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Take your Brown Dirt Cowboy and click on this link to go back to the main page!! Captain Somewhat Fantastic and the Off-Brown Dirt Half-Cowboy
Overall Album Score: 9.8 out of 10 Well! I am delightfully surprised! For some reason, I completely avoided even listening to Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy simply because reviewers like comparing it to Tumbleweed Connection. And, of course, if you read my review of that album, you'd note that I wasn't exactly too enthusiastic about it. I remember spending hours listening to that album over and over again hoping that I would discover exactly what everyone finds so utterly endearing and timeless about that album. (I mean ... George Starostin gave that album an extremely positive review as well as the All-Music Guide.) But it never happened. For some reason, Tumbleweed Connection was never able to connect with me. On the contrary, Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy almost IMMEDIATELY connected with me! From the very beginnings of the album until the very end, there was not one single solitary moment that I find boring at all. Either the album is toe-tappingly poppy or it soars quite touchingly. EVERYTHING here is so beautifully immaculate that it shimmers ... yet it's not too polished. If I was ever having doubts of whether Elton John really deserved his title as "The Best Pop-Rock Artist On the Planet," Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy proved that to me entirely. Simply put, this album is absolutely brilliant. Although, you might be surprised at how few radio hit singles that have come out of here! The only big hit was "Someone Saved My Life Tonight." The reason for this, I suppose, is everything here sounds like it belongs into the album as if everything on here was a part of the living, breathing organism. This doesn't really have a single most highlight (like Honky Chateau had with "Honky Cat" and "Rocketman") ... EVERYTHING on Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy is the highlight! Therefore, that also makes this album one of the most essential things that you could buy. Overall Album Score: 9.8 out of 10 (Simply brilliant!!!!!!! This is one of the most immaculate pop albums that I have ever listened to.) Average Song Score: 9.5 (What a brilliant selection of tunes! These are some of the most immaculate pop songs that I've had the privilege of getting to listen to.) Album Tilt: 10 (Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy absolutely surprised me. From what I read about it, and reviewers comparing it so much to The Tumbleweed Connection, I thought it was going to be dull and boring. On the contrary, I found it to be my favorite Elton John output.) Artist Rating: 10 (This album doesn't exactly have an important artistic statement attached to it ... but I admire it as a simply brilliant piece of work. Elton John is, indeed, rock's foremost pop kings. Everyone shall get on their knees and worship thy Elton John!) Track Reviews Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy 10/10 This opening track has a simply exquisite melody ... everything about it is so utterly flawless that it thoroughly upholds Elton John's hype as being one of pop's most immaculate statesmen. The odd thing about it is, though, that the song really isn't that memorable. It's absolutely perfect, though! When you listen to it, you hardly want it to end. Tower of Babel 9/10 Again ... WOW! This is another entirely immaculate song that is one hundred percent enjoyable. Oh man ... If Elton John seemed to struggle with his songwriting with Caribou, he makes it seem so effortless here. This is almost uncanny! Bitter Fingers 10/10 This one really starts out kind of uneventful (but still beautiful and entirely listenable), and then when that absolutely rollicking chorus strikes up, I grow completely enamored with it ... and I can do nothing but give this song a 10. This is wonderful, magical Elton John at his best! Tell Me When the Whistle Blows 9/10 Oh, who the #*@# invited Barry White?!?!? ... This is Elton John's attempt at writing a Barry White-type soul/funk song (with those scaling symphonic background noises, the Barry White connection is obvious). But it's so poppy that it can't be mistaken for Elton John! This isn't my favorite song on the album, but the pop hooks in here are so utterly flawless, that you can't help from enjoying the giblets out of this. Someone Saved My Life Tonight 10/10 Gorgeous!!! This was (surprisingly) the only big hit single that Elton John had in this album, and it is an absolutely smashing song that's likely to carry your soul along with the soaring vocals. Oh man ... Elton John really perfected his art here. Too bad he would never repeat an album like this. (Gotta Get a) Meal Ticket 9.5/10 This is another happy, upbeat pop number. And ... WHOAH ... John dazzles us again with his utterly immaculate hooks and production. As always, I am utterly thrilled about this remarkably consistent Elton John album. This song, even though it isn't one of the album's highlights, is utterly splendid. Better Off Dead 8.5/10 "Better Off Dead" is probably the least remarkable song in the bunch mostly because it doesn't seem to have as much of a grandiose vision or sense of purpose. Just the same, this classical-music-inspired song furthers this album's reputation as being one of rock-and-roll's most wonderfully consistent albums. The pop hooks are essentially as strong as everything else in this album. And ... those drums are LOUD. Writing 9.5/10 See??? Here's a light-hearted, soft rock number that has this utterly stellar melody that'll have you pleasantly swaying your head along with it. WHAT AN UNRELENTLESSLY STELLAR ALBUM!!!! HOW CAN YOU POSSIBLY HATE CAPTAIN FANTASTIC AND THE BROWN DIRT COWBOY??!?!?!?!?!!!! That's all I have to say about that. We All Fall in Love Sometimes 9.5/10 Crap! This is a slow song that could have been totally drench in its own dreariness, but Elton John in his magician suit (as pictured on the album cover) completely manages to evade that! How brilliant is this or what? The pop hooks are great ... It could have been absolutely mucky and murky but it's NOT. It's superb! Curtains 9.5/10 The album's mood doesn't change much as it metamorphoses from "We All Fall in Love Sometimes" ... It then picks up significantly in its dramatics. I am only slightly disappointed with "Curtains" only because I would kind of expect some sort of rousing conclusion to this wonderful album. "Curtains" isn't rousing, really, but at least it's listenable. ...If you've listened to this album enough, then I suppose it would work perfectly fine as a concluding device. BONUS TRACKS Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds An album like Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy honestly shouldn't have bonus tracks. It only goes to ruin the whole concept and feel that Elton and Bernie developed for the entire album. Just the same! These are very good bonus tracks, beginning with a fine cover of that slightly famous Beatles song! I haven't heard too many "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" covers in my day ... the only one I've ever heard to actually add something remarkable to it would be William Shatner's version! But Elton John's version is far from butchering it. It's poppier than the Beatles version was and it even has, oddly enough, a raggae-inspired section of it. I'd probably give this a 9. One Day at a Time As of the moment, I have not heard the original version of this (written by John Lennon for his Mind Games album). Frankly this song sounds a little bit dreary (but that's to be expected from a Lennon song) ... but it's completely excellent! The melody is as strong as I'd expect out of good old Lenny. This is a 9, too. Philadelphia Freedom Whoah ... a bonus track that has nothing to do with the Beatles. In fact, this is an Elton John original (yaaaay!) It's a poppy disco-type thing that is also reminiscent of Barry White. It sounds like it might have gone well on the album in theory ... but I'm glad that it wasn't because it would have been one of the weaker songs on here. Just the same, this is still completely excellent, and proves that Elton John was at a remarkable songwriting streak in 1975 that he could afford to throw away excellent songs such as "Philadelphia Freedom." Too bad that this songwriting high won't last. That fact makes me SAD. Any comments about this fantastic album? Any more comments about American Politics? Leave your comments here. slb23@shaw.ca (Simon B.) received July 24, 2004 Ever since I bought it back in ~1995, I've always thought
1975's CAPTAIN FANTASTIC AND THE BROWN DIRT COWBOY to be one of Elton's
best albums, and one of the best albums of the 70's. The music is
consistently good; and the Bernie's lyrics are wonderful, maybe partially
thanks to the thematic/concept nature of the album. In my mind, it fully
deserved its status as the first album in rock history to debut at #1.
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All reviews are copyrighted by Michael Lawrence. He's very handsome according to Mr. Rogers.
