The Captain and the Kid

Product Description

The Captain & The Kid, written with his long-time writing partner, Bernie Taupin. More than 30 years after the release of their landmark #1 multi-platinum album, Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, the duo returns with this sequel. The new album features 10 new songs reflecting the intimate lives and public times spanning the long-standing songwriting partnership of Elton John and lyricist Bernie Taupin. In fact, for the first time, both John and Taupin are featured on an Elton John album cover.
"The album is a celebration of our lives and our lifetimes, of our music and of the music we love. The Captain & The Kid continues our story. You can't look back, we're looking ahead," says John.
Created in the tradition of those fantastic records of the 60's and 70's, The Captain & The Kid is a celebration of when music was the most important voice of our culture and the album was its prime vehicle. Much like Elton's previous records Tumbleweed Connection, Madman Across The Water, and Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy, The Captain & The Kid is an album meant to transport you back to that place in time when music mattered most. 35 plus years-later, Elton really has become Captain Fantastic and Bernie is most definitely The Brown Dirt Cowboy and they are as passionate about their music as they have ever been.
"I find the whole album to be so touching and beautiful for me because I've lived it," Elton added. "I lived it with Bernie and we've come through it. We've gone over the bridge and here we are at the other side."
The first single from the album, 'The Bridge" is one of 10 tracks which picks up where Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy left off. The album tells the story of Elton and Bernie from when they arrived in Los Angeles 30 years ago, through the ups and downs of their lives, to present day.

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The degree to which you'll like The Captain & the Kid is going to depend on your personal history with Sir Elton John. If you're a resolute follower who was once reduced to a quivering mass of humility by "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" and then revived by the blast of pop liberation that was "Philadelphia Freedom" (a single that later appeared on the CD version of Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, the album to which this disc is a sequel) you'll have enough invested to appreciate the concept. If, on the other hand, you're a late arrival to the Rocket Man's repertoire, you'll have to adjust your expectations. Kid, unlike more recent efforts, isn't aiming itself at the lite-FM listening masses. What it's asking instead is that you return yourself to your 1970s-era childhood bedroom, flop on the bed, and lock the door, or at least fasten an elastic band around your MTV-addled attention span. This is total-immersion music, and it's got 30 years worth of stories to tell.
The Captain and the Kid are John and Bernie Taupin, his longtime songwriting partner. The music, a choir-enhanced swerve through genres including pop, rock, blues, folk, and country with signature piano riffs thrown in nearly everywhere, chronicles their splintery relationship. Innocence and hope ("Postcards from Richard Nixon") give way to success and joy ("Just Like Noah's Ark"), which eventually leads to discontent ("Tinderbox") and disaster ("And the House Fell Down"). A shot at redemption ("The Bridge") later finds the Captain; reflection ("Old 67") and a joyous reunion (the title track) follow.
Theirs is ultimately a simple story, but John and Taupin suffuse it with hypnotic sentimentality--along with the narrative, echoes of past hits wander into several classic-sounding tracks. "Tiny Dancer" darts through the cracked-voice beauty of "Blues Never Fade Away" and "The Bridge," for example, while "Wouldn't HaveYou Any Other Way (NYC)" works in hints at both "Candle in the Wind" and "Where to Now St. Peter." Other songs shake loose less likely influences ("I Must Have Lost it on the Wind" sounds like something off a vintage Linda Ronstadt album), but all are compellingly steeped in context; if you don't get the late-disc reference to fine silk suits and six-inch heels, you'll wish you did. --Tammy La Gorce
Selected Favorites from Elton John

Tumbleweed Connection

Madman Across the Water

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Honky Chateau

Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy

Greatest Hits 1970-2002 (Box Set)

About the Artist

The monumental career of international singer/songwriter and performer Elton John has spanned more than three decades. He is one of the top-selling solo artists of all time, with 35 gold and 25 platinum albums, 29 consecutive Top 40 hits and he has sold over 200 million records worldwide. The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences has awarded John multiple Grammys, including the Grammy Legend Award, as well as honored him with the Music Cares Person of the Year Award. Additionally, this November, Elton will be the first artist honored by the Billboar, ISBN13:B000H7JDVI ISBN10:B000H7JDVI Material Type:audioCD