By now we weren’t expecting much from Elton John, but he surprised us. Jump Up! was very much a return to form, with straight pop songs, some arty ones, few clichés, and even Bernie doing the lyrics for six of the ten.An uncharacteristically simple beat from Jeff Porcaro drives the guitars and straight-ahead piano of the rocker “Dear John”, and the basic lyrics are indicative of Gary Osborne. Bernie’s more poetic touch is apparent on the more arranged “Spiteful Child”, but the repeated “spiteful” backing vocals don’t exactly make for a hit single. There’s zero piano, and only a little keyboard back in the mix, on the mildly rockabilly but very catchy “Ball And Chain”, which is otherwise dominated by Pete Townshend’s rhythm acoustic. “Legal Boys” is not only the fourth straight song about a romantic breakup, but mostly notable as his first collaboration with Tim Rice, and not his last. The music has baroque musical theater touches, with some emotional juxtapositions in the chorus that keep it from being overly trite. Outside of the pastel paint-splattered cover art, the album’s most cringingly ‘80s aspect would be “I Am Your Robot”, which thankfully limits the dated synths to the intro that the rest of the song struggles to overcome. Amazingly, Bernie’s responsible for these words too. Yet this near-travesty is forgotten with “Blue Eyes”, a gorgeous torch song that ranks with the pair’s all-time best.
Speaking of classics, side two begins with “Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)”, an elegant, heartfelt, and still touching tribute to John Lennon. The harpsichord, castanets, backing vocals, and highly singable chorus all come together to support not just a great song, but a fine recording. Unfortunately, “Princess” is something of a step down, combining the lyrical theme from “Tiny Dancer” with the lightweight pop of, once again, “Little Jeannie”. “Where Have All The Good Times Gone?” is not the Kinks song, but a return to “Philadelphia Freedom”-style soul that belies the aging-inspired anxiety of the lyrics. That leaves “All Quiet On The Western Front”, a slow six-minute single about the first World War that boasts a James Newton Howard arrangement over the lengthy close.
Unlike his last few albums, which seemed cobbled together from various sessions and participants, this album is tighter, with singular production by Chris Thomas and the same basic band throughout. 1982 was a good year for many veteran performers, and Elton could be pleased to have been part of it. It had been a rough five or so years, but Jump Up! seemed to indicate he was on the right track again.
Elton John Jump Up! (1982)—3
I really thought that “The Fox” was the best thing that Elton had put out since 1975. I loved it, but it was, with two or three exceptions, rather moody – even dark in a couple of places. This made it rather uncommercial, and I’m sure that David Geffen was none too pleased when it flopped.
ReplyDeleteSo, Elton pulled out all the stops for this one. Hooks galore and the same producer throughout the album certainly helped. The studio band is very tight. Chris Thomas wisely dropped the drum machine and put session ace Jeff Porcaro’s drums high in the mix. Thomas also provides the continuity which enables the album to be diverse without being disjointed. So, we don’t have the “Caribou” problem.
Even so, unlike “The Fox”, three losers show up on the album. Two of these come from Gary Osbourne. He had written the best lyrics that he ever had for Elton on “The Fox”. Here, he goes back to trite rhyming. This drags down the already dull adult contemporary melodies of the singles “Princess” and “Blue Eyes” (sorry). This is the type of song that his new AC fans loved and made some of us old 70’s fans cringe. On the other hand, I’m in total agreement about “I Am Your Robot”. Even Bernie Taupin thinks it’s a worse song than “We Built This City!” Everything about it is really embarrassing, especially when Elton squeals out his serial number.
Everything else is a keeper. The other two numbers from Osbourne are upbeat and fun, which overcome the simplistic lyrics. The opening two lines of “Legal Boys” are very clever. This is the first indication that Rice could be as good a foil for Elton as Taupin. Speaking of whom, Elton provides a joyous melody, enabling us to share in Taupin’s glee at dumping the “Spiteful Child”. “Where Have All the Good Times Gone?” has Bernie oddly nostalgic, and regretful, considering that he wasn’t even 35 at the time. “All Quiet at the Western Front” is another of his historical explorations. It had a beautiful stately melody to go with the lyrics. It was a very odd choice for the third UK single (in the USA, it was “Ball and Chain”), so it’s not surprising that it was “the worst selling single in Phonogram’s history” (according to Elton, anyway). Finally, first the first time since “Captain Fantastic..”, the guys deliver a timeless classic in “Empty Garden”, one of the most heartfelt and moving songs that they ever wrote. Bernie now hates the album, but he still thinks this song is “worth it”. I think that it alone does make it worth a purchase, but you’ll get some good stuff to go with it.
The sessions for the album produced one B-side, “Take Me Down to the Ocean”, by Osbourne. It had better lyrics than any of his from the album and a jaunty melody. It should have replaced “I Am Your Robot”. For another, for some reason, they remixed “Where Have All the Good Times Gone?”. They removed the orchestration, turning it from a soul song into a rock song. For a third, they went back to 1980 again for “Hey, Papa Legba”, a good soul rocker from Taupin about the titular bayou voodoo man. I always hear Michael Jackson singing it, for some reason, but, of course, that would never have been possible.
I also think Elton is wearing quite a snazzy suit on the cover.