Reviews roundup – Elton John vs. Captain Beefheart vs. John Wetton & Richard Palmer-James vs Patrizia
ELTON JOHN
The Million Dollar Piano
Eagle Rock
Say what you like about Elton John. No, really, say what you like about him, but he certainly knows how to put on a show. “The Million Dollar Piano” is the title of his on / off Las Vegas residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace which he’s been performing intermittently for the last three years.
And across nearly three hours, he presents 19 songs from his vast back catalogue and, as befits a Vegas set, it’s mainly a greatest hits show. So you’re getting the likes of ‘The Bitch Is Back’, ‘Bennie And The Jet’s, ‘Rocket Man’, ‘Levon’, ‘Tiny Dancer’, ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’, ‘I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues’, ‘Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me’, ‘Philadelphia Freedom’, ‘I’m Still Standing’, ‘Crocodile Rock’, ‘Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting’, and ‘Circle of Life’. Which is a lot of hits.
There is the odd, wee restrained section where he takes things down a peg or two, such as ‘Your Song’ and ‘Indian Sunset’, but it’s mainly pedal to the metal stuff. Which is probably just as well, as (whisper it), Elton can’t really sing anymore. You could be kind and say his voice has dropped a few octaves, but as Sir Paul also does these days, he just bellows the words, and hopes the audience joins in.
To that end, he has a great band, with some Elton John stalwarts along for the ride. so that’s Davey Johnstone – guitars, mandolin and backing vocals; Nigel Olsson – drums and backing vocals; Bob Birch – bass and backing vocals; John Mahon – percussion and backing vocals; Kim Bullard – keyboards; Ray Cooper – percussion; 2CELLOS (Luka Šulić and Stjepan Hauser) – cellos; Táta Vega, Rose Stone, Jean Witherspoon and Lisa Stone – backing vocals.
You get a ‘The Making Of …’ featurette, which is very jazzhands in places, along with four tracks filmed in Kiev in 2012 – ‘Candle In The Wind’, ‘Sacrifice’, ‘Sad Songs (Say So Much)’, and ‘Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me’. Fans will certainly enjoy it, especially the excellent staging.
CAPTAIN BEEFHEART And The Magic Band
Live at Harpo’s Detroit 1980
Gonzo
Ah, Captain Beefheart. Hate him or hate him, he certainly cut an interesting figure, with his interesting approach to music. And by interesting, I mean “bypassing it totally”. However, there are people out there with malfunctioning ears who like this sort of thing.
It’s one for the diehards, though, as it’s basically a bootleg. Recorded at Harpo’s, Detroit on December 11, 1980, it sees the “Captain” presenting his aural aneurysms with a band comprising bassist Eric Drew, drummer Robert Williams, and guitarists Richard Snyder, Jeff Tapir-White, and Jeff Morris Teeper. In amongst that there is some mumbling and bellowing, which I assume is the “Captain” “singing”.
The thing I enjoy most about Beefheart fans is their breathtaking condescension towards people who don’t get it. It’s a joy to wind them up and watch them slowly melt down as you explain to them that there is more musical merit in three minutes of ‘You Could Have Been A Lady’ by Hot Chocolate than there is in the entire Beefheart oeuvre. And, Beefheart fan, I do know what oeuvre means, so don’t wave your second class Arts degree at me.
Back on the CD, there are things called ‘Abba Babba’, ‘Dr. Dark’, ‘Sugar And Spikes’ and ‘A Carrot Is As Close As A Rabbit Gets To A Diamond’, soundtracked to the noise of a rutting walrus playing out of tune jazz. Enjoy.
JOHN WETTON & RICHARD PALMER-JAMES
Jack-Knife / Monkey Business
Primary Purpose
Ooh, but this is a tricky one. See, it falls into the interesting category, while missing out on the “I won’t file it away in the obscure prog pile and never play it again” category. And if that wasn’t enough, it’s also a game of two halves.
It’s a double disc reissue, comprising a reissue of the rarities collection “Monkey Business”, which has been out of print for about 10 years, and first re-issue of “Jack-Knife” in nearly 20 years. Messrs Wetton and Palmer-Jones most famously collaborated on some of King Crimson’s early seventies material beginning with “Larks’ Tongues in Aspic”, and some of the material here was leftover from that time. So King Crimson fanatics will want to hear them, assuming they didn’t hear them the last time. So that’s “Monkey Business”, complete with lots of Bill Bruford percussion.
“Jack-Knife”, however, was the results of late-1970s sessions by Wetton and Palmer-James, by which time the spark had gone out. So, it’s back to “Monkey Business” for tracks like a demo recording of the Larks track ‘Book of Saturday’. The recordings of ‘Starless 1’ and ‘Starless 2’ are worth a listen, as is a nineties live Wetton take on ‘The Night Watch’.
But a lot of it belongs as a bonus track on a reissue of a more complete work. I’m sure King Crimson completist will lap up anything that takes them back to “Larks’ Tongues in Aspic” / “Starless” and “Bible Black”, but not many will play it twice.
PATRIZIA
Rock The Throne
self released
Patrizia is a self-proclaimed Rock Opera Goddess. Which is nice. Albeit, a tad hyperbolic. And that’s hyperbolic, not Hyperborean. But, hey, what’s the point of being a rock opera goddess, if you don’t tell anyone about it.
Anyway, I’m a sucker for this kind of thing. You know how I feel about Tarja and Sarah Brightman, so if you present me with a four octave range and some over the top theatricals, I’m going to be a happy man. And so it is with Italian born / Canadian raised Patrizia, whose third album this is. Or is it?
Because, some of the songs seem to have been floating around on a series of EPs and mini albums, so if you’ve bought any of them, you might want to read the small print. I don’t care, because it’s a cracker, as she takes some classical tunes, some pop tunes and a couple of co-writes, then throws the kitchen sink at them. Result. Beethoven, Bizet and Queen. How can you go wrong?
Well, you can’t. Not when she sings as well as this, and especially when the production and arrangements are so good. It’s more “Symphony” by Sarah Brightman than “My Winter Storm” by Tarja, but it’s an absolute delight.
The Rocker - The Artist Formerly Known As Zeitgeist. TAFKAZ 
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