ALBUM OF THE WEEK # 341 ELTON JOHN - HONKY CHATEAU (1972)

[RJhog (Admin)]

Disclaimer: All info that does not reside in my brain is gathered from wikipedia.com (mostly because Jon can't stand it) unless otherwise noted.

1972 is the subject of this week's discussion around Album of the Week. Honky Chateau by Elton John is the album, but let's see a few things that happened that year:

• The first scientific hand held calculator is introduced.  It's called the HP-35 and retailed at a cool $395.
• April 12th saw the release of the X-rated animated movie Fritz The Cat (Jon has probably seen it).
• Arthur Bremer attempted to assassinate George Wallace on May 15th.
• On December 31st, Roberto Clemente was killed in a plane crash.
• In sports news, The Immaculate Reception occurred in December.  The Dallas Cowboys beat the Miami Dolphins in the Superbowl for the 1971 championship.
• In Music, Abba, Free, The Outlaws, Stealers Wheel, Steely Dan, Styx and Van Halen were formed.

Now, back to Honky Chateau.  This was John's fifth studio album, but it was his first number one album.  As a matter of fact, it started a string of 6 straight number one albums (Honky Chateau, Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Caribou, Captain Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy and Rock of the Westies). You can stretch that to seven straight if you include his first greatest hits album.  I don't care who you are, that's pretty impressive.  Both Rocket Man and Honky Cat were released as singles, and they both made the Top 10.  

If you are so inclined, you can pick up a remastered version of the album from Amazon for just over seven US dollars.  That version includes one bonus track, a fast version of the album track Slave.  So where does this one rank among Elton John's albums in your world?

Side One:

1. Honky Cat

2. Mellow

3. I Think I'm Going To Kill Myself

4. Susie (Dramas)

5. Rocket Man (I Think It's Gonna Be A Long, Long Time)

Side Two:

6. Salvation 

7. Slave 

8. Amy

9. Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters

10. Hercules

[Jon]

Sure, I've seen Fritz The Cat, but it's not the kind of movie you think it is. Midnight Cowboy and A Clockwork Orange were also originally rated X and I've seen them as well. Get your mind out of the gutter!

I have this, but the non-remastered version. Never had the urge to replace it since I don't listen to it as much as other EJ albums, but it's still good. Not as good as GYBR or CFATBDC which I had to update, but still good. Side one is much better than side two, but side two is still good. 

So, yeah. That's how I feel about it.

[Scott]

Changing up your pod-snack players a bit, adding album covers and color schemes to match!  Nice!

I have several Elton John albums but I have to be picky about them, some are genuine smashes and some misses, there seems to be no in between for him...  I have the following albums which I really like!

• Blue Moves
• Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player
• Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Who doesn't own this?)
• Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
• 21 at 33
• Too Low For Zero
• Madman Across The Water, and
• Jump Up!

Susie (Dramas) is really cool, in fact its all been a very slick listening experience so far.  Probably the only filler I heard was Salvation, everything else screams "ADD ME TO YOUR COLLECTION"

Would like to pick up Caribou, his debut and coming soon this one.  Nice work boss!