Normally, on Tuesday nights, the Open Thread plays a number one hit from the 1940s. Couple of reasons for that. One, I just want to have more than “Hey, it’s open thread. Go at it.” And two, we need to expose more people to good music from days past.
Tonight, though, something different, and much more current. Still, it’s 50 years old. To the day. And because it’s 50 years to the day, I’m switching formats for one Tuesday night only.
The biggest rock star of the 1970s was Elton John. Michael Jackson was big, but Elton’s 1970s star did shine brighter than Michael’s, though the talented Mr. Jackson would be considered a bigger star overall, based on his 1970s and later catalog. The 1970s belonged to Elton John.
For many, his early years are the best. I think his last really great album was Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. Although Blue Moves and Rock of the Westies were pretty good, they showed the beginning of his downward spiral. He had some good stuff in the years since, of course, but the classic Elton John is the Elton John from the early to mid 1970s, peaking (in my opinion) with Captain Fantastic.
On November 17, 1970, fifty years ago, Elton John performed a live concert for a New York radio station. Some say it’s his best concert ever. I don’t know about that — Dodger Stadium or Thanksgiving at Madison Square Garden with John Lennon might be better — but it was so popular (people buying bootleg copied from bootleggers who recorded the broadcast) that it forced the record company to release an official version. That release became Elton’s fourth simultaneous Top 100 album, making him the first artist to do that since the Beatles. And this was in 1971, when his career was just taking off.
So, I’m switching gears and presenting that concert (edited for gaps, etc.).
Do you have something you’d like to share? A link? A joke? Some words of wisdom? A topic to discuss? It’s our nightly Open Thread, and you have the floor.
