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LOOKING AFTER NO. 1
Debut Albums 1956 to 1986
Volume 1 of 2
Artists from A to L...
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"...Wish That I Had Wings..."
Picture the scene – fresh
out of the recording sessions at Dick James Recording Studios, a young Elton
John and his guitarist/pal Caleb Quaye (both he and Reg had worked for rival
music publishing companies when they met by accident) are walking at four in
the morning in April 1969 back to the Salvation Army Headquarters in London's
Oxford Street to get some well-earned kip.
Steve Brown's Dad (Steve is
Producer on the "Empty Sky" LP) lived above and ran the Capitol's famous
refuge for the homeless and the hopeful. After three failed singles with
Bluesology, countless Soul-sucking sessions on Budget Compilations and Top of
the Pops LPs doing current cover versions and finding a lyrical partner of true
worth in Lincolnshire-lad Bernie Taupin only a few years earlier – our Mister
Dwight must surely have felt that things were finally on the up.
Not quite - it
would take until the next self-titled "Elton John" LP of 1970 and of course the beautiful melody of "Your
Song" to make people listen. But this rather unloved yet strangely brill in places too
debut album is where all the mayhem to 1975 started.
Elton has described his
vocals and even his songwriting on "Empty Sky" as naïve and probably
cringes re-listening to it now. Studio trickery on longer cuts like the
three-part Side 2 finisher are terribly dated – instruments used that were
thought to be cool on the day but quickly sounded passé - no real single to grab you by the netherlands. But there is also
pride – the title track is stunning and you can feel greatness looming. To the
Western Ford Gateway...
UK released 4 May 1995 - "Empty
Sky" by ELTON JOHN on Mercury/This Record Co Ltd 528 157-2 (Barcode
731452815729) is an Expanded Edition CD Reissue and Remaster in The Classic Years Series with Four Bonus
Tracks that plays out as follows (55:18 minutes):
1. Empty Sky (8:28 minutes) [Side
1]
2. Val-Hala (4:12 minutes)
3. Western Ford Gateway (3:16
minutes)
4. Hymn 2000 (4:29 minutes)
5. Lady What's Tomorrow (3:10
minutes) [Side 2]
6. Sails (3:45 minutes)
7. The Scaffold (3:18
minutes)
8. Skyline Pigeon (3:37
minutes)
9. Gulliver/It's Hay
Chewed/Reprise (6:59 minutes)
Tracks 1 to 9 are his Debut
Album "Empty Sky" – released June 1969 in the UK on DJM Records DJLP
403 (Mono) and DJLPS 403 (Stereo). It would remain unissued in the USA until
January 1975 when MCA finally put out the LP. MCA Records MCA-2130
(same nine tracks, Stereo only) also came with different front sleeve artwork and pictures
on the inner gatefold. Also note that on all original UK LPs, Part 2 of the
final track on Side 2 (Track 9 on the CD) was simply called "Hay Chewed"
(a pun no doubt on Hey Jude). But on this CD "It's" has been added into
the title. Produced by Steve Brown - all songs are written by Elton John and
Bernie Taupin and the STEREO MIX only
of the album is used on this CD.
BONUS TRACKS:
10. Lady Samantha
11. All Across The Havens
Tracks 10 and 11 are the
A&B-sides of his second UK 45-single issued 17 January 196 on Philips BF
1735, Both Tracks Non-LP
12. It’s Me That You Need
13. Just Like Strange Rain
Tracks 12 and 13 are the
A&B-sides of his third UK 45-single issued 16 May 1969 on DJM Records DJS
205, Both Tracks Non-LP
Note: His Debut solo UK
45-single "I've Been Loving You" b/w "Here's To The Next Time"
issued 1 March 1968 on Philips BF 1643 is not dealt with on this CD nor are the
three (unsuccessful) 45s Elton did with the Bluesology group that preceded his Solo
career (credited under his real name of Reg Dwight).
MUSICIANS:
ELTON JOHN – Piano, Organ,
Electric Piano and Harpsichord
CALEB QUAYE – Electric and
Acoustic Guitars, Conga Drums
TONY MURRAY – Bass
ROGER POPE – Drums and
Percussion
DON FAY – Tenor Saxophone
and Flute
GRAHAM VICKERY – Harmonica
NIGEL OLSEN – Drums on "Lady
What's Tomorrow"
The 8-leaf foldout inlay is both good and bad. Gone are the Tony Brandon and David Symonds testimonials along with Elton's hand-written note on 'hard work' and 'thanks' that covered much of the rear sleeve. It does perhaps most important of all keep the inner gatefold where the lyrics were printed over photos of Elton and Bernie. In their place are excellent liner notes from JOHN TOBLER on EJ's history to and into the debut. They include comments from EJ on his amazement at having gotten to that starter place at all. Should have had the lyrics to the singles too though.
It won't take fans long to notice that the debut solo 7" single "I've Been Loving You" and its Non-LP B-side isn't on here when there was room - still the four bonus 45 sides and the LP have benefited from the original mix tapes being 'enhanced' after decades had softened them up. Long-time EJ Producer GUS DUDGEON explains in the liner notes how The Sadie Digital System has been applied to these versions to better the sound but not fundamentally alter it.
The Mono Mix of the LP is completely AWOL. I can remember when I worked in Rarities in Reckless Records in Berwick Street how we would occasionally see the mottled-effect gatefold sleeves for "Empty Sky" arrive with 'Stereo' stickers on the rear covering the 'Mono DJLP 403' reference up in the top right corner. DJM Records must have shifted so few of the Mono variant that they pulped them and took the more sellable DJSLP Stereo pressing of the LP and stuck them in Mono gatefold covers with stickers on the back. Let's deal with what we do have audiowise...
For damn sure, when you hear the whack off the superb "Empty Sky" opening track clocking in 8:29 minutes - it's far better than what we've been forced to endure before. It's a rocker at heart (a good opening) but Graham Vickory's Harmonica passage could have been given some more Zeppelin-type oomph and that down-to-a-whisper back-up-to-rocking bit towards the end feels too obvious. But I still love it - a track that indeed points to the balls-to-the-wall Rock brilliance of "Funeral For A Friend/Loves Lies Bleeding" that would open "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" in 1973.
Thor above his Mountain is looking down on his children for the Harpsichord-driven "Val-Hala" - a great follow-up track to the rawk of its Side 1 predecessor. Punchy multi-layered guitars open "Western Ford Gateway" with new Remastered power, but an ill-advised treated vocal that dominates the left speaker too much kind of does for the song. Flutes and piano introduce "Hymn 2000" - Taupin having a sideways go at organized religion as someone shakes a tambourine.
Side 2's "Lady What's Tomorrow" has Elton signing with warmth in the vocals and an overall sound-stage that's clearer and more suited - could even have been a 45 for the LP. "Sails" throws in some Guitar-Funk (good Remaster) that feels both cool and hammy at one and the same time - a young girl called Lucy mixed up with seagulls and sails and collars pulled up to protect. A hissy-intro leads in "The Scaffold" - a slow electric keyboard tale of the Amazon and Minotaurs with bloody hands. It's indicative of the whole album, a good track, an interesting song, but never rising much further upwards from that. Back to Harpsichord for the LP's most famous cut "Skyline Pigeon" - a flying high flying away melody that's searching in the shadows of the world for better days and bigger dreams (probably the best Remaster on the whole disc).
EJ brings it all to a close with the long and clumsy three-parter "Gulliver/Hay Chewed/Reprise" - a good opener "Gulliver" is ruined by a Jazzy romp about three-minutes in. Then the ill-placed Jazz and Pop section of Hay Chewed with its too loud guitars rants drags in snippets of all the LP's songs brought in at the end as a Reprise. Still, the sound is excellent. But it ends his debut on a gimmick instead of highlighting his knack for melody.
Bonuses: I never did understand why "Lady Samantha" made the A-side when I prefer the more EJ-vibe of its flip "All Across The Havens" - a mother of mercy tale of waterfalls and forgiveness over there somewhere (lovely sound quality to both too - better than some of the LP tracks). "Hey there, you in the mirror..." Elton asks in the over-stringed and over-guitared "It's Me That You Need" that has its rather good melody drowned out by intrusive instruments. "Just Like Strange Rain" has perhaps the most muddled of sounds on this CD, but fans will love its presence.
"Empty Sky" is very much a beginning that could have done with major rethinks before release and perhaps EJ called his far better second album "Elton John" for a reason - because it was the real starting place.
Still, I go back to the title track "Empty Sky" and "Val-Hala" and "Skyline Pigeon" and Saturday Night fighting Reg Dwight and his Salvation Army Crew is all wight with me (sorry couldn't resist)...
