go in and there’s Elton John getting into a gorilla outfit. ‘He’s going to go up on stage and sing with Iggy.’ I just laughed. ‘Fine. Maybe I should warn the boys?’ ‘Oh, no, she wants it to be a surprise. He wants to come out during ‘Search and Destroy’. He was supposed to scare Iggy! Scare Iggy in this gorilla suit? ‘You don’t seem to understand what these guys are about. They are from Detroit. They’re not going to let you up on the stage!’ Moments later, out of the dressing room comes Elton dressed as a gorilla, and he goes up on the stage. The band all look at him. ‘Who is this?’ James looks at me and shrugs his shoulders. Iggy looks over and walks away. The gorilla starts chasing him, pushing him away. It’s really bad.”

“Elton’s a swell guy,” gushed Iggy after the incident. “Be nice to see this mutual admiration turn into something more concrete,” said Creem.

After the performance out and told Creem: “I simply can’t understand why he’s not a huge star.”

Continues after the jump…

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Posted by Martin Schneider
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03.06.2019
08:19 am
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Rod Stewart, Freddie Mercury, and Elton John wanted to form a supergroup called Nose, Teeth & Hair
10.23.2017
01:03 pm
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Ah, to be a rock star. Reading Rod Stewart’s autobiography, aptly titled Rod: The Autobiography, it’s clear that he and Elton John are close. They twit each other, as friends everywhere do, only with the budgets of fabulously wealthy rock stars. There’s a passage recounting their playful war of Christmas gifts. One year Rod hit upon the perfect gift, a novelty portable refrigerator: “You plug it in and press the button and its door opened automatically, and it lit up and a bottle rose out of it in a cloud of vapor.”

That year Elton made Rod a gift of an original Rembrandt drawing. As Rod writes,
 

A fucking Rembrandt! I felt pretty small-–although not as small as Elton presumably wanted me to feel when he later referred tartly to my present as “an ice bucket.” It was not an ice bucket. It was a novelty portable fridge.


 
A couple years later, Elton marked the joyous occasion of Rod’s marriage to Rachel Hunter with a Boots voucher worth ten quid and the note “Get yourself something nice for the house.”

You get the idea. Rod and Elton have the kind of expensive fun together that you would hope famous rock stars have together. On one occasion, Rod and Elton spent an evening at a Los Angeles house Queen kept there, hanging out with Freddie Mercury. During what was presumably mirthful conversation, someone hit upon the idea of joining forces for a ridiculous supergroup consisting of the three of them:
 

We traveled together a bit, too, or sought each other out when we were abroad. The band Queen rented a house in Bel Air, Los Angeles, for a while, and Elton and I spent a long evening there with Freddie Mercury, a sweet and funny man whom I really adored, discussing the possibility of the three of us forming a supergroup. The name we had in mind was Nose, Teeth & hair, a tribute to each of our most remarked-upon physical attributes. The general idea was that we could appear dressed like the Beverley Sisters. Somehow this project never came to anything, which is contemporary music’s deep and abiding loss.

 
The detail that makes the anecdote is that last one, about the Beverley Sisters, who were kind of an English version of the Andrews Sisters from the United States. They sang tightly harmonized songs, several of which are Christmas classics in the U.K. Here’s a picture of the Beverley Sisters:
 

 
via That Eric Alper
 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
The Elton John: Hand-Painted Toilet Seat
When Rod Stewart rocked: The Faces’ final concert

Posted by Martin Schneider
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10.23.2017
01:03 pm
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Who were Simon Dupree and the Big Sound? (And why you should care)


 
I have been madly in love with a song called “Kites” by Simon Dupree and the Big Sound for… well for longer than I care to admit to in public. I discovered it in the mid-80s on a 45rpm single and long assumed that the group was a one-hit wonder of the psychedelic era—if that. But that was during the pre-Internet years before I could have just googled their name and known then what I only figured out over the weekend…

“Kites,” written by Hal Hackady and Lee Pockriss, is a gorgeous, soaring ballad that uses unusual instrumentation for a pop song—vibes, a gong, a wind machine, plus an early use of the mellotron—and the recited “sweet nothings” whispers of a woman speaking in Chinese. The lyrics are as romantic as anything Scott Walker ever came up with and are belted out by a truly powerful and fantastic voice:

I will fly a yellow paper sun in your sky
When the wind is high,
When the wind is high

I will float a silver solid moon through your window
If your night is dark,
If your night is dark

In letters of gold on a snow white kite, I will write “I love you!”
And send it soaring high above you
For all to read

I will scatter rice paper stars in your heaven
If there are no stars,
If there are no stars

All of these and seven wonders more will I find
When the wind is high,
When the wind is high

The group apparently hated the song—which got to #8 on the British pop charts—but their label and manager insisted on it. They considered themselves a sweaty rock and roll band, to them this lovey-dovey psychedelic balladeering was, as one of them would later call it “utter shit.” But this unwanted hit would soon catapult them into the spotlight as they went from playing clubs to package tours and TV shows with the likes of the Walker Brothers, Jimi Hendrix, Gene Pitney and the Beach Boys.

But here’s the big thing I didn’t know about Simon Dupree and the Big Sound…

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Posted by Richard Metzger
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03.22.2017
02:39 pm
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Marc Bolan, Ringo Starr and Elton John jam in ‘Born to Boogie’
06.01.2016
01:54 pm
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Although I have always appreciated his music (“Ride a White Swan” was one of the very first 45s I ever bought), I have never been what you would call a major Marc Bolan/T.Rex fanatic. Don’t get me wrong, I am indeed a fan, but I’ve always put Marc Bolan in the same category as I do Chuck Berry, Little Richard or Eddie Cochran. Translation: a decent “greatest hits” is probably all I really need to own (Bolan also stole shamelessly from each of these artists, of course).

In actual fact, I do own quite a few T.Rex albums. Probably my favorite song by Marc Bolan is the comparatively little known “Jasper C. Debussy.” It’s not like I’m ignorant of his work, it’s just that a lot of it sounds pretty formulaic and “samey” to me. Bolan had “a thing” that he did quite well, but he just kept doing it and that’s the problem I have with his music.
 

 
Having offered the above disclaimer, I don’t think that I ever truly “got” Marc Bolan until I picked up a used Japanese import copy of the “deluxe” Born To Boogie DVD box set from a few years back in the bargain bin for a mere $7 bucks. A friend of mine had the film on VHS in the 80s and I saw it 25 years ago and quite enjoyed it, but the DVD version, with a monstrously powerful 5.1 surround mix done by the great producer Tony Visconti, totally blew me away. It must be the apex of Bolan’s artistry. Nothing short of stunning.

You know there’s always one guy on every block who has one of those huge fuck-off audio systems that the neighbors for a quarter mile radius can hear? I’m that guy. After watching Born To Boogie with the sound cranked up so loud it would have drowned out a airplane landing on my rooftop, I finally “got” Marc Bolan, and can see clearly why the flame of eternal fan love for him will never die. 
 

 
And now at long last, the Demon Music Group will be releasing Born to Boogie on Blu-ray, for the first time in HD on June 13th. There are tons of extras and both the earlier, late afternoon concert and the full evening show that was used in the film are included. 10/10 for content, audio/visual quality and overall “wow factor.” If you are wondering if you need to replace your old DVD, you probably do. There is no regional code on the disc, despite what it says on Amazon.

Born To Boogie was directed by Ringo Starr and produced by Apple Films. The concert segments were filmed at the Wembley Empire Pool in 1972 at the absolute height of T.Rextasy. Bolan’s guitar is just FAT sounding here and the 5.1 mix is outstanding. Listening to it cranked up is like having, well… a Tyrannosaurus Rex stomp all over your head… in a good way!
 

 
There’s also a stellar jam session sequence with Elton John and Ringo that was captured at the Apple Studios on Savile Row and some “surreal hijinks”—like the Mad Hatter’s tea party bit which was filmed on John Lennon’s estate—that bring to mind Magical Mystery Tour. Still, it’s the concert segments that dazzle the most with Bolan’s 500 megawatt charisma in full effect.

More after the jump…

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Posted by Richard Metzger
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06.01.2016
01:54 pm
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Wickedly-fun photos of Grace Jones’ 30th birthday bash, 1978


Grace Jones with Jimmy Baio, Divine, Julie Budd, Nona Hendryx and a few unnamed dancers
 

In the ‘70s and ‘80s we all had our fun, and now and then we went really too far. But, ultimately, it required a certain amount of clear thinking, a lot of hard work and good make-up to be accepted as a freak.—Grace Jones

If a single photo series could encapsulate ‘70s disco dust debauchery and fun… this document of Grace Jones’ 30th birthday party held at LaFarfelle Disco in New York on June 12, 1978 would be IT. Famous guests included Elton John, Divine, Andy Warhol, Jerry Hall, Jimmy Baio (Scott Baio’s cousin, of course), Julie Budd and Nona Hendryx.

To have been a fly on the wall for this birthday party. Can you imagine all the shit people were up to when the cameras weren’t flashing?!


Divine
 

 

Elton John, Andy Warhol and Jerry Hall
 

 
More after the jump…
 

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Posted by Tara McGinley
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02.16.2016
10:56 am
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The day the music died: Vintage ads of pop stars selling shit

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‘When You’ve Heard Lou, You’ve Heard It All’ Lou Rawls advertising career covered insurance and booze.
 
Musicians have long depended on patronage from the rich and powerful to sponsor their careers as artists. As far back as composers such as Haydn or Mozart, who earned his keep with a string of patrons starting with Prince-Archbishop Colloredo of Salzburg. It’s the same today with pop stars taking the cash offered by brands like Coke and Pepsi to pay for their tours or alimony or undisclosed bad habits.

While some stars promote things they believe in—guitars, charities—there is always a longer list of those who would sell out for some unbelievably low rent shit—Rod Stewart pimping shoes, Elton John peddling pinball, the Yardbirds shilling toiletries. Occasionally, there are those who are smart enough to use the brand to sponsor their ambitions, like Lou Rawls who sold Budweiser but used the brand to sponsor his telethons. Neat, but not all of the following are in that category.
 
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When Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck sold perfume in sexist sixties ads: ‘She’s among the Yardbirds. She goes for groups. They go for her. She has her own group too. Named after her. Miss Disc. A very ‘in’ group indeed…’
 
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Late 1960s, Dave Brubeck attempts to convince the gullible to buy Sears-Kenmore products in ads for magazines like Better Homes and Gardens.
 
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Rod the Mod was once famous for his sartorial elegance, but here he is dressed as if Walt Disney puked on him.
 
More mighty musos shilling for money, after the jump…

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Posted by Paul Gallagher
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06.02.2015
02:12 pm
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Elton John in Sweden to play some gigs and ‘watch pornography’ in 1971
04.01.2014
10:09 am
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Elton John joked he was in Sweden to play a few gigs and watch some pornography in this documentary from 1971. What kind of porn, he didn’t say, but what Elton was doing, in a jokey and laddish way, was confirming a stereotype the English had about Sweden during the late sixties and early seventies, that the country was a haven for the stuff. This was before Abba, and today’s stereotype of depressed, unconventional detectives with their interesting knitwear and tics, such as Kurt Wallender or, Saga Norén from The Bridge, who may have Asperger’s syndrome—though we’re never quite sure. There’s a paper to be written on how such misleading stereotypes have shifted from sun-bleached free love, to washed-out politics and murder.

Elton was at the start of his long and successful career when this documentary of his performance at the Gröna Lund amusement park in Stockholm was made. Already we can see the dress sense that would define his image during the seventies, as he takes to the stage in red Mickey Mouse lederhosen, and winged Kickers. He was also developing his distinctive soulful vocal style, and stage persona, while his song-writing relationship with Bernie Taupin was delivering another harvest of choice songs, including “Your Song,” “Can I Put You On,” “Friends” and “Burn Down the Mission.” The backing band of the late Dee Murray (bass) and Nigel Olsson (drums), gave John a pulsating rhythm section, and are featured in the interview.
 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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04.01.2014
10:09 am
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Elton John on ‘The Morecambe and Wise Christmas Special,’ 1977
06.22.2013
07:40 pm
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You see, there was once a time when my childhood ambition was solely focused on becoming the comic turn in a double-act. My inspiration was, of course, the hugely popular British TV comedy duo, Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise. I saw myself more of an Eric, than an Ernie—though one couldn’t work without the other. I watched their shows, their films, read their biography, bought their vinyl and learnt-by-heart the sketches contained therein.

The comedy duo’s original writers were Dick Hills and Sid Green, who claimed they could devise a Morecambe and Wise script in the time it took them to pass each other on opposite sides of a London Underground escalator. Hills and Green’s best known skit is probably “Boom-Oo-Yata-ta-ta,” which still holds-up today. Moving from Independent TV to the BBC saw Morecambe and Wise eventually change writers.

In 1969, they were joined by Eddie Braben, who created the defining Morecambe and Wise Show. Of course, the repertoire and roles were already there, but Braben brought a surreal element to their traditional Music Hall comedy that made Morecambe and Wise the favorite comics of the nation, obtaining viewing figures of around 20-million per show, and a record 27.5 million for their Christmas Show in 1977.

Braben also introduced a series of running gags that started with guest Peter Cushing, who claimed he had not been paid for his last performance; the keen harmonica player Arthur Tolcher who was never allowed to play (“Not now, Arthur”); the regular mini-drama, Ernie’s “the play what I wrote,” which featured such stars as Glenda Jackson, Vanessa Redgrave, Frank Finlay, Edward Woodward, Frankie Vaughan, Diana Rigg, and even Elton John.

I liked Elton John, and the star-crossed mix of Morecambe and Wise, together with “Hercules” was “must see.” Elton had already appeared on the ‘76 Xmas show, and there was much speculation of his return. The skit was okay—a running gag in which he was given the run-around before finally performing his song “Shine On Through” to Morecambe & Wise in drag (as two cleaners), at the very end of the show.

The song was a taster for Elton’s twelfth studio album, A Single Man, which is amongst the most under-appreciated of his recordings. This may, in part, have been because the album marked a break from writing partner Bernie Taupin, who was working with Alice Cooper, and a change of his regular backing band. It was also the first time he collaborated with lyricist Gary Osbourne. However, the album again proved Elton’s genius for crafting word and music together into a beautiful song.

This year marks the 35th anniversary of the album, and it is certainly worth time re-evaluating A Single Man.

Below, the whole of Elton’s appearance on The Morecambe & Wise Christmas Special, 1977. The song starts at 5:52.
 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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06.22.2013
07:40 pm
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The ‘Honky Château’ where Bowie, Bolan, Elton, and Iggy recorded is Up for Sale

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The Château d’Hérouville where David Bowie, Marc Bolan, Elton John, The Grateful Dead, The Sweet and Fleetwood Mac recorded is up for sale.

Located near the town of Auvers-sur-Oise, in France, the property is described as a coaching station, built in the 18th century, which includes 30-rooms, and 1,700m ²  of living space.

The selling price is 1, 295, 000 Euros.

In 1962, composer Michel Magne purchased the property and developed it into a recording studio. Magne is best known for his Oscar win for Gigot.

The Château was particularly popular with British artists, starting with Elton John, who recorded three albums at the studios, Honky Chateau, Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player and Goodbye Yellowbrick Road. Elton suggested the studio to Marc Bolan where he recorded his 1972 album The Slider; and Bolan recommended it to David Bowie who record Pin-Ups in July 1973, and then Low in 1977. 

But the Château wasn’t just known for its considerable musical pedigree. Producer Tony Visconti claimed star-crossed lovers Frederic Chopin and George Sand haunted the building—Chopin had trysted with Sand while living at the mansion. Bowie also noted the studios supernatural feel.

If this slice of pop history tickles your fancy, then check the details here.
 
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More info and pictures, after the jump…
 

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Posted by Paul Gallagher
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06.13.2013
05:41 pm
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‘Crocodile Rock’ promo video from 1972: Elton John visits fashion legend Nudie Cohn
03.28.2013
02:34 pm
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In this 1972 promo video for “Crocodile Rock,” Elton John pays a visit to his tailor, the legendary Nudie Cohn.

Cohn designed elegantly flashy rhinestone-studded, hand-embroidered suits for George Jones, Elvis, Cher, John Lennon, Robert Mitchum and Gram Parsons, among many many others.

At the beginning of the video, Elton manages the amazing feat of crossing the lawn without getting his platforms stuck in the grass. Glam skills.
 

Posted by Marc Campbell
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03.28.2013
02:34 pm
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Early Elton John: Two extraordinary concerts
02.21.2013
02:12 pm
Topics:
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When I was young, I really loved Elton John and owned all of his albums, but I totally went off him after punk happened and never really thought about him much after that. He seemed like a spent force in the 80s, but then again so did most of his 70s contemporaries. After a point the cocaine stopped working for him and started working against him…

A few years ago, I put together a 5.1 surround sound system and was looking for stuff to play on it, when I saw that the classic Elton John albums had been remixed in 5.1 and I thought Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (an album once ruined for me by a girlfriend who played it in heavy rotation for years around our apartment) would probably sound pretty good. And so I bought it and it did. Then, in short order, I (re)bought Captain Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy, Madman Across the Water and Honky Chateau. (Those albums are among the very best-sounding recordings I’ve ever heard. You can hear the sound of his feet on the pedals of his piano, they’re so good).

In any case, I became a born-again Elton John fan, at least to a certain point. Here, then, are two prime examples of Elton John—back when he was legitimately “cool”—live in concert. The first, a BBC In Concert set from 1970, captures the pensive piano man singer-songwriter with a setlist drawn from his earliest records, abd backed by a small orchestra. It’s all very Nick Drake.

Your Song
Border Song
Sixty Years On
Take Me To The Pilot
The Greatest Discovery
I Need You To Turn To
Burn Down The Mission
 

 
The second, a much more full-on affair—broadcast live in 1974 on The Old Grey Whistle Test from the Hamersmith Apollo—is more of a “greatest hits” show, with the raging Elton John Band backing him up.

It’s remarkable to compare the difference between the way Elton John presented himself when he was first starting to make it, versus the completely over-the-top showman he became just a (very) short time later.

As I was saying before, cocaine, it’s a hell of a drug…
 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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02.21.2013
02:12 pm
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Alice Cooper: Certificate of Insanity

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The Alice Cooper Certificate of Insanity (issued by the School for the Hopelessly Insane) was a limited edition document given away free with Cooper’s album From the Inside, in 1978. Whether this was a recommendation or, a comment on the quality of the record, was never made clear. What is known is that rather like the source for Malcolm Lowry’s excellent novella Lunar Caustic, Cooper’s album was similarly inspired by the singer’s stint in a New York sanitarium for his alcoholism.

From the Inside was co-written with Elton John’s song-writing partner, Bernie Taupin.
 

 
Previously on Dangerous Minds

Through a Glass Darkly: Malcolm Lowry, Booze, Literature and Writing


 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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11.10.2012
07:52 pm
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Elton John upstaged by ‘Legs’ Larry Smith: Royal Command Performance 1972

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Drummer with the Bonzo Dog Band, “Legs” Larry Smith upstages Elton John at the Royal Command Variety Performance Show in 1972.

Not be the best picture, but still an enjoyable moment, one which was quite risky for Elton to sing a cheerful ditty about a needy teen and his manipulative approach to suicide to the rich and spoilt Royals . And yes, this is still miles better than Coldplay.
 

 
Bonus solo version of ‘I Think I’m Going To Kill Myself’, after the jump…
 
With thanks to Neil McDonald
 

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Posted by Paul Gallagher
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09.11.2012
08:29 pm
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Bad Blood: Neil Sedaka (and Elton John) give a ‘bro’ some good advice, 1975
06.29.2012
12:26 pm
Topics:
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After a series of massive hits in the early 1960s ( “Calendar Girl,” “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do,” “Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen”) and a sharp career decline post-British Invasion, singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka staged an improbable comeback after Elton John signed him to his newly formed Rocket Records label in 1973.

“It had been like Elvis coming up and giving us the chance to release his records. We couldn’t believe our luck,” the future Sir Elton, a huge Neil Sedaka fan, said at the time.

The second album Sedaka released on Rocket Records was The Hungry Years in 1975. “Bad Blood,” the first single from the album was essentially a “call and response” style duet between Neil Sedaka and an un-credited Elton. The song’s lyrics basically essay two “bros” giving a third some hard-knock advice about a woman who is taking advantage of him. (Don’t expect that you’ll ever be hearing “Bad Blood” sung by two female contestants on Duets is all I have to say!)

“Bad Blood” spent three weeks at the top of the US singles chart in October and was certified gold. (The song would ironically be knocked off its #1 perch by Elton John’s “Island Girl.” I recall buying both singles as an Elton John crazy 9-year-old with my birthday money and playing both records until the grooves wore out).

Sedaka, now a very spry 73, and with his voice holding up perfectly, is still performing, including prestige gigs like the BBC’s “Proms in the Park” festival and a concert at Lincoln Center. When British comedian Peter Kay lip-synced a song of Sedaka’s, “(Is This the Way to) Amarillo?”, forComedy Relief in 2006, the song, as originally sung by Tony Christie and released in 1971, became a massive hit all over again, garnering a Guinness World Record for the “most successful UK single of the 21st century” (at least as of 2006, of course). The song can also often be heard at soccer matches.
 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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06.29.2012
12:26 pm
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Handmade felted rock stars

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Bob Dylan and Janis Joplin hangin’ out
 
Oregon -based artist Kay Petal makes these whimsical sculptural needle-felted rock star dolls. Kay says, “Using single, barbed felting needles I sculpt wool fibers into solid felted wool characters with heart and soul. My characters are soft and flexible yet strong and durable.”

And guess what? Kay will even make one of YOU! You can contact her on the website Felt Alive for more information.
 
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Johnny Cash
 
More after the jump…

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Posted by Tara McGinley
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04.16.2012
01:21 pm
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