Elton John - Blue Moves

This melancholy 1976 release includes what would be EJ's last Top 10 hit for three years ("Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word") and is loaded with numbers reflecting the ennui and burnout both John and Taupin were experiencing at the time ("Between Seventeen And Twenty," "If There's a God in Heaven [What's He Waiting For?]"). Elsewhere, John and Taupin write songs in tribute to Edith Piaf ("Cage the Songbird") and a depressingly debilitated Elvis Presley ("Idol"). Despite the inclusion of these and other heart wrenching compositions like "Tonight," John's irrepressible upbeat attitude comes to the fore on tracks such as the Caleb Quaye instrumental "Your Starter For..." and "One Horse Town," a peppy song about life in the rural South. Most gratifying is a collaboration with the Reverend James Cleveland and his Southern California Choir on the funky "Boogie Pilgrim. Mercury. 2004.