Why is the biographic movie about Elton John titled ROCKET MAN?
Couldn't it just as easily been titled THE HONKY CAT? Or THE MADMAN ACROSS THE WATER? Or even THE CROCODILE ROCKER?
Tal Hartsfeld
Hi Kent,
With regards to your comments on the falsehoods presented as facts in the new Elton John film, I noticed you also mentioned the same with the Jersey Boys … so nothing new in the world of entertainment is there?
Seem to recall being told of many errors in The Million Dollar quartet when it was on in the UK so I didn't bother to see it but on a visit to Fort Myers down in FLA (as Freddy “Boom Boom” would have said), I decided I knew of the inaccuracies but would tolerate them just to be able to watch it, as it was at a nice evening setting. Twas great to hear the music and the story, even if the errors were repeated.
Take care,
Rockin' Lord Geoff (In England)
I think with show like “Jersey Boys” and “Mamma Mia” it was a bit easier to tolerate the incorrect sequencing of the songs because you knew going in that this was being presented as a musical … and that the songs would help to advance the story along.
“Rocket Man,” on the other hand, was hyped as the latest rock and roll biopic, and compared immediately to the Freddie Mercury story told in “Bohemian Rhapsody,” due to the tremendous success enjoyed by that film.
As Jim Peterik suggests in his email below, perhaps “Rocket Man” was designed with the future of a stage musical in mind … and within that context (as long as you’re willing to give up all sense of historical accuracy along the way), it works a whole lot better. But then DON’T call it a biopic … call it a rock and roll fantasy exploring the music and career of the incredible Elton John.
I agree with you that sometimes it’s just enjoyable to go see and hear the music you love presented in any fashion … and my hope is that moving forward, THIS is the way that I will view “Rocket Man.” It just wasn’t what I expected … or was conditioned to expect … based on the advertising campaign. (kk)
Karen and I just saw Rocket Man!
I think you’ll enjoy it!
I was leery of it, hearing there were many fantasy sequences and the songs were presented out of order ... but when the Ides were hanging out with movie critic Dean Richards in WGNs green room waiting to take the stage with Puddles Pity Party, I had to ask him what he thought of the movie. Without hesitation he said, “Oh, you gotta see it!”
Good enough for me.
Glad I did.
Sure, it was presented like a Broadway musical (which I’m sure it soon will be) … but once you just let down your guard and let yourself be swept away, as I guarantee you will be, you won’t be sorry you came.
Too many goose bump moments to innumerate. Tears, laughter and memories of the amazing songbook Elton and Bernie created together.
In fact, I appreciated the song craft, melodies, chord changes, and lyrics even more in the way the songs were presented here. For instance, I never realized what a great song I’m Still Standing was till I heard the verse slowed down and presented in the context of his conflicted life. Truly his victory song. Or even The Bitch is Back. But gems like Your Song, Border Song and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road are the true highlights.
Taron Egerton’s Elton and Jamie Bell’s Bernie Taupin we’re spot on!! Hope you love it as much as we did. The tragedy that helped create genius shines through in every frame.
Jimbo
We stumbled across this video over the weekend of Taron Egerton performing “Tiny Dancer” WITH Elton John … a very stirring vocal. (Hey, if you’re going to audition to play Elton John in the movie, you damn well better be able to belt it out in front him!) kk
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Beginning today, I'm doing a mix or match special on "Retrophonic 5" and "Retrophonic 6": Two of "R5" or Two of "R6" or one of each, etc. ... for $10 (that includes the postage and mailer).
I did these two albums on CD because I wanted the entire ten year series on discs.
Oddly, most of my sales have come from "downloads only," so I am doing this summer sale (PayPal is ok).
Snippets below.
Thanks, Davie
http://davieallan.com/
♫ Retrophonic 5 - Davie Allan and the Arrows. Listen @cdbaby
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Joe Marchese wrote a beautiful tribute to Dr. John that we wanted to share with you. (The Good Doctor passed away earlier this week)
In Memoriam: Dr. John (1941-2019)
June 7, 2019 By
Over a colorful life and career spanning seven decades, Mac Rebennack – a.k.a. Dr. John, The Night Tripper – left his mark as a singer, songwriter, musician, arranger, and producer spreading the gospel of New Orleans rhythm and blues. With his distinctive rasp of a growl and expressive touch at the keyboard, nobody sounded like Dr. John. Nobody looked like him, either, with his voodoo beads, colorful feathers, and larger-than-life frame. Even his speech patterns were all his own. Funk, blues, rock, soul, psychedelia, and jazz were just a few components of Dr. John’s heady, magical, mystical, musical brew. We’ve written about Dr. John numerous times at The Second Disc over the last near-decade, and today, in tribute to him, we’re reprinting our September 29, 2015 review of Omnivore Recordings’ collection The Atco/Atlantic Singles 1968-1974. It still remains the best single-disc distillation of the good Doctor’s purple patch, though he continued making thrilling, relevant music right up to the present day…music that will carry his indelible spirit – and that of his beloved Crescent City – ever forward. Rest in peace, Night Tripper.
Dr. John’s most famous single was titled “Right Place Wrong Time,” but the one and only Mac Rebennack has certainly found himself in the right place at many a right time. One particularly halcyon period of the funky New Orleans piano man’s long career is captured on Omnivore Recordings’ essential new collection of The Atco/Atlantic Singles 1968-1974 (OVCD-149).In Memoriam: Dr. John (1941-2019)
June 7, 2019 By
Over a colorful life and career spanning seven decades, Mac Rebennack – a.k.a. Dr. John, The Night Tripper – left his mark as a singer, songwriter, musician, arranger, and producer spreading the gospel of New Orleans rhythm and blues. With his distinctive rasp of a growl and expressive touch at the keyboard, nobody sounded like Dr. John. Nobody looked like him, either, with his voodoo beads, colorful feathers, and larger-than-life frame. Even his speech patterns were all his own. Funk, blues, rock, soul, psychedelia, and jazz were just a few components of Dr. John’s heady, magical, mystical, musical brew. We’ve written about Dr. John numerous times at The Second Disc over the last near-decade, and today, in tribute to him, we’re reprinting our September 29, 2015 review of Omnivore Recordings’ collection The Atco/Atlantic Singles 1968-1974. It still remains the best single-disc distillation of the good Doctor’s purple patch, though he continued making thrilling, relevant music right up to the present day…music that will carry his indelible spirit – and that of his beloved Crescent City – ever forward. Rest in peace, Night Tripper.
Though the 22 U.S. and U.K. singles included on this collection represent Dr. John’s earliest years as a solo artist under that moniker, Rebennack was already a music veteran by the time he signed with the Atlantic family of labels. Countless records made in the Crescent City bore his imprint as musician, songwriter, artist and even A&R man before he decamped with producer Harold Battiste for Los Angeles in the mid-sixties. In LA, he recorded his debut album Gris-Gris with Battiste, only taking on the flamboyant persona of Dr. John Creaux, The Night Tripper when he could find nobody else to “play” the role – and the rest is, as they say, history.
The acerbic, dry political commentary of “The Patriotic Flag Waver” open Omnivore’s set, although it originated on Dr. John’s second Atco LP, Babylon (1969). Incorporating snatches of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” as sung by a children’s chorus, it reflected what Dr. John called his “own sick-ass view of the world.”
“Mama Roux,” “Jump Sturdy,” “I Walk on Gilded Splinters” (split into two parts for single release) and “Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya-Ya” were all belatedly pulled by Atco from Dr. John’s debut Gris-Gris. With its cool, hip fusion of R&B and darkly-tinged psychedelia, it’s one classic record that still sounds like no other, some 47 years after its 1968 release. “Mama Roux” (bearing a beat that can’t help but anticipate War’s hit “Low Rider”) and “Jump Sturdy” have a loose, sing-along vibe; “Splinters” is another beast altogether. Styled after a voodoo church song, it conjures a mysterious, foreboding yet slyly inviting atmosphere as Dr. John incants over hypnotic, primitive rhythms, aided by background vocals both ethereal and earthy. Such was the song’s unlikely power that artists from Cher to The Allman Brothers Band took their turns in covering it.
1970’s Remedies came from a bleak period in Dr. John’s personal life in which his battles with hard drug addiction took a mighty toll. (Happily, he has been sober since 1989.) Both the light and the dark could be heard on the album’s lone single comprising the Gris-Gris-esque “Loop Garoo” and the breezy, brassy R&B of “Wash, Mama, Wash.” Dr. John headed to London for Remedies’ follow-up The Sun, Moon & Herbs, but surprisingly the album (his first to chart) yielded no 45s. Whereas Atlantic’s Tom Dowd co-produced Remedies, another Atlantic great – Jerry Wexler – joined Harold Battiste to co-produce 1972’s Dr. John’s Gumbo. On the contentedly nostalgic Gumbo, Dr. John’s distinctive drawl graced a set of New Orleans classics including the single release of “Iko Iko” b/w a Huey “Piano” Smith medley. Affectionate and authentic, Gumbo remains one of Dr. John’s most enjoyable LPs, and the singles reprised here – also including Earl King’s grooving “Big Chief” – convey palpable joy and a celebratory air. (In his fine liner notes, Gene Sculatti quotes Dr. John of this era: “I dumped the Gris-Gris routine and worked up a new act, a Mardi Gras revue.”)
Omnivore’s collection happily includes the 1972 U.S. promo single/U.K. release of Willie Dixon’s sprightly blues “Wang Dang Doodle” (with the Doctor on guitar) as well as Buddy Guy’s “A Man of Many Words,” featuring Dr. John and Eric Clapton. (The next year, Dr. John moonlighted from Atlantic when he teamed with Mike Bloomfield and John Hammond for the Triumvirate LP on Columbia; the single “I Yi Yi” b/w Dixon’s “Pretty Thing” falls out of the purview of this collection.)
Five tracks on The Atco/Atlantic Singles hail from Dr. John’s all-time classic and commercial breakthrough, 1973’s In the Right Place. Producer-arranger-conductor and fellow New Orleans native Allen Toussaint proved the perfect match in the studio for Rebennack. Toussaint’s unerring instincts and the musical participation of The Meters gave In the Right Place, including its incomparably cool, funky anchor “Right Place Wrong Time,” the right balance of grit and playfulness, rendered with a potent commercial sheen. (Bob Dylan, Bette Midler and Doug Sahm were among the artists to contribute to the song’s lyrics, each offering up an instance of bad luck!) “I Been Hoodood,” the B-side of “Right Place,” returned Dr. John to the murky swamp waters. Toussaint took Dr. John back to vaudeville with his bouncy soft-shoe arrangement of “Such a Night,” with its woozy horns and cooing voices supporting Dr. John as he jauntily croons about stealing his best friend’s woman. “Such a Night” received unique flipsides in the U.S. (“Cold Cold Cold”) and the U.K. (the Toussaint-penned “Life,” with the composer adding his familiar background vocals), both of which are included here.
The contrasting sides of Dr. John were also heard on the singles released from the good doctor’s final Atco album, 1974’s Desitively Bonnaroo. The freewheeling vibe of In the Right Place continued to this LP, also produced and arranged by Toussaint and featuring The Meters. “Everybody, let’s sing,” Dr. John whoops and wails on the bright “Let’s Make a Better World,” which was backed on 45 by the pretty ballad “Me – You = Loneliness.” The second single’s A-side, “(Everybody Wanna Get Rich) Rite Away,” doesn’t go much deeper than the title, but Dr. John certainly had his finger on the pulse – then and now. Its B-side and the closing track on this compilation, “Mos’ Scocious,” glides – like much of the Doc’s best work – on an irresistibly swaggering groove.
Today, Dr. John is rightly venerated as a grand old man of jazz and R&B and an unofficial ambassador for the music of New Orleans; he can follow his muse wherever it leads, whether to a Disney animated film (The Princess and the Frog), a modern/retro collaboration with Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys (2012’s Locked Down) or a spirited tribute to New Orleans’ own Louis Armstrong (2014’s The Spirit of Satch). Omnivore’s The Atco/Atlantic Singles, crisply remastered by Michael Graves and featuring new liner notes by Gene Sculatti in a colorful booklet designed by Greg Allen, vividly captures the fertile early period of a true renaissance man and a singer-songwriter unlike any other. And that’s no hoodoo!
You can order Dr. John’s The Atco/Atlantic Singles 1968-1974 at Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada!
kk:
I asked you why your Classic Rock Countdown is the top 3333 … and you explained it to me very clearly.
Let’s see if I can follow your logic …
All of the Doo-Wop records in my collection are 45's.
So next year, when you do the "DOO-WOP COUNTDOWN," it'll have to be TOP 4500.
Am I right?
FB
We’d probably come up with a much better countdown if we limited it to The Top 45 … but I’ll betcha our readers could easily come up with a Top 100.
(That’s not to say I’m doing it … because I’m really not the right guy to orchestrate such a thing … but I’ll betcha between your contacts Wild Wayne and Glen Fisher's Doo-Wop Ramblings Newsletter, you guys could come up with one heck of a list! (kk)
