Elton John: The Complete Thom Bell Sessions - 1979
A few months before the totally disastrous, half-baked disco excursion that was Victim Of Love, Elton John recorded the six tracks that appear on this appealing album in Seattle with legendary "Philly" producer Thom Bell and they were remixed in Philadelphia.
They are much better than the Victim Of Love material. Full of sweeping Philadelphia strings and sumptuous backing. Elton's band was not used and the backing vocals were provided by members of The Detroit Spinners. Thom Bell apparently coached Elton in how to make his voice more soulful.
Nice And Slow is an upbeat soul song that was actually written by Elton and Bernie Taupin. On this, and on the next track, Country Love Song, Elton adopts a high-pitched nasal vocal slightly different from the deeper tone he had used on his previous album, 1978's A Single Man. On this song his voice, tone and phrasing sound identical to that on many contemporary Detroit Spinners recordings such as Then Came You and Lazy Susan. Must be the result of Bell's tuition. The music is just so Detroit Spinners too. Both of the songs are good, highly listenable offerings, but I bet they would have sounded better in the hands of The Detroit Spinners.
Originally from A Single Man - Shine On Through was included from these sessions. At the point when the drums kick in on that album, it has a much quieter rise in sound here, with plucked strings, subtle cymbal percussion and a melodic string backing. It is orchestrated soul here, not a piano-driven full band rock ballad. I like both versions, but this one maybe just edges it, particularly with the instrumental break and gospel choir in the middle helping to swing it.
Mama Can't Buy You Love is a relatively uptempo soulful number, with a sixties Motown-style piano intro, that has Elton again trying to "soften" his voice. Teddy Pendergrass or Billy Paul he ain't, however. He was probably best sticking to his original bluesy Elton voice, to be honest. This doesn't really work for me, despite being a pleasant song with a good hook. It's a fine soul song in its own right, just not really an Elton song.
Are You Ready For Love? is just great and many people know it now, due to its popularity in later years. The Detroit Spinners did it first, of course, and their influence is all over it, as well as their prominent backing vocals. It has a great funky break at the end of it and is just such an uplifting song, isn't it? Incredibly it reached only number 42 in the UK singles charts, God knows why. It should have been top 10.
Three Way Love Affair was another excellent, beautifully-backed soul song that once more - probably - would have been better in the hands of a "proper" soul singer. Don't get me wrong, Elton's performance is ok, but that's all it is - ok. As a collection of soul songs, this is top quality, but reviewed as an Elton album, I feel I have to point out a few of its deficiencies. Perhaps surprisingly, though, the root cause of those is Elton himself.
The album was an interesting experiment, and infinitely superior to the next one, but Elton John was made for different material. We knew it and he knew it too.
