![Elton John: Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy [Deluxe Edition] (1975-2005)](http://img310.imageshack.us/img310/4951/eltoncaptaindeluxe0ol.jpg)
Artist: Title (label, release date) 1-5 stars
Dead Kennedys: Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables (Manifesto, September 13, 2005) *****
Elton John: Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy [Deluxe Edition] (Island, September 13, 2005) ****
Peter Frampton: Breaking All The Rules (Lemon, September 13, 2005) ***
The Fool: The Fool (Rev-Ola, September 13, 2005) ***
Dead Kennedys: Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables
Dead Kennedys, from San Francisco, were for a very brief time America's premiere hardcore punk band, and put to rest the always-erroneous notion that San Francisco was only for hippies. They were nothing if not controversial; even many punk fans hated them, let alone mainstream music fans. However, they also had a fervent core audience, and their lone masterpiece, Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables, remains a classic that ultimately influenced a lot of bands in its wake. Formed in 1978 when vocalist Jello Biafra and bassist Klaus Flouride answered an ad placed by guitarist East Bay Ray (drummer Ted joined up shortly after), the band's debut was Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables, released on I.R.S. in 1980. Fresh Fruit really was unlike any other album before it. Jello Biafra's strange, almost cartoon vibrato combined with speedy proto-skatepunk to create an unrelenting barrage of left wing polemics, delivered with conviction and a sense of humor. Their targets were sometimes obvious; "Kill The Poor" and "Let's Lynch The Landlord" were class-warfare anthems, "Chemical Warfare" and "Holiday In Cambodia" were antiwar epics, "Stealing People's Mail" and "Funland At The Beach" odes to adolescent mischief, "Police Truck" (left off later pressings of the album, including this one) a particularly violent indictment of police brutality, and "Viva Las Vegas", an ironic tongue-in-cheek Elvis cover as album closer. The lyrics, for the most part, are in-your-face but often display intelligence and wit. The music borrows cues from surf-rock and rockabilly and is consistent and engaging. Biafra's voice might not be for everyone, the politics are dated in places (although they hold up pretty well, overall), and the production is pretty thin, depriving the bass of some of its power. But it is a landmark album, easily one of the most listenable hardcore punk albums, and probably should be considered one of the essential albums of its era. Dead Kennedys broke up in 1987, after a costly prosecution for obscenity (for an H.R. Giger poster included in the album Frankenchrist) and a feud between Biafra and the band.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - uao
Amusing not:
I don't know if the "Ads by Gooogle" change, or if they are the same for everyone.
They are selected automatically, depending on keywords. "Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables" resulted in these ads for me:
FRESH FRUIT
Fresh Fruit & More! 200,000 Stores! Deals. Reviews.
CANNING VEGETABLES
Canning vegetables online. ShopTarget.com
WOnder what all the grannies at the fruits/vegetables stands on the internet will think of the Jello Biafra fans who click in...
2 - uao
I meant "Amusing Note" not "Amusing Not"
3 - Bob A. Booey
The Dead Kennedys were weird, but great.
Certainly not my favorite punk band, but definitely one of the most original.
That is all.
4 - Elizabeth Rosenthal
Elton John's "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy" was not a "loose concept album" nor about the Old West. If the reviewer had actually done his/her homework and/or read through the extensive liner notes of the reissue, he/she would know that it is a completely autobiographical concept album chronicling the early lives and joint career of songwriters Elton John ("Captain Fantastic") and Bernie Taupin ("The Brown Dirt Cowboy") through the making of the first Elton John album, which was released in the UK in 1969 and called Empty Sky. It's also important to note that Captain Fantastic was well-received in its day by fans as well as by Robert Hilburn, the Los Angeles Times' legendary rock music critic who considered it Elton's best album up to that point. After a while, it gets a bit tiresome to read yet another reappraisal of Elton John's career in which the quality of even his most well-regarded works is downplayed.
5 - uao
Oh please. It is full of Old West imagry right down to the cover.
Where do you think the term "meal ticket" comes from? What do you think "cowboy" means. Taupin has always used old west imagry from his earliest days "Tumbleweed" to his recent work.
All lyricists' work is autobiographical. Yes, I understand "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" is about Taupin or John or somebody.
But that's not how the album was presented or marketed.
Upon its release, it broke records for returned (i.e. unsold) copies; after its #1 debut, it was given lukewarm to semi-hostile reviews by most music press, and has seen its image rehabilitated over the years; it's a good Elton John album.
Gimme a break, I said very nice things about it, and recommend the "deluxe" version highly.
Get off your high horse.
6 - uao
However, I modified the article to reflect your comment regarding autobiography; I take this as a given, which is why I didn't mention it, but this is one of their more personal albums. No need to be snarly about it, is all.
7 - Elizabeth Rosenthal
Mr./Ms. Reviewer,
You've just admitted to knowing nothing of the subject matter of the Captain Fantastic album in your remark that "Someone Saved" was about "Taupin or John or somebody." Well, that about sums it up, doesn't it?
P.S. Captain Fantastic remains one of Elton's best-selling albums of all time, having been certified for sales of three million by the Recording Industry Association of America. It remains a sentimental favorite among fans. You may (or may not) be interested to know that Elton John and his lyricist Bernie Taupin will be working on the sequel to this album, slated for release in 2007, which will survey their lives and careers over the last 30 years. And, no, it won't be about the Wild West.
8 - uao
Some music listeners don't obsess over "who" such-and-such song is "about", yet we still enjoy the music.
Because the music is what we have to go on, when we listen. It should not be dependant upon what an artist reveals later in interviews.
I like your beloved Elton myself; I'm even a fan of "Empty Sky", something few critics would openly admit.
But you're way outta line. I just praised the stupid thing, and you're badgering me about not being obsessive enought to care about the backstory.
Nor were the listeners of its day.
Taupin would continue to sprinkle westernin influences into his autobiographical, and hacked-out non-autoboigraphical material on the next album, also from 1975, Rock of the Westies.
After Captain Fantastic, Elton John's slaes began a steady decline that some observers speculated was irreversable. John reversed his slide with Jump Up and "Empty Garden"
Hmmm. The more I think about it, Captain Fantastic was no Honky Chateau, not by a longshot. I herby, officially, and irrevocably lower its rating from **** to ***1/2.
9 - uao
I meant "western references" not "western influences" in the above reply. Force of habit; I'm a lousy typist.
10 - crazywater
Excuse me sir/madam,
The fact that you said 'I understand "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" is about Taupin or John or somebody' proves you are clueless. And if you had listened to the live version of the album on the new Deluxe Edition you would know the album is completely autobiographical since Elton explains some of the songs as he goes along. The album is about Elton and Bernie and their struggles up to the recording of their first album "Empty Sky." The song "Curtains" makes reference to that album as well as the first song they wrote together. And I would like to know where you got your information about it breaking records for returns? That is just a stupid statement to make about the first album ever to debut at #1. I seriously doubt that it set records for returns. Its nice you like the album but don't try and pretend to be an Elton expert when you clearly don't even know the basic information.
BTW: Ever here the phrase, West of the Rockies? The album was recorded in Colorado, get it? Nothing to do with Bernie and his fascination with the old west.
11 - uao
You guys are missing my point. But okay, whatever.
I just don't really care about "Elton and Bernie's struggles up to making Empty Sky". My struggles were more grueling. So were yours.
And it doesn't make the music any better, unless you're in it for the personalities, not the music.
As for "west", you guys are weird. What is this argument about? Are not a bunch of Elton John/Bernie Taupin tunes, not the majority, but a bunch) peppered with Western imagry? Is west of the rockies not "old" enough to be considered "old west?" Okay then, "western references". I think I said that already.
On Rock of the Westies isn't "I Feel Like a Bullet (In the Gun of Robert Ford)" about Robert Ford, the guy who shot Jesse James?
Where's the beef?
You don't have to be an "Elton John expert" to know if an Elton John album is worth spending money on.
I will reiterate: this one is worth spending money on, if you like Elton John. If you don't, this may be a little much.
But I'll never knowingly spend another dime on anyone I know is an Elton John fan...
12 - uao
Considering semanitcs, "old west" has been modified to "American west" in the original text.
13 - uao
P.S. The Dead Kennedys album is much better.
;-)
14 - godoggo
During my brief Green Party flirtation, I went to a rally that included the disturbing sight of Jello and Jackson Brown doing background vocals behind Patti Smith.
15 - Vern Halen
Actually, whether the work is autobiographical or not is irrelevant - it's how the work speaks to the audience that gives it meaning. When you hear White Christmas, does it matter that one of the most popular Christmas songs of all time was written by a Jewish songwriter? Similarly, how about Spirit In the Sky by Norman Greenbaum, which specifically refers to Jesus, and the singer hoping to be "recommended to the spirit in the sky?"
When the work is released to the audience, the audience will read what it will into it. Is either The Matrix or The Lion the Witch & the Wardrobe an allegory for the Christian experience, or just interesting movies books? You bring to it what you have.
Personally, CF&TBDC does work on one level referring to the lives of EJ & BT, but it's also way more interesting to listen to it as a story about the Old West. Depends on how literal you want to take it, I guess.
16 - Paul
Tumbleweed Connection is a theme album that takes place in the post civil war period and is clearly devouted to early Americana....Bernie Taupin has written many songs that deal with that period...Taupin is now a rancher in California...and has become the Brown dirt cowboy....The Album above is devoted to the two songwriters personal stories...the two nicknames in the title are meant to represent their personalities...CFATBDC really doesn't have anything to do with the old West
17 - Paul
Tumbleweed Connection is a theme album that takes place in the post civil war period and is clearly devouted to early Americana....Bernie Taupin has written many songs that deal with that period...Taupin is now a rancher in California...and has become the Brown dirt cowboy....The Album above is devoted to the two songwriters personal stories...the two nicknames in the title are meant to represent their personalities...CFATBDC really doesn't have anything to do with the old West
18 - The Proprietor
The Fool is also remembered as the creators of the memorable psychedelic paint job on Eric Clapton's Gibson SG used with Cream. Although Clapton's nickname for the guitar was "Sunny", it's nearly universally referred to as "The Fool" guitar in honor of the artists.
"Sunny" somehow made it into Todd Rundgren's possession via Jackie Lomax. The guitar has allegedly been touched up several times and is in poor condition. It is not, as some sources claim, originally George Harrison's Gibson SG used on Revolver (that guitar was given to Pete Ham of Badfinger and was recently auctioned off).
19 - jim mckay
It's written over pretty much every copy of the album's liner notes since it came out in 1975 (except the tape versions) that "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy" is autobiographical--ten songs written specifically about the period from when EJ and BT met in 1967 to the release of their first album, "Empty Sky."
You should just apologize for your gross negligence in writing about something you haven't really reviewed except very, very casually. Make me wonder how accurate the other reviews you offer are.
20 - uao
I owe no apologies whatsoever.
The review is accurate. The lyrics are full of western imagry used in the service of telling Taupin's "autobiographical" story, as are many John/Taupin songs of the era. It is a loose conceptual album (concept being comparing our heroes to Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy)
I did not say it is a "Tale of The Old West"
Why are Elton John fans so offended by this observation?
This is not an article on Elton John. It is a recommendation of four albums out of eighty or so re-issues that came out this week.
I picked an Elton John album, said what's good about it, gave it a little context, period, end of story.
Sheesh, it's not even that good by Elton John standards; nearly any of his 1971-1974 product is better. I simply thought you guys might like the concert material. Frankly, I made the album sound better than it really is.
That's all I have to say about Elton John.
As for The Fool, I appreciate the anecdote about Clapton's guitar. I didn't know about that; that's interesting.
21 - uao
One illustration of what I meant, and then I'm moving on to other things.
Let's take "(Gotta Get A) Meal Ticket" for example, since I singled that one out for being a good hard rock song in the write up, and consider it the best moment on the album.
What is a "meal ticket"? It is an idiom that means "means of making money" or "means to pay one's bills".
Taken as autobiography, one can imagine Taupin (the Cowboy) is talking about his 'struggles before making "Empty Sky"'; how he needed that meal ticket his songwriting career became.
But where does the idiom come from? A "meal ticket" is given to cowboys/ranch hands in the, ahem, West, to be exchanged for a meal.
Considering these guys are British, using an American western idiom is a conscious decision, not one that comes naturally. Just as Taupin's Brown Dirt Cowboy alter-ego is a conscious decision, as is the cover art.
Frankly, "Someone Sved My Life Tonight" doesn't use any western imagry; that's why the concept is "loose". But it's there.
So when I say it is a conceptual album using one of Taupin's pet topics, the American west, as reference points, I'm not making it up. Sure, it's about him or them. So are the Frampton and Dead Kennedy albums about the artists as much as their topics and images.
What I don't get is how I've commited some sin by mentioning Taupin's particular fascination with such imagry. (which, as I've mentioned, appears on other albums, too)
As for liner notes, you can't hear them; I seldom consider any written material when I respond to an audio work.
Incidentally, the best things on this particular collection are "One Day At A Time" and "Philadelphioa Freedom", both of which aren't on the original pressings.
22 - godoggo
By the way, I don't think of Holiday in Cambodia as an anti-war song so much as an anti-yuppy song. There's some stuff on the back of the LP criticizing the government of the time for supporting the Khmer Rouge seat in the UN, but if you listen to the lyrics, you might get the feeling Jello thought Pol Pot was on to something. Wonder how my local donut vendors would react to this?
23 - uao
Actually, I was more interested in talking about the Dead Kennedys.
Your reading of Holiday In Cambodia makes sense to me; it's really a ball of things; that's what interested me about them. While other political punk of the day was often dogmatic sloganeering, Dead Kennedy's put a very unique, multidimensional spin on things.
The poster that came with this album was great too; I used to the collage pore over it for hours; it really did wake me up to some issues I was ignorant of.
And the music was creepy, especially if you played it in the dark, late at night.
24 - Matt
wow uao---you brought out the Elton fans. The hardcore ones, no less. Nice.
25 - Vern Halen
Y'know, getting back to EJ, there was a certain detatchment to what ever he sang - one critic said he could've been singing the phone book. The words were just words, of which David Byrne once said to the effect, are "just a trick to get people to listen to music." Heck, maybe even EJ didn't know what he was singing about. Apparently many of his fans were equally indiscriminate in their abililty to listen - a perfect match.