50th Anniversary of 'Madman Across The Water' (1971)

Well, I like 'Tumbleweed Connection' (1970) - where he fought to establish his own hand-picked band for future recording sessions - a great deal too, despite the controversy that apparently accompanied its recording at the time. 'Madman Across The Water' (1971) and 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road' (1973) also rank among my favourite albums, so it's all good with me.

It's interesting how Elton John's songs started being contemporaneously covered by artists, some of whom he handed the keys to as he was influenced heavily by the soul scene. We probably all know the stories about people stateside hearing 'Bennie And The Jets' on the radio, much like when they heard Eric Burdon for the first time, or Stevie Winwood.

John still counts among his preferred versions Brandi Carlile and Sara Bareilles, but I always hear him dig deeper into the past, or look forward to the future. His favourite version of 'Levon' is the one recorded by Mary McCreary of Little Sister in 1974 (an off-shoot of Sly And The Family Stone), despite it being the bible text for Bon Jovi's balladry. He likes Bo Diddley's relatively obscure 1971 take on 'Bad Side Of The Moon', Aretha Franklin's 1972 recording of 'Border Song', Billy Paul's neglected 1972 recording of the oft-covered 'Your Song' ... whereas in England, critics tend to moon gleefully over national treasures like Phil Collins covering 'Burning Down The Mission' many years later, Kate Bush touching his discography, or Ed Sheeran's beloved version of 'Candle In The Wind' which has since gone on to be voted the greatest Elton John cover of all time.

I actually know that song through youtube, though I've never seen the movie it accompanied.

Do you remember when Elton John broke through from session player / struggling songwriter to make a genuine mainstream impact in America? What was the song / album that you think did it? There was so much going on at the time.

I think it was probably the first one that got him recognised in Europe too. In 2017, 'Your Song' was voted by the British public as 'The Great British Nation's Favourite Elton John Song' in a UK-wide poll which led to calls that he might be reconsidered for national treasure status. David Bowie had well and truly been reborn in the public's eyes and John was soon to follow (John gets real respect nowadays as the internet has shown his music has been more respected around the world all these years, and puts in a lot of work to help young British artists and musicians just starting out).

There's plenty of stories and recollections available to hear on youtube from fans of rock 'n' roll who find music helps to get them through the day. One of my favourites regarding the music of Elton John involves cleaning, something I do at work every day as part of my general duties.