Elton John Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy First Pressing Vinyl Rip Flac With Bonus
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Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
Studio album by Elton John
Released 23 May 1975
Recorded June-July 1974, Caribou Ranch, Nederland, CO
Genre Pop, rock
Length 46:54 (original album)
Label MCA (US/Canada)
DJM Records
Producer Gus Dudgeon, Greg Penny
Professional reviews
* Allmusic 5/5 stars link
* Robert Christgau (B) link
* Rolling Stone (favourable) link
Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy is the ninth studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1975. It debuted at number 1 on the U.S. Pop Albums chart, the first ever album to do so, and stayed there for seven weeks. It has gone on to be certified as triple platinum. On the UK Albums Chart, it peaked at number 2. In 2003, the album was ranked number 158 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. This was the last album until Too Low For Zero that Elton John and his classic band would play together.
Contents
History
Written, according to lyricist Bernie Taupin, in chronological order, Captain Fantastic is a concept album that gives an autobiographical glimpse at the struggles John (Captain Fantastic) and Taupin (the Brown Dirt Cowboy) had in the early years of their musical careers in London (from 1967 to 1969). The lyrics and accompanying photo booklet are infused with a specific sense of place and time that would otherwise be rare in John's music. John composed the music on a cruise ship voyage to the U.S.
"Someone Saved My Life Tonight", the only single released from the album (and a number 4 hit on the U.S. Pop Singles chart), is a semi-autobiographical story about John's disastrous engagement to Linda Woodrow, and his related 1969 suicide attempt. The "Someone" refers to Long John Baldry, who convinced him to break off the engagement rather than ruin his music career for an unhappy marriage. It was generally viewed[citation needed] as the best track on the album; Rolling Stone writer Jon Landau said, "As long as Elton John can bring forth one performance per album on the order of 'Someone Saved My Life Tonight', the chance remains that he will become something more than the great entertainer he already is and go on to make a lasting contribution to rock."[1]
In a 2006 interview with Cameron Crowe, Elton said, "I've always thought that Captain Fantastic was probably my finest album because it wasn't commercial in any way. We did have songs such as 'Someone Saved My Life Tonight,' which is one of the best songs that Bernie and I have ever written together, but whether a song like that could be a single these days, since it's [more than] six minutes long, is questionable. Captain Fantastic was written from start to finish in running order, as a kind of story about coming to terms with failureor trying desperately not to be one. We lived that story."
Elton, Bernie and the band laboured harder and longer on the album than perhaps any previous record they'd ever done to that point. As opposed to the rather quick, almost factory-like process of writing and recording an album in a matter of a few days or at most a couple of weeks (as with "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"), the team spent the better part of a month off the road at Caribou Ranch Studios working on the recordings. Producer Gus Dudgeon was apparently also very satisfied with the results. The album's producer was quoted in Elizabeth Rosenthal's "His Song," an exhaustive detailed accounting of nearly all John's recorded work, as saying he thought "Captain Fantastic" was the best the band and Elton had ever played, lauded their vocal work, and soundly praised Elton and Bernie's songwriting. "There's not one song on it that's less than incredible," Dudgeon said.
In 1976, Bally Manufacturing released a Pinball machine for arcades, titled Capt. Fantastic. Elton is featured on the backglass, in his character from the movie Tommy, as the pinball wizard. It is considered an iconic pinball machine by most enthusiasts as far as artwork. It was also the most produced electromechanical pinball machine.
While John was known for his rather elaborate or lavish packaging of his albums, Captain Fantastic may well have topped all previous releases. The original LP included a "Lyrics" booklet, curiously beginning with a lyric for "Dogs In The Kitchen" that was never completed and not on the album's lineup, and another booklet called "Scraps," which collected snippets of reviews, diary entries and other personal memorabilia of John and Taupin during the years chronicled on the album. It also contained a poster of the album's cover. (These were all reproduced, in smaller versions, for the 2005 Deluxe Edition CD.) Limited edition copies were also pressed on brown vinyl.
The 2006 album The Captain & the Kid is the sequel, and continues the autobiography where Captain Fantastic leaves off.
Later releases
Both "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "Philadelphia Freedom" were originally released as non-album singles, but years later both songs, along with "Lucy"'s B-Side, the John Lennon-penned "One Day at a Time", were included as bonus tracks on the remastered Captain Fantastic CD reissue.
A deluxe 30th Anniversary edition CD was released September 2005, containing the complete album and the bonus tracks included on prior reissues and adding "House of Cards," the original b-side to the 7" single of "Someone Saved My Life Tonight," which had previously only appeared on CD on the 1992 Rare Masters collection. Also included is a second disc containing the complete album performed live at Wembley in 1975.
In September 2005, Elton John and his band again performed the entire album (minus "Tower Of Babel" and "Writing") in a series of sold-out concerts in Boston, New York City and the tour's final stop, Atlanta, in October. These "Captain Fantastic Concerts" were a part of the Peachtree Road Tour and were the longest concerts in Elton's career, many lasting at least three and a half hours. The songs from Captain Fantastic were aired by Capital Gold Radio in a broadcast taken from the 16 September 2005 performance in Boston.
Track listing
All songs by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, except where noted.
Side one
1. "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy" 5:46
2. "Tower of Babel" 4:28
3. "Bitter Fingers" 4:35
4. "Tell Me When the Whistle Blows" 4:20
5. "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" 6:45
Side two
1. "(Gotta Get A) Meal Ticket" 4:01
2. "Better Off Dead" 2:37
3. "Writing" 3:40
4. "We All Fall in Love Sometimes" 4:15
5. "Curtains" 6:15
Also Included all vinyl Sourced
"Philadelphia Freedom" 5:23 (U.S 7"Single)
"I Saw Her Standing There" (with John Lennon) (Lennon, McCartney) 3:17
"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" (Lennon/McCartney) 6:18 (U.S 7"Single)
"One Day at a Time" (Lennon) 3:49
"House of Cards" 3:12 (U.S B-Side)
"Pinball Wizard" (Pete Townshend) 5:09 (From The Tommy Soundtrack)
Personnel
Musicians
* Elton John - acoustic and electric pianos, clavinet, mellotron, Arp String Ensemble Synthesizer, harpsichord
* Davey Johnstone - acoustic, electric, Leslie guitars and mandolin
* Dee Murray - bass
* Nigel Olsson - drums
* Ray Cooper - percussion (shaker, congas, gong, jawbone, tambourine, bells, belltree, cymbals, triangle, bongos)
Additional Musicians
* Davey, Dee and Nigel - Backing Vocals (Tracks 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
* Gene Page - Orchestral Arrangement (Track 4)
Production
* Producers: Gus Dudgeon, Greg Penny
* Engineer: Jeff Guercio
* Mixing: Greg Penny
* Remixing: Gus Dudgeon, Phil Dunne
* Remastering: Tony Cousins
* Assistant: Mark Guercio
* Digital transfers: Ricky Graham
* Surround sound: Greg Penny
* Orchestral arrangements: Gene Page
* Art direction: David Larkham, Bernie Taupin
* Graphic conception: David Larkham, Bernie Taupin
* Cover design: Alan Aldridge
* Package design: David Larkham
* Illustrations: Alan Aldridge
* Liner notes: John Tobler
Charts
Album
Year Chart Position
1975 UK Albums Chart 2
US Billboard Pop Albums 1
Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart 1
Singles
Year Single Chart Position
1975 "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" UK Singles Chart 10
US Billboard Pop Singles 1
"Philadelphia Freedom" UK Singles Chart 12
US Billboard Black Singles 32
US Billboard Pop Singles 1
Someone Saved My Life Tonight UK Singles Chart 22
US Billboard Pop Singles 4
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