Customer Reviews

Rock of the Westies

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In retrospect, Elton John created a lot of relatively serious music from the start of his career until ""Yellow Brick Road." There were moments when his music was fun, such as "Crocodile Rock" and "Jamaica Jerkoff," but the general tone of his music was serious. Even the often reviled "Caribou" had some of Elton's most serious music ("Ticking") mixed in with the inane songs. "Rock of the Westies," on the other hand, was almost all fun, typically hard-rocking, songs.

The CD kicks off with a medley that's fast paced with multiple changeups and some deliberately funny lyrics. The ending of this song is so fast that you have to wonder whether the speed was helped by some creative electronics. "Dan Dare (Pilot of the Future)" continues the fun and silliness. James Newton Howard manages to have a lot of fun with keyboards throughout this song. Silly and fun and a song I enjoy when I'm in the right mood. This song would be fun for a frat party.

"Island Girl" was a huge hit in the mid-70s. The song has some reggae elements to go with the lyrics. Though the lyrics had the potential to be serious, Elton kept the music in the vein of the opening songs and kept this song to the lighter side. "Grow Some Funk of Your Own" remains light and funky and more than a little humorous. There are some good guitar licks in this song and some more James Newton Howard synthesizer sound effects.

"I Feel like a Bullet (In the Gun of Robert Ford) is the one moment of seriousness on this album. This ballad about the breakup of a relationship has always been my favorite from this album, and one of the most creative songs on the album.

The next three songs are rockers, but are relatively fun songs. The tone of the sound just refuses to allow any of the three, "Street Kids," "Hard Luck Story," and "Feed Me," to be serious to any degree. These are good party songs.

Admittedly "Billy Bones and the White Bird" should fall into the same group as the previous three songs, but I really like this song and think the lyrics and music were creative. The allusions to seafaring myths were interesting and original. The only thing I do not care for in this song is the repetitiveness of portions of the lyrics.

This CD includes two bonus tracks, "Planes" and "Sugar on the Floor." Both songs are much more serious than the majority of the songs on the CD. "Planes" is bluesy and shows none of the synthesizer silliness that tended to appear in many of the other songs. This song sounds more like music from "Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player." "Sugar on the Floor" is even bluesier, and also reminds me of Elton's early music. This particular song is the mellowest song on this CD.

1975 was a turning point for rock music, and for Elton John. Soon funk and disco would be overwhelming the airwaves, and Elton would drift away from the style that made him famous. But for one album we got to see Elton having a good time, and do it thoroughly and well. While much of the music may be among Elton's lesser efforts, it is still powerful and frequently creative, and nearly always listenable and interesting. Worthy of being considered a classic Elton John album.

I still have my original MCA vinyl of this baby and while the remastering job is quite nice, there is one audible goof. ISLAND GIRL slows down in the final chorus. If you listen carefully you can hear the pitch slowly change while the CD plays. Don't believe me? Play the last few measures of the song which are exactly like the beginngin ones and you will notice the change in pitch. There is no key change in this song. My LP does not exhibit this problem. Otherwise this Polygram release is wonderful!!

Released in the Spring of 1975, "Rock of the Westies" was the last great album by Elton John and Bernie Taupin. It most definitely rocks harder than most of his albums, but in a distictive style consistent with and instantly recognizable as Elton.

Notable tracks include the mega hit "Island Girl" which is still a pleasure and has held up much better than most contemporary chart toppers. "I Feel Like a Bullet" is a classic EJ tune in a similar style to other songs from prior albums,I've often wondered why it wasn't a bigger hit.

"Medley" and "Grow Some Funk of Your Own" rock with the best and "Dan Dare" is a quirky gem. Give "Rock" a try, it's good and a little bit different.....

This album is sweet. It is Elton's hardest rocking, loose and fun album to date(as if there will be another one that comes even close to this). No, it's not poetry, and maybe it's not as profound, or classy as some of his other earlier albums, but I'm sorry, Yell Help, Wednesday and Ugly is pure genius..Tell me Meatloaf(Jim Steinman) didn't copy that music pattern for Paradise By The Dashboard Light..The whole album just rocks..I love Elton's voice, and the guitar in Dan Dare, Grow Some Funk Of Your Own is catcy as hell too, and I Feel Like A Bullet is a cool slow one. I know this album had a rough time because it followed Captain Fantastic, but I would rather listen to this album all the way through, than CF..

Coming close behind "Captain Fantastic", "Rock of the Westies" is a hard act to follow. Yet it succeeds admirably, as one of Elton John's finest during his classic vintage years. Without a doubt, it's his hardest rocking album. The finest songs include the hits "Island Girl", "Grow Your Funk On Your Own" and "I Feel Like A Bullet (In the Gun of Robert Ford"; the latter his best ballad since "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me". Yet there are also neglected treasures such as "Feed Me", "Street Kids", among others. Unlike his previous albums, "Caribou", and "Captain Fantastic", there's no track here which can be regarded as filler. I doubt I've heard Elton's vocals in finer form during this time, and he sings well with great range and conviction. He's also backed by a terrific band, featuring guitarist Caleb Quaye, bassist Kenny Passarelli, keyboard wizard James Newton Howard (who's now a celebrated Hollywood film composer), drummer Roger Pope, and of course, percussionist Ray Cooper and guitarist Davey Johnstone. The sound quality is better than that on my old LP. This is definitely one of Elton John's essential CDs.

With "Rock of the Westies" (a pun on "West of the Rockies"), Elton was starting to come down off his Seventies' high. After the "Captain Fantastic..." album, he had fired bassist Dee Murray and drummer Nigel Olsson, hired another guitar player (Caleb Quaye) to complement Davey Johnstone, hired old friend Roger Pope as the new drummer, as well as hiring a new bassist, Kenny Paserelli. The results of the new unit were middling. The beginning "Medley" has a muddy sound, the "Yell Help" part of the suite is just plain annoying; "Ugly" admonishes all men who wouldn't have sex with an ugly woman if it was all they could get. Not exactly "Candle in the Wind, Part II." "Dan Dare" is an interesting story about an intrepid space traveller, but is done in so campy a style as to be considered an afterthought, or at least an in-joke. "Island Girl" and "Grow Some Funk of Your Own" redeem the off parts quite a bit. "Funk" is just a darn good rocker and "Island Girl" was a number-one hit (the last for Elton in many a year). "I Feel Like a Bullet(in the Gun of Robert Ford)" is a nice ballad, with a great understated Johnstone solo. The rockers on Side Two display the harder edge that EJ no doubt wished to convey with his new band; unfortunately, bad production and monotonous music,partially at least, did him in. "Street Kids" is good, but overly long. "Hard Luck Story" is a litany of the rigamarole life that lyricist Bernie Taupin was dreading; alternately, his marriage was falling on hard times. "Feed Me" is my favorite song on the album; it has a great hook and conveys the message of insanity better than anything Taupin had written since "Madman Across the Water" (on the album of the same title). "Billy Bones and the White Bird" showed promise, but the mantra-like phrase "Check it out!" just goes on endlessly. The bonus tracks, "Planes" and "Sugar on the Floor", are just O.K. and don't last long in the memory. Though this album sold well initially (probably on the strength of "Island Girl") it wasn't well-received by the critics, and with some justification. The re-issued CD is far superior sonically to the original MCA release, but it STILL sounds muddy in places to me. I give it three stars, because half of it was pretty good. But it is easy to see why EJ would soon lose the sway he held for so long in the pop-music industry. This one remains a hit-or-miss affair.

I remember being a little disappointed when I first heard this CD. Now, 25 years later, it sounds fresh and exciting. It may be Elton's most underrated effort. It certainly is different than "Madman" or "Yellow Brick Road" but that doesn't mean it isn't great. Listen to the opening of "Grow Some Funk" or the ending of "Hard Luck Story" -- it doesn't get much better! I also love "Billy Bones,"Street Kids," and "Yell Help Medley." Heck, there's not a bad song in the bunch. And the two bonus cuts are great,too. I highly recommend it.

A lot of people are gonna tell you this is awful, or at the very least that it's not one of Elton's better recordings. Well, it isn't one of his better recordings, but in no way is it awful. Some of it is for sure: "Island Girl" was a big hit, which is interesting because it's also offensive faux-reggae and #1,234,567,890 in a long line of Bad Elton John Songs about Hookers; "Dan Dare" is a space-funk flop; "Hard Luck Story" is a rote Elton rocker. The other single, "Grow Some Funk of Your Own", is much better, a lighthearted funk stomp with a funny chorus; the band rocks out on the "Saturday Night"-like "Street Kids"; "Feed Me" is a nice little subdued melodrama with a screaming guitar part; the Bo Diddley/heavy metal fusion "Billy Bones and the White Bird" is so weird you have to hear it at least once. Not overly brilliant, but pretty good.

While 1975's CAPTAIN FANTASTIC & THE BROWN DIRT COWBOY only managed one hit single from the album, the fact that it was critically lauded & became the first LP ever to debut at #1 in BILLBOARD indicated that Elton John & Bernie Taupin had set themselves some high goals for their next album. Returning to Caribou Studios in Colorado, where they recorded 1974's CARIBOU, not one of Elton's finest efforts, perhaps that had something to do with his second album of 1975 being rather substandard this time around. Both albums rock like a mofo on some moments, but especially on ROCK OF THE WESTIES, that certainly didn't mask the fact that the material on the album was quite subpar & that perhaps it was time Elton & Bernie pursue outside work for a while.

The fact that ROCK OF THE WESTIES was another near-dud in Elton's vast career maybe didn't matter to his fans, who helped it become the 2nd album in history to debut at #1 (and the last for over a decade). Even with 3 hit singles, there was little to recommend anyone to buy the album for beyond what they heard on the radio. Some may call it intentionally lightweight, but before this, a lot of Elton's more freewheeling material was much finer-crafted than this.

His 5th #1 single came in the form of the faux-reggae rocker "Island Girl". Its backhanded tribute to a tropical prostitute is undeniably catchy & certainly miles above GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD's reggae entry "Jamaica Jerk-Off". Even so, I'm sure Elton & Bernie certainly don't consider this to be a personal favorite with their much more prestigious material.

"Grow Some Funk Of Your Own" is appropriately titled with Elton dabbling in funky rhythms one wouldn't think a White guy could master. Radio stations were divided over this song and "I Feel Like A Bullet [In The Gun Of Robert Ford]" when they were released as two sides of a single, causing both to cancel each other out & stop in the top 20. The latter tune is a heartwrenching ballad that is another of Elton & Bernie's patented look at love affairs that made them head & shoulders above other such material of the time. While their love songs have grown slightly more traditional in recent years, "I Feel Like A Bullet" remains a sign they can still create some truly original ones.

Outside of the hits, ROCK OF THE WESTIES has few highlights to call attention to. "Dan Dare [Pilot Of The Future]" is simply mindless fun if anything else in this tribute to the British comic strip character. "Street Kids" is an attempt at an epic that is maybe the only song on here that takes itself a little too seriously. "Hard Luck Story" has Elton once again revisiting the country-rock of TUMBLEWEED CONNECTION, and again just barely succeeding. "Feed Me" & "Billy Bones & The White Bird" are thinly-veiled allusions to Elton's drug problems which were starting to flare up by this time, yet not see their worst effects until the next decade. The only all-out bomb on ROCK OF THE WESTIES is the opening medley of "Yell Help/Wednesday Night/Ugly". A combination of rock, funk and pop that tries too hard to accomplish too much in its 6-minute span, it is said that the fact Caribou Studios was high up in the mountains caused back-up singers Labelle to lose an octave or two off their range, hindering their performance on the medley. Elton took matters into his own hands and multi-tracked his voice in order to finish it off. The fact still remains that the song lumbers along without much of a destination.

With those inclusions, ROCK OF THE WESTIES would merit a 3-star rating. But remastered, the album features two outtakes that, had they replaced two of the weaker tracks on the album, could have made it better. "Planes" was initially a B-side to "Island Girl" and would have made a fine addition to the album, edging it above the less memorable songs that did make it. "Sugar On The Floor" is far & away the best of the two, with just Elton & his piano, singing with almost all his emotions bared. Perhaps that was why it was left off of ROCK OF THE WESTIES, too serious for its (perhaps intentionally) lighthearted mood. I believe Elton's protege Kiki Dee did record this song & released it; I wonder how she did on it, but I can bet she couldn't equal Elton's rawly exposed nerves.

ROCK OF THE WESTIES continued Elton's long run of success that had been going on for about 5 years, yet it would also prove to be the tail end of it...for a while, anyway. Elton's announcement of his bisexuality the next year would seriously affect his commercial standing; his fracturing relationship with Bernie Taupin would result in the temporary severing of their partnership (not before a grandiose send-off with the double album BLUE MOVES); Elton's own personal problems with addictions and depression would warrant a temporary "retirement" from music to get things in order (he would return two years later). All told, Elton would regain some of his commercial success, but it was clear the superstar era had ended, and ROCK OF THE WESTIES would be his last #1 album for two decades. Too bad the glory years had to end on such an uninsipired note.

This is a 3 to 4 star album in my view. This album contains "Island Girl", "Grow Some Funk of your own", "Feel Like A Bullet (In the Gun of Robert Ford)", "Billy Bones and the White Bird (Check it out)", and "Dan Dare". These are all excellent Elton. The rest of the album is good. Don't believe music critics who give this album one or two stars. This album has 5 really excellent songs with some good material surrounding them.