Elton John Album: “11-17-70 [Remaster]”

In the early 70s it appeared that Elton John had quite a few firsts, all in the span of a few years. Elton almost exploded onto the American music scene in 1970, and was so popular that the albums could hardly be released fast enough. From a business perspective, it made sense to release as many albums as possible from a young artist that hit the top 10 with his first two U.S. releases. Further, live albums were relatively popular in the early 70s, and it appeared important for Elton to have one. Thus, this album was one of four 1971 releases for Elton. This particular release went to #11 in the charts.

The energy on this album is fantastic. A young, very energetic Elton John pounds out blues flavored rock. Included is an eighteen and a half minute single that includes "Burn Down the Mission," "My Baby Left Me," and "Get Back." This particular combination is a free-wheeling rocker that just seems to go on forever. Elton was clearly having fun with this set, with the piano and drums often at the forefront. Later the style changes to the blues again, consistent with Elton's early style.

This album also includes "Can I Put You On," a track from the now hard to find "Friends" soundtrack. The movie was relatively forgettable (though I actually saw it in a theater), but the soundtrack was decent and a foreshadowing of the many soundtracks that Elton would later write and perform.

"Honky Tonk Women" is a well-performed cover of the Rolling Stones' classic. The song starts without instrumental accompaniment, to the amusement and delight of the audience. Unsurprisingly, the song is played with blues overtones, and Elton's piano is also flavored with a bit of honky tonk.

"Amoreena" is another "Tumbleweed Connection" song that appears, in addition to "Burn Down the Mission." While many of the songs on this CD are embellished or even changed, "Amoreena" survives in the style in which it was performed on "Tumbleweed." This song has always been one of my favorites, and the live version is a bit pared down from the album, as the special effects used in the studio version are missing.

"Take Me to the Pilot" and "Sixty Years On" from the "Elton John" album are both given excellent treatment in extended versions. "Sixty Years On" particularly is well performed in this live setting.

In several cases, I prefer these recordings over the studio versions. Elton and his band had time to improve their style over the course of a year or more of playing the songs and being together. "Burn Down the Mission" and "Sixty Years On" are two examples of songs that I think came off quite well in this CD. It may also be that Elton's young voice and incredible energy show so clearly in this CD, that they infuse every song with an essence that sometimes gets diluted or disappears in a studio setting. Elton John has always been a great performer in front of audiences, and this CD proves he had this talent back to the beginning of his career.

I'm always stunned when I see this record treated as one of Elton's weakest efforts, because I think it is BY FAR the most exciting, explosive record he ever put out. As a professional pianist/singer/songwriter, this is easily the most influential record I own. (I've also heard that fellow piano-basher Ben Folds has said something similar.) All live records should be this good.

This has always been my favorite EJ recording. When the remastered addition appeared with "Amoreena", it again became a "must buy". This is EJ at his best, long before he became the predictable crooner that he is now. I just hope that someday a Complete version of this live recording will be released. I would have given anything to be at the A&R studios that night for, as Dave Herman understates, "an evening of entertainment". Nigel and Dee, along with Elton, in my opinion, were the tightest trio I've ever heard on a live recording. They follow each other flawlessly, and nothing is more evident of this than the 18-minute track of "Burn down the Mission", a track which still gives me goose bumps even after 25 years of playing it. For those of you who wish to explore early EJ recordings, this should be first on your list. Then get a hold of everything he recorded before 1975. It has stood the test of time to say the least.

I've been a fan of EJ for 35 years. Elton was the first concert I ever went to as a 11 year old in '76. Every year I wait with antisipation that EJ is going to get out of his slump and get back to the Rock and Roll he was capable of in the 70's. Until recently, I'd never heard this release. I was so empressed by the energy of this performance. It made me think back on how great he used to be before he slipped into that adult contemperary mode. I'm really glad that I never heard this before, because now I have that "new" jamming Elton cd I've been longing for since '77 If you're an early EJ fan you'll love this!

Neither overrated nor essential for non-Elton fans, "11-17-70" is a solid, flavorful offering which captures Elton John at a transition point in his then-fledgling career. He was trying to establish his bona fides in a particular category of pop music, what we call "classic rock" today and what was known at the time as "hard rock" or "album-oriented rock." Hence, no "Your Song," far and away his biggest hit of the moment, or "Friends," which was his Top 40 follow-up just off the charts at the time of this performance. Those were too AM for the audience Elton plays for here. He rocks out instead, in a show performed live for WPLJ-FM, one of New York City's two hard-rock beacons of the era (WNEW-FM was the other). That's WPLJ's legendary DJ Dave Herman doing the introductions. Herman established himself at WNEW, which is why some people may be confused today about which station Elton performed this for.

I don't get the complaints about Elton having an "off night." If this is an off night for Elton, I'm flying to Vegas to catch his latest show as soon as I can. Elton sounds great on this recording, backed only by bassist Dee Murray and drummer Nigel Olsson. The result is a little like an "MTV Unplugged" performance, plugged in but otherwise spare and unadorned by the orchestral pretensions that drowned Elton out in Australia 15 years on. Elton's keyboard playing here is barrelhouse-heavy and dead-on, and Olsson's drumming a revelation for those who only know his studio work.

Charging right into the breech with "Bad Side Of The Moon," Elton gives the audience early warning that he intends to rock their socks off, takes it down slightly with "Amoreena" (one of two cuts here from the yet-to-be-released-but-in-the-can "Tumbleweed Connection") then pushes it back up to 11 with "Take Me To The Pilot." By the time he gets around to a reconceived cover of the Rolling Stones classic "Honky Tonk Women," with a clever and brave intro of a capella singing before launching into a full-bore assault, there is no mercy to be had, or to be wanted.

"11-17-70" is a terrific listen, but its short length, dependence on a single album for much of its material (the great "Elton John" U.S. debut released earlier in 1970) and avoidance of Elton's poppier gems in favor of heavier-sounding album cuts kind of detract from the necessity of owning this. Nothing on this record is less than good, but the totality of it sounds very much of its time, no more. A very good performance, great often, but not something you will want to own before even some of his lesser studio efforts of his classic period. Really, if you buy this even before you own something like "Caribou," you are cheating yourself a bit.

Once you do get his classic 1970-75 albums, though, and find yourself liking them for more than the hits, going back and getting this will be a good idea. It won't be an album you play terribly often, but it will entertain you when you do.

Other reviewers say there was more going on in the original release, of Elton talking to the audience, which was cut out of the reissue. I didn't hear that earlier record, but take these complaints seriously all the same. They certainly didn't need to trim "11-17-70" in the interests of space, as there is plenty of room for more on this CD. Elton does whoop a bit, and offers a few fey blandishments at the end very much in tune with the "Have A Nice Day" ethos of the period. For unintentional comedy, I love the way Herman congratulates the band individually ("Nigel, outasight!") and adds a shout out to Bernie Taupin, the lyricist ("Bernie, incredible lyrics") as if the guy is in the pit with the others scribbling lines on a legal pad between the choruses. I'm sure Herman winced a great deal over that in later years.

But all the wincing at the time was going on at WNEW, where as Richard Neer notes in his great book "FM," head DJ Scott Muni was "incensed" at the coup of his rival capturing this singular moment in Elton's career, a career Muni did plenty to cultivate. Whatever the politics involved, the result is something I'm sure even Muni wouldn't begrudge us today. Outasight, indeed.