Honky Chateau

Elton's 5th studio outing is a lovely mix of styles - Rock, Ballad, Gospel, Bluegrass, 'Honky Tonk' - and is, for me, definitely the first in a series of classic releases from 1972 until 'Captain Fantastic...' in 1975. Here are my thoughts on the 10 tracks listed below:-HONKY CAT - Great uptempo opener; very catchy.MELLOW - A classy ballad with lovely keyboards and vocals.I THINK I'M GOING TO KILL MYSELF - A jaunty song in a 'honky tonk' style. Surprisingly funny!SUSIE - Good rocker with a very catchy chorus.ROCKET MAN - Brilliant single; gorgeous melody with lovely ARP synthesizer sounds.SALVATION - A great gospel-tinged ballad.SLAVE - Interesting use of banjo. BONUS TRACK VERSION is even better in my opinion.AMY - Nice, chunky sound with a warm and original violin solo.MONA LISA AND MAD HATTERS - Lovely simple ballad; voice, piano, bass, mandolin, guitar.HERCULES - Great uptempo rocker to round things off.This is an excellent album and I recommend it to all fans of Elton John.

Style wise, this is a departure from the previous albums which relied upon string arrangements.Empty Sky - Fun British late 60's R&BElton John - Serious and intimateTumbleweed Connection - a fantastic exposition of America as viewed by a 60's child growing up on cowboy movies.Madman Across the Water - the most similar in song-writing style to Honky Chateau, but has those string arrangements (different feel).Honky Château - Rockier in style with no strings or grandiosity. Great fun, addictive!Honky is probably my favourite album of EJ's after Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. Some consider Honky EJ's best album...Easy to understand why.

There's something a little hollow about much of this fifth Elton John LP from 1972, a sense of marking time after the relative magnificence of his previous two albums, Tumbleweed Connection and Madman Across the Water. On the plus side, it's looser and sounds spontaneous, EJ singing with confidence {mind you, he always did} and a good rocking feel to many of the songs.The opener, the piano-heavy, jerkily funky Honky Cat, only reached No.31 in the UK charts, whereas the now-classic Rocket Man quite rightly got as high as No.2 {he wasn't to have a solo No.1 hit until Sacrifice in 1990}. Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters, which I find to my surprise was never a single, is lyrically and musically a superb song, and one of Elton's own favourites.Bernie Taupin's lyrics are as ever resourceful and surprising, and in the right mood this is a terrific album, though to these ears just not one of his very best.Well, not unless you're in the right mood . . .

I had every Elton album up to Blue Moves. The trilogy of Honky Chateau, Don’t Shoot Me and Goodbye Yellow Brick Rd... just the best of them all. Half of Caribou too.

Excellent remaster on vinyl by Bob Ludwick of one of the best of Elton's early albums. I have the original and comparison shows the new issue to be sonically improved in all respects.Unfortnately my copy was scratched on one track so I am awaiting its replacement. Nevertheless a good and almost crackle free pressing.Recommended.

A good album for the collection.

First bought this album back in '72. Personally, I think this is Elton's best album. Every track is brilliant, and I am still surprised why there were not more songs from the album released as singles. A great, great album which should be in everyone's collection..

A good relaxing album some great tracks but his voice makes this album as in all his albums have in 70s and 80s

Awesome album with nice music !

Disco de 1972 que contiene uno de sus temas míticos "Rocket Man" además de otros menos populares pero en mí opinión de no menor calidad como "Mellow", "Salvation" o "Mona Lisas and mad hatters". Sonido francamente bueno. Merece la pena tenerlo en la discoteca.

Envoi conforme, bien protégé et dans les délais,A ce jour écoute toujours parfaite, je recommande pour les amateurs

In 1972 I was 13 years old, and my scope of music had yet to extend beyond the limitations of my AM transistor radio. Prior to this album, I did not know who Elton John was, nor was I aware of any music outside the Top 40. All I knew was that “Rocket Man” sounded like something I never heard before, and when it played, it would have taken a crowbar to pull my ear away from my transistor.Shortly afterward I felt the same way about “Honky Cat,” a New Orleans-like song about a young man headed straight from the farm to the big city. This is the song that always made me wish I could play the piano, and it was the one that made me realize there was something special about this singer called Elton John.As young as I was, I wasn’t alone in my assessment, as Honky Chateau, named for its French recording studio, was the first of Elton John’s number one albums. It’s the one that took him from a hard to classify singer/songwriter to a full-fledged rock star. That may have been because this was the first album to fully feature the joint efforts of musicians Nigel Olsen, Dee Murray, and Davey Johnstone, who became key fixtures of the Elton John Band. This is where it came together and where the hits started rolling in; and for me it was the album that put Elton John on the map.Naturally I was thrilled to find both “Rocket Man” and “Honky Cat” on one musical production, but this was also the album where I learned there is more to life than just the hits, as the other eight songs also had a fresh and interesting appeal. Varied as they were, I wouldn’t classify any as fillers.“I Think I am Going to Kill Myself,” is similar to “Crippled Inside,” from John Lennon’s Imagine album. Both are catchy tunes about a serious topic, and while Lennon’s saloon-like piano song sounds like a tap dance, Elton’s song actually features a tap dance. That’s not typical for a suicidal mind-frame; but the song reflects the theatrics of teenage boredom rather than the grim aspects of actual suicide.One of Elton John’s more underrated songs is “Salvation,” which would have made a great theme song for the Salvation Army and could have easily been another hit to emerge from the era of peace, love, and brotherhood. The sensitivity of this song flows easily into “Slave,” which would also have fit in well on the prior Tumbleweed Connection album. In later years the CD version of Honky Chateau contained a bonus track of a speedier “Slave”; but the gentler recording is more riveting and the right choice for the original album.More powerful yet is “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters” a rather dark interpretation of New York City and the need to form strong personal connections to rise above it all. This remains among the best of Bernie Taupin’s lyrics, which says a lot considering he contributes half the success to the prolific John/Taupin songwriting team.Honky Chateau ends with “Hercules,” originally slated to be the third single from this album, but likely set aside to give way to all the other hits that rapidly followed. For Elton John, this was a definite turning point in his career, and for me, it was a turning point for my music preferences. It took Elton from the obscurity of critically acclaimed but under played albums to the hit parade and me from top 40 singles to the depths of full-length albums.

Exquisito trabajo.