Elton John Album: “Rock of the Westies”

I still have my original MCA vinyl of this baby and while the remastering job is quite nice, there is one audible goof. ISLAND GIRL slows down in the final chorus. If you listen carefully you can hear the pitch slowly change while the CD plays. Don't believe me? Play the last few measures of the song which are exactly like the beginngin ones and you will notice the change in pitch. There is no key change in this song. My LP does not exhibit this problem. Otherwise this Polygram release is wonderful!!

This album is sweet. It is Elton's hardest rocking, loose and fun album to date(as if there will be another one that comes even close to this). No, it's not poetry, and maybe it's not as profound, or classy as some of his other earlier albums, but I'm sorry, Yell Help, Wednesday and Ugly is pure genius..Tell me Meatloaf(Jim Steinman) didn't copy that music pattern for Paradise By The Dashboard Light..The whole album just rocks..I love Elton's voice, and the guitar in Dan Dare, Grow Some Funk Of Your Own is catcy as hell too, and I Feel Like A Bullet is a cool slow one. I know this album had a rough time because it followed Captain Fantastic, but I would rather listen to this album all the way through, than CF..

With "Rock of the Westies" (a pun on "West of the Rockies"), Elton was starting to come down off his Seventies' high. After the "Captain Fantastic..." album, he had fired bassist Dee Murray and drummer Nigel Olsson, hired another guitar player (Caleb Quaye) to complement Davey Johnstone, hired old friend Roger Pope as the new drummer, as well as hiring a new bassist, Kenny Paserelli. The results of the new unit were middling. The beginning "Medley" has a muddy sound, the "Yell Help" part of the suite is just plain annoying; "Ugly" admonishes all men who wouldn't have sex with an ugly woman if it was all they could get. Not exactly "Candle in the Wind, Part II." "Dan Dare" is an interesting story about an intrepid space traveller, but is done in so campy a style as to be considered an afterthought, or at least an in-joke. "Island Girl" and "Grow Some Funk of Your Own" redeem the off parts quite a bit. "Funk" is just a darn good rocker and "Island Girl" was a number-one hit (the last for Elton in many a year). "I Feel Like a Bullet(in the Gun of Robert Ford)" is a nice ballad, with a great understated Johnstone solo. The rockers on Side Two display the harder edge that EJ no doubt wished to convey with his new band; unfortunately, bad production and monotonous music,partially at least, did him in. "Street Kids" is good, but overly long. "Hard Luck Story" is a litany of the rigamarole life that lyricist Bernie Taupin was dreading; alternately, his marriage was falling on hard times. "Feed Me" is my favorite song on the album; it has a great hook and conveys the message of insanity better than anything Taupin had written since "Madman Across the Water" (on the album of the same title). "Billy Bones and the White Bird" showed promise, but the mantra-like phrase "Check it out!" just goes on endlessly. The bonus tracks, "Planes" and "Sugar on the Floor", are just O.K. and don't last long in the memory. Though this album sold well initially (probably on the strength of "Island Girl") it wasn't well-received by the critics, and with some justification. The re-issued CD is far superior sonically to the original MCA release, but it STILL sounds muddy in places to me. I give it three stars, because half of it was pretty good. But it is easy to see why EJ would soon lose the sway he held for so long in the pop-music industry. This one remains a hit-or-miss affair.

While 1975's CAPTAIN FANTASTIC & THE BROWN DIRT COWBOY only managed one hit single from the album, the fact that it was critically lauded & became the first LP ever to debut at #1 in BILLBOARD indicated that Elton John & Bernie Taupin had set themselves some high goals for their next album. Returning to Caribou Studios in Colorado, where they recorded 1974's CARIBOU, not one of Elton's finest efforts, perhaps that had something to do with his second album of 1975 being rather substandard this time around. Both albums rock like a mofo on some moments, but especially on ROCK OF THE WESTIES, that certainly didn't mask the fact that the material on the album was quite subpar & that perhaps it was time Elton & Bernie pursue outside work for a while.

The fact that ROCK OF THE WESTIES was another near-dud in Elton's vast career maybe didn't matter to his fans, who helped it become the 2nd album in history to debut at #1 (and the last for over a decade). Even with 3 hit singles, there was little to recommend anyone to buy the album for beyond what they heard on the radio. Some may call it intentionally lightweight, but before this, a lot of Elton's more freewheeling material was much finer-crafted than this.

His 5th #1 single came in the form of the faux-reggae rocker "Island Girl". Its backhanded tribute to a tropical prostitute is undeniably catchy & certainly miles above GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD's reggae entry "Jamaica Jerk-Off". Even so, I'm sure Elton & Bernie certainly don't consider this to be a personal favorite with their much more prestigious material.

"Grow Some Funk Of Your Own" is appropriately titled with Elton dabbling in funky rhythms one wouldn't think a White guy could master. Radio stations were divided over this song and "I Feel Like A Bullet [In The Gun Of Robert Ford]" when they were released as two sides of a single, causing both to cancel each other out & stop in the top 20. The latter tune is a heartwrenching ballad that is another of Elton & Bernie's patented look at love affairs that made them head & shoulders above other such material of the time. While their love songs have grown slightly more traditional in recent years, "I Feel Like A Bullet" remains a sign they can still create some truly original ones.

Outside of the hits, ROCK OF THE WESTIES has few highlights to call attention to. "Dan Dare [Pilot Of The Future]" is simply mindless fun if anything else in this tribute to the British comic strip character. "Street Kids" is an attempt at an epic that is maybe the only song on here that takes itself a little too seriously. "Hard Luck Story" has Elton once again revisiting the country-rock of TUMBLEWEED CONNECTION, and again just barely succeeding. "Feed Me" & "Billy Bones & The White Bird" are thinly-veiled allusions to Elton's drug problems which were starting to flare up by this time, yet not see their worst effects until the next decade. The only all-out bomb on ROCK OF THE WESTIES is the opening medley of "Yell Help/Wednesday Night/Ugly". A combination of rock, funk and pop that tries too hard to accomplish too much in its 6-minute span, it is said that the fact Caribou Studios was high up in the mountains caused back-up singers Labelle to lose an octave or two off their range, hindering their performance on the medley. Elton took matters into his own hands and multi-tracked his voice in order to finish it off. The fact still remains that the song lumbers along without much of a destination.

With those inclusions, ROCK OF THE WESTIES would merit a 3-star rating. But remastered, the album features two outtakes that, had they replaced two of the weaker tracks on the album, could have made it better. "Planes" was initially a B-side to "Island Girl" and would have made a fine addition to the album, edging it above the less memorable songs that did make it. "Sugar On The Floor" is far & away the best of the two, with just Elton & his piano, singing with almost all his emotions bared. Perhaps that was why it was left off of ROCK OF THE WESTIES, too serious for its (perhaps intentionally) lighthearted mood. I believe Elton's protege Kiki Dee did record this song & released it; I wonder how she did on it, but I can bet she couldn't equal Elton's rawly exposed nerves.

ROCK OF THE WESTIES continued Elton's long run of success that had been going on for about 5 years, yet it would also prove to be the tail end of it...for a while, anyway. Elton's announcement of his bisexuality the next year would seriously affect his commercial standing; his fracturing relationship with Bernie Taupin would result in the temporary severing of their partnership (not before a grandiose send-off with the double album BLUE MOVES); Elton's own personal problems with addictions and depression would warrant a temporary "retirement" from music to get things in order (he would return two years later). All told, Elton would regain some of his commercial success, but it was clear the superstar era had ended, and ROCK OF THE WESTIES would be his last #1 album for two decades. Too bad the glory years had to end on such an uninsipired note.

"Yell help! Too many cooks and a bird in the bush!"

These lines begin an album that lyrically makes very little sense. This is one of the most appealing qualities about this CD.

For instance, who the heck is/was Robert Ford? I once did some research on this and have already forgotten his significance in history.

"I Feel Like a Bullet" is the only ballad on this disc, and was a radio hit in its day. Robert Ford. Is Robert Ford to Gerald Ford what Roger Clinton is to Bill Clinton? The answer is, "no." It doesn't much matter who he was, because the musical point is made in the opinion, "Breaking up is like breaking the law." This is what music is all about.

"Island Girl" was a #1 single, appealing as it can be, but as politically incorrect as, well, itself. It makes a major issue of the protagonist's fleshly hue, and the fleshly hues of some other players, while painting her as a loose goose. I've been told that this song is about a hooker. Never mind the psychic network, this song paved the way for Hugh Grant with Divine Brown.

Again, I turn into a dummy with "Dan Dare (Pilot of the Future)," when Elton gushily confesses, "You know I loved Dan Dare but I couldn't make his flight." From what we have known of Elton since the hint of this era, we're not surprised at the wording, but what was "the Mekon." I know I can't be alone in not knowing, but what does it really matter, as others have pointed out, THIS DISC ROCKS!!!!!!!! WHOOOOO!!!!!!!!! And that's what matters. Forget the intellectualism or the pseudo- of the variety. This is a rock album. This is a good album...

Except for "Billy Bones and the White Bird," which seemingly tries to duplicate the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." In retrospect it was easier to appreciate David Naughton's Dr. Pepper commercial, featuring "Makin' It."

If not for "Billy Bones," this disc would rate five stars, but I kept waiting for it to segue into Sgt. Pepper, seamlessly. This is actually unseemly. Down a star, down a notch. Sayannorah.

"Grow Some Funk of Your Own" was a big hit. It was another version of "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting," and just as good in its own way. It was certainly more creative than the Knack when they did "Baby Talks Dirty," the stupidest "My Sharona" knock-off of them all, and that includes Weird Al's "My Balogna" and Chicago disc jockey Steve Dahl's "Ayatollah."

Point: "Grow Some Funk of Your Own" is great! Again, what is funk, used in this context? It makes no sense, but who was Robert Ford? Who was Dan Dare? We know Elton loved him, and he withheld a seeming important secret from him. (We know this album rocked).

"Street Kids" is one of my favorites, featuring the Bernie Taupin lyrics "If you think you've seen gasoline burning in my eyes, don't be alarmed, just tell yourself it's good to be alive!"

Lyrical theme: means something to Bernie, and very few others. But the music is so good it doesn't matter, save for "Billy Bones." (of course. Can't say enough bad things about "Billy Bones.")

"Hard Luck Story" is pretty cool. No further comments are possible, for my hard luck story is sudden and devastating writer's block.

"Feed Me" appears to be about shooting up. My brother used to think it was a sexual innuendo, but we won't get into personalities here because it's not "the Jerry Springer Show."

However, I would like to appear on the show with him. If you're out there, start chanting with me: "Jer-ree, Jer-ree!"

This really is a great album... if it weren't for the deeply embarrassing "Billy Bones and the White Bird." I give the rest of this CD four stars, but reserve The Bird for "Billy Bones."