ELTON JOHN MEDLEY (YELL HELP, WEDNESDAY NIGHT, UGLY)

[midtownjohn]

Elton's "Jump the Shark" album. Really crappy songs on this album. I think Elton started doing drugs here.

[bphilify]

Im sorry, I didn't say I was from Baltimore

[bphilify]

yell help

[PauloFrancaLacerda]

His best album! I love this song!

[RyanPatrickCummings]

If you're a fan of ROTW, please check out my EJ mash-up....

youtube.com/watch?v=QJUU7zYEid­E

It features a Dan Dare loop and an extended Wednesday night.

Cheers!

[DerekBayRoberts1]

@muskypucker

Another great loss in that band was in 1992 when bassist Dee Murrey died.

[dmbphreak]

Finally a Wednesday night, 13th of July! I missed the last one back in 2005...next one in 2016!

[vwgolfman2000]

July 13 hadn't fallen on a Wednesday since 1966 - when Bernie Taupin was sixteen - when he wrote these lyrics. Kind of makes you wonder what happened to Taupin in the summer of '66!

[davidhwalton]

I wish it wasnt Wednesday night, I wish it wasnt the 13th of July...!

David

July 13th(Wednesday) 2011.

I've been waiting for years to say this.

[LWOPP]

I saw Elton for the 2nd of several times on Wednesday, July 13, 1976 in Greensboro, NC!

[HerrinWV]

@LWOPP I saw him Greensboro 1976 too, but it was a Tuesday night ;)

[fairfax1960]

@HerrinWV -- WOW, I was at that concert, too. Couldn't get tickets to the one in Charlotte so my friends and I had to drive from Spartanburg, SC to G'boro. Well worth the drive!!

[LWOPP]

@LWOPP Well... what can I say? It was more than half my lifetime ago! Senior moment. :-)

[Rocketman2396]

Omg today is Wednesday and it's also the 13th of July :O!!!!

[davidhwalton]

@Rocketman2396

You caught it to> WTG! Love it.

[SeattleLA]

Ah, yes, "Island Girl". How well I remember hearing it daily on the school bus, as a high school sophomore. I thought it was somewhat improper, but the instruments were good. There are better songs, as others here mentioned.

[FyodorMDostoyevsky]

This sounds a little sped up to me...

[SeattleLA]

best album, by Elton, I now think.

[mattison007]

Wow...thanks for the news flash, but in the SF Bay Area in 1981, he couldn't fill a PTA meeting. Up until 1977, he was always booked at the Oakland Coliseum. By 1981, he was shoe-horned into a 1000 seat exhibition hall that doesn't even exist today! Elton was my favorite performer growing up --- bar none. But you're arguing a moot point. I know the facts: I lived through them. I don't argue about other places I haven't lived. Whatever happened there, happened there. You didn't live here.

[thomasrobertbarr]

@mattison007 I apologize for, with no malice meant, pointing out ("arguing?") and touching a nerve with one simple fact. I don't recall seeing the part where you state that your global perspective is based entirely on the SF Bay area only and that, apparently, no one else "lived through" an entire era. Elton is also my favorite of all-time. Maybe we Midwesterners fell off the Elton bandwagon long after the coasts did in the late '70s/early '80s.

[musictomyears8]

2:30 to 3:16 should have been a single song in its own right! Such an airy, uplifting and haunting tune!

[kevtruth]

this tune cooks but the rest of the album is kinda dodgy.

[gaklos1901]

I woke this LP out playing it in the fall of '75. Great tune, great album.

[prober45]

nothing by Elton John pre-1980 is less than classic. He has to be the Mozart of our times

[blackcougar1959]

Regarding @greeniem's comment, about Gus Dudgeon going on to record the "female" vocals at the end of the this songs track,...well all I have to say is that is THE BEST Patti La Belle vocal impersonation that I've ever heard!

[zoolakid]

agree with mizofan, island girl is great but it's still my least favourite song on rock of the westies. and the album cover is just awesome haha.

anyway this is his best album in my opinion (this and tumbleweed), it's got such a happy "summery" feeling to it. :)

[laylanickraven]

i will allways love this album...it rocks...

[tonylinc]

For those who think this was the end? of Elton's creative talent, how ridiculous! Where are YOUR gold records? It is a matter of taste, everything he's done has been great, you may not like it all, or you might. This was in the 70s, you can't tell me his material from the 80's and 90's isn't great too. It's all over youtube, his genius is just off the hook.

[mattison007]

Take it from an expert. I was the supreme Elton fan. I lived through that whole era. Like everyone, I was hoping the Elton juggernaut would continue unabated. I didn't know him until 1973, when I heard the single "Goodbye Yellow......" and just about went crazy. LOL. This was indeed his peak, both commercially and artistically. I lived through it. '74 saw 'Caribou', a let down of sorts. With the exception of "Captain....." he was dead in the water by 1976, and I mean dead!

[DeaconBlues61]

@mattison007 I feel exactly the same way. In 1973 I had already been a fan since Madman Across TW but when GYBR came out, I was completely blown away. That was definitely his creative peak. The next four albums (Caribou, ROTW, Captain F., and Blue Moves) all had moments of greatness but weren't consistent. After Blue Moves everything just changed, the quality wasn't there, and I just quit buying them. But for maybe 4 years, he was on a roll.

[mattison007]

@DeaconBlues61 Right......Blue Moves, which produced "Sorry seems to be the hardest Word", was definitely the close of Act I of his career, which was not resurrected until about 1984......case in point, I saw Elton at a very small venue in 1982 with Quaterflash --- he couldn't book the large venues from the late '70-early 80's. However, nobody shone brighter from 1971-1977, and it was truly palpable he had burned himself out by the time Caribou was released.

[thomasrobertbarr]

@mattison007 FYi, regarding Elton not able to play large venues in the late 70s/early 80s, I saw him in a packed 10,000+ arena, reunited with Nigel and Davey, in October 1980. He paid tribute to Zeppelin's John Bonham, who had recently died.

[timtt2]

i'm listening to this on a Wednesday Night ....though not the 13th of July lol

[joeypolanski]

Ah ... back when Elton used to get FM airplay!  Outstanding!

[squanto2]

This album was the absolute end of Elton's creative talent.

Everything since has not met the standard of ANYTHING he did previously.

It happens.

[KenoshiAkai]

@squanto2 I really really wish I could disagree with you about this. But after this he really never did match the genius of those earlier albums.

[MegaSteviebhoy]

Think this is best album from the 70s x

[mizofan]

I really like this album, its playful looseness, for me it's been a grower, the song i like least may even be Island Girl which was #1 on the US charts (!), but it all stands up well though generally neglected and overshadowed by the great Captain Fantastic

[BDOG1963]

@mizofan agreed re: Island Girl.... a whole bunch of better tunes on this album

Cheers!

[dallaskenn]

@mizofan The title, "Rock of the Westies" was brilliantly subversive. "Westies" were code for branches of the Irish Republican Army in the United States.

[monicafnn]

@mizofan 13th of July is on Wed. this year! Yell Help!!!

[SeattleLA]

This album rocks more, moves more than most of his others, all of which before this I liked too.

[nirvana609]

I really like this song-hidden gem.

[joeypolanski]

I don't think ROTW was as good as Capt. Fantastic, but it's a VERY close second -- and a great album to be sure, probably the most musically complex from Elton.

[journeythruthepast]

I think the medley is kinda funny. I don't know why Rock of the Westies is slammed so much. It's my 2nd fave EJ album to Honky Chateau. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road's too long to be better. At one LP condensed, it'd be his best by far though. People point to filler here, but every LP by Elton had filler. This time the filler was good, unlike on the weaker tracks of Don't Shoot Me, Caribou and Capt Fantastic. RoTW's filler doesn't get all pretentious like Elton John and Tumbleweed's filler did.

[candelise]

@journeythruthepast What IS filler but simply songs that you don't like? Especially considering that Bernie Taupin used to say that they always wrote too many songs for an album.  Again, what filler other than songs you dislike?

[randomandwelldone]

The clavinet work that James Newton-Howard does beginning at 5:15 is excellent!

[naddzdangle]

Fantastic album. ROTW was a huge part of the soundtrack of my youth...

[salanfann]

LABELLE and Ann Orson provide Backing Vocals, no less! Loves it.

[mikelimon805]

In 1975, I was 18, my older brother took me to Dodger Stadium to see Elton. I had never heard of him. I was totally blown away. He sang his current songs and said that he was going to play songs from this album which he had just finished. He inspired me so much, that I learned to play piano because of him. Greatest concert ever! Thanks EJ from a loyal fan.

[hamtrak]

My favorite album junior year H.S. 1975!

[Irlandese64]

This is a FUNK GEM. Still my fave from ROTW.

[nirvana609]

Very cool track.

[majaldinho]

Poor Elton. He must always be strong as his best people around dies. Sir Elton is really an invecible worrior!!! What a british tiny man!!!!! What a character. An example to be followed!!

[lahonorable]

buen rock de elton john desde youtube...la honorable sociedad

[major7rm]

and.. backing vocals were also sung by the producer Gus Dudgeon and/or Elton -some of the do dos and ahs - it is pretty clear where. Depending on what you read, this was because some of the Labelle tracks were lost or they had some difficulty singing in the high altitude where the recording studio was.

[chenlung1]

LOL didn't Gus smoke some weed and sing their parts :D?

[Noodleydoo]

@major7rm I hear Nona and Sarah very strong in the background, but Patti is almost not there at all--which is odd. Could be she was the one having problems singing in that altitude. I'll ask Nona what the deal was.

[major7rm]

Who knows? it was just something I read online about the recording session - Regardless - they are a wonderful group. The YouTube videos of them are great - hearing and watching them sing live - I really enjoy them. Went to Detroit just to see them last year - never saw them live before. Thanks for your response - it is nice sharing thoughts with a fellow fan

[Noodleydoo]

I saw them reunite at the Apollo in December and the power went out due to a snow storm so I got to hear maybe 4 songs and it was over. They rescheduled the show but I had to fly back to Texas. GRRRRRRR. Labelle seems almost forgotten today but in my view they were unlike anything in funk/RB/glam funk, and Nona was/is the best qalmost unknown song-writer on the planet. Love her and Sarah's voice on this track.

[Noodleydoo]

@major7rm Nona finally got back to me. She said that they recorded this a looong time ago, but she remembered the recording session and nobody was having any problems singing as someone on this thread suggested. Nona is a big fan of Elton and Bernie's song-writing, by the way. Most people don't realize that EJ started out in show biz in the 60's playing piano for Patti, Nona and Sarah.

[major7rm]

@Noodleydoo

There you go - I guess you can't believe everything you read online - and wow! You know Nona Hendryx!

[Noodleydoo]

@major7rm Nona's really cool. People get everything wrong online--especially on Wikipedia. If you had seen Nona's original bio on Wiki you'd have been astonished at how the author was able to get absolutely every detail wrong. Fortunately some of us went in got it right. Hey--do a search on Nona Hendryx and "Gypsy Moths"--Nona does that song from "Chameleon" and blows it outta the water!

[epicmeade]

Yeah, it's clearly him singing the backing vocals at 2:00 into the song until 2:34, a mix of both of them in the middle, then just Labelle at the end. that's pretty funny but it works.

[major7rm]

Labelle - Nona Hendryx, Sarah Dash and Patti Labelle - are singing back up. They knew Elton from the 1960s when they played England as Patti Labelle and the Bluebelles (along with Cindy Birdsong). Nona's and Sarah's voices are wonderful here - so clear and strong.

[Noodleydoo]

@major7rm Yeah they sound awesome

[BPrice1A]

Awesome track. From 5:21 to the end, vocals, by I believe, Miss Patti LaBelle.

[ph1lanthrope]

No duffers on the entire album! Elton, Bernie, Caleb, Kenny, James, Roger, Ray et al at their absolute best!!

[honkycabbit]

Well I met this woman down in New Orleans Lord she's built just like a dream Even wore stockings that had seams And she was ugly! Now Hell I don't mind A woman of her kind Even I pay some time for a woman that's ugly! Oooh She's built like a steamroller Just the kind to mow you over anytime Hey the moment might arrive! On Bourbon Street is the ugliest woman you'd ever meet She was mine all mine And she's ugly! So I better yell HELP!

[fredblassie123]

to have any current rock acts put together just two catchy tunes back to back is a minor miracle....this album swings from start to finish. Amazing......

[billyzee13]

Definitely one of EJ's most underrated works. Back in the 70's when my parents were going through a messy divorce, I would escape to my room with this album and it would take me away from the harsh realities of the real world. Thanks Elton!!!

[SimplyRavishing24]

Love how it breaks into "I wish tonight was Wednesday night" with the high harmony vocals.

[Opalwitley]

I wish tonight wasn't wednesday night. I wish it wasn't the 13th of July... Every so often Wed falls on the 13th of July and I try to make sure I wish it wasn't. lol

[greeniem]

I just bought this album tonight. It's Great!

[bartleby2007]

My favorite Elton John album of all time and I'm 48 and remember when it came out!

He had kind of peaked when this album was released in terms of top 40 popularity, but I love this album.

[rockitmanjohn]

The Elton LP with the greatest edge, although hard to make such a one dimensional statement, I think it's my favorite~!

[kosalet]

This is good, this is really good, yeah,..no matter how one switch the chairs.

[mamas2hip]

love this LP, and especially love the delivery on:

"Well I met this woman down in New Orleans

Lord she built just like a dream

Even wore stockings that had seams

And she was ugly"

[BDOG1963]

Wow... wasn't aware of that. Agreed a great loss!!!

[CoolJoolz]

Not that it matters - no body is listening/watching but... I believe this is one of EJ's most underrated albums... and thank you dude for posting it!

[ZanasoRymm]

I agree very underrated as an album you never hear people menchoing it.

I Love the comments on the sleve.

"Elton John (piano/vocals)

A boring little musician who has risen to fame without the aid of payola. He has only four chords ('people' magazine) and he is prone to getting fat at Christmas... Suports Watford (H-E-L-P)"

and that is written on his own album. LOL

[journeythruthepast]

Some were expecting more grandiose, serious statements but Elton and Bernie just went out and, even if it was dashed off, made a sweet record without any worries about singer-songwriter mopiness (saved that for Blue Moves a bit). And because of that, ROTW is loads of good, dumb fun. And when the heavier stuff kicks in, it's more poignant and sharp, as in the excellent "I Feel Like a Bullet." It's one of Elton's goofiest and I love it for that. He'd certainly do worse than this in the 80s.

[babboxy]

uuuuuh love it

[Vatch1966]

Lol I was 9 years old when this album came out and - Don't ask me why -I used to bust up laughing at that Tag at the end of this track..probably cause at the time,I thought that was Elton himself singing that high note.

[ramitupursnout]

Dammit Man! One of my favorite Elton albums, it's often overlooked. I played this record down to a nub.

[69nisab]

Thanks for posting. I'm thinking of getting this album.

[BDOG1963]

Yes re:1975. Prob my fav. EJ albums. And Medley simply smokes!!!!

[greeniem]

@BDOG1963 puff on a big fat joint and listen to this

[eltonator]

@greeniem Funny you should say that, the original backing vocals at the end of this song were accidentally wiped from the tapes before the album was pressed, so the album's producer smoked plenty of weed and went on to imitate the (female) singer's voice. Fact of the day!

[summer4autumn]

ROTW has some decent stuff on it, but this medley is the pits.

[BDOG1963]

everything is subjective...one of my personal EJ fav. tunes ever

[shakypam]

@BDOG1963 me too