Elton John Album: “Live in Australia”

This is by far Elton John's best live album. Recorded during a time when both his career and his vocal chords were litteraly in rock 'n' roll jeopardy, Elton bounced back with an astounding live album that features the songs that you tend to hear very much rather than the monster hits.

The stirring "Sixty Years On" is highlighted by a grandoise performance by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Elton's haunting vocal perfomance. And anyone who says that his vocal problems could stop him from hitting the high parts on songs are put to shame on his towering performance of "The King Must Die".

This is by far my favourite Elton John album, because my Dad's on it!!! He was 1st cellist in the Melbourne Symphony at the time. He doesn't get a mention in the liner notes sadly, but he is on the video many times. And call me liar if you will, but I did meet the man after the concert, I was 8 though (damn). His signed photo is hanging behind me.

But enough about me. As for the album, I just liked how a lot of the less popular songs were performed. Almost in the same ideal as Metallica's S&M, but of course Elton's songs are alot easier to orchestrate. Tiny Dancer, Don't Let the Sun and Tonight were my favourites.

I purchased "Here & There", another live Elton effort, because of the tremendous strength found here on "Live In Australia". While Here & There is quite good as well as being a double vice single CD, it's not quite up there with this record's vocals, piano, & orchestration. Live In Australia is absolutely amazing. Definitely recommended.

This is definitely one of the greatest albums ever produced. The orchestra, the piano and Elton's voice, although three distinct entities, become one fluid, harmonious musical instrument that effectively captures the spirit of the lyrics.

I own few vocal albums and that is because I'm quite selective and quickly tire of dated, of-the-moment pieces. This record will (and has) stand the test time. An excellent addition to any collection.

A few posts have correctly pointed out that we're only getting about half the concert here, but the tracks that Gus pulled for the half we did get are spectacular. While Elton's voice isn't at its best - he was indeed headed for throat surgery just after New Year's in 1987 - there's an emotion to them that's tangible. At this point, had the surgery been unsuccessful, we may never have heard him sing in public again, and that would have negated huge chunks of the wonderful works he managed to issue during the years since, including his last few albums. On songs like "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me," one can almost hear him singing a prayer, if you will, that the sun won't set on his ability to entertain, something which he dearly loves. Gus said in later interviews that if you think this performance is rough, some of the earlier shows on the tour were downright scary. In fact, Elton's voice is its best of the entire tour on the night they went live and recorded the album! How's that for divine intervention???!!!

His voice not withstanding, this is a magnificently produced and mixed album, and that it didn't win a Grammy for best engineered recording is mind boggling. Gus managed to get a 13 piece rock band and 88 piece symphony orchestra into gorgeous form, and even if the song sequence is a bit out of order, who cares! This is Elton at his biggest, most over the top on record and he pulls it off famously.

A showman to the last, you don't need to see him to hear how big the show is, and the remastered recording is sonically HUGE! Only a surround, Deluxe Edition version would be better, but for now, in regular stereo, this is a great album. I won't compare it to "11-17-70" or "Here and There," since those are different recordings from a different time.

Historically speaking, though, looking back on his career, "Live in Australia," the last big hoorah for the "old" Elton John before he retired the costumes, glasses and platforms for good, is simply a must have for Elton purists and die hards, if you just like a great recording by a great musician and songsmith, this one's got to be in your library.