Too Low for Zero | 
 enlarge | Artist: Elton John
Label: Island
Category: Music
List Price: $13.98
Buy New: $6.09
You Save: $7.89 (56%)
New (16) Used (12) from $5.99
Rating:  21 reviews
Sales Rank: 16761
Format: Extra Tracks, Original Recording Reissued, Original Recording Remastered
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 558475
UPC: 731455847529
EAN: 0731455847529
ASIN: B000009EJU
Release Date: March 20, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Cold As Christmas (In The Middle Of The Year) | | • | I'm Still Standing | | • | Too Low For Zero | | • | Religion | | • | I Guess Why They Call It The Blues | | • | Crystal | | • | Kiss The Bride | | • | Whipping Boy | | • | Saint | | • | One More Arrow | | • | Earn While You Learn | | • | Dreamboat | | • | The Retreat |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Album Details
Digit Remastered plus Bonus Track.
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| Customer Reviews:
 (2.5 stars) Kinda good November 22, 2007
finulanu (Here, there, and everywhere)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Three big hits on this one (the rocker "I'm Still Standing"; easygoing, piano-based "I Guess That's Why They Call it the Blues", featuring Stevie Wonder on harmonica; the typically '80s rocker "Kiss the Bride") - the first two are undeniably awesome, and even the third is catchy, as is the title song, though I do feel a minute of that could've been taken off the end. And "One More Arrow" is a pretty good melodramatic ballad. However, too much of it is stereotypical pop from the decade ("Cold as Christmas"; "Religion"; "Whipping Boy"; "Saint", with a synthesized brass solo stolen from "Shine on You Crazy Diamond"), there's also a pathetic attempt at ambient music ("Crystal"). And too many songs have five-minute running times. So this isn't a classic Elton album, but I suspect it's much better than his other efforts from the decade.
 From Zero back to the top June 26, 2007
Tim Brough (Springfield, PA United States)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
The 80's weren't always kind to Elton John. Once he jumped from MCA to Geffen, the hits slowed down. He and Bernie Taupin had gone their separate ways, and his core band had been gone since "Rock of the Westies." "Too Low For Zero" changed all that. For the first time since "Blue Moves," Elton and Bernie co-wrote the songs. Nigel Olsson and Dee Murray were back, and so was the alchemy.
That was apparent from the first single, the defiant "I'm Still Standing." From the uptempo beat to the forceful lyric, it is the best Elton song since the glory days. "Kiss The Bride" follows in the same vein, about an ex who sees his dreamgirl slipping away as she walks down the aisle. But it was the ballad "I Guess That's Why They Call it The Blues" that blasted away the logjam. "Blues," with its great Stevie Wonder harmonica solo, became Elton's first top ten single in three years and the first since "Little Jeannie" from "21 at 33."
The most important part of this comeback is the rest of the album. "Too Low For Zero" was not just the home of three top 40 singles, but the remaining cuts had depth. The disintegrating family of "Cold as Christmas" is prime Elton, and the title track could have easily been a fourth single. The falsettoed ballad that closed the original album, "One More Arrow," is exquisite and a departure for Elton. "Too Low For Zero" marked the first time since "Blue Moves" that the entire album held together as a whole, and signalled the rebound for Elton that would continue through to "The One."
Some Good Songs--Not A Great Album September 22, 2006
Michael A. O. Donnell (Denver, Colorado)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Having owned everything E.J. has put out at one point or another, there are some great songs on this album. I'm Still Standing, Cold As Christmas, I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues.... This was the time of E.J., king of the radio singles.
That said, for every I'm Still Standing, there's a One More Arrow or Religion, which I see as pure filler. Yes, if you like the early 80's Elton John, this is a great choice for you. While Elton John always has great songs on his albums, overall this isn't his best period of work. Compared with true masterpieces like Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Madman Across The Water, Rock of the Westies, or even his latest, Captain & The Kid, Too Low For Zero seems pale as a whole. That said, there are some great singles on this album and it's a much more solid work than the three that followed.
 ELTON AT HIS 1980'S BEST September 7, 2006
David Insinga (CLIFTON,NJ)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
You can't buy a better EJ cd from the 80's his original band full TAUPIN lyrics and Elton's voice at its very best.IM STILL STANDING,I GUESS THATS WHY THEY CALL IT THE BLUES,SAINT and the beautiful ONE MORE ARROW. This collection could rival any of his 1970's classics.
Too Low For Zero-- An '80s High Point August 8, 2006
Julien Walden (Austin, TX)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
The transitional phase Elton John went through in the late '70s and early '80s was over. Too Low For Zero was not only the first record since Blue Moves that's all John/Taupin (except for one of the bonus tracks on this reissue, but I'll get to that in due time), it was also a full reunion with the original Elton John Band! This is the first record since Captain Fantastic in '75 to be recorded, from start to finish, with Davey Johnstone on guitar, Dee Murray on Bass and Nigel Olsson on the skins, and it shows. The title reflects neither the quality nor the chart positions of this fabulous record; it was Elton's best in years. The opener, 'Cold As Christmas,' may be a bit of a lyrical downer about a failing marriage, but it remains an excellent song with clever phrasing; it was quite a pleasure to hear this one again after something like fifteen years. 'I'm Still Standing' follows, an anthem of survival still without peer; the title track, a lament on boredom, misery and insomnia, comes next, with its irresistable beat and addictive chorus- lyrics notwithstanding, it's far from depressing. Next comes 'Religion,' as it so often does (ha-ha), a triple-tale of spiritual conversion in the most mundane of circumstances. While not a work of particular brilliance, it's a catchy little number that holds its own surrounded by the duo's signature hits of the decade. The album's best song comes next, 'I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues.' Featuring a harmonica bit by Stevie Wonder and a co-writer's credit for Davey Johnstone, this song, one of John/Taupin's all-time great love songs, was a hit throughout most of Western Civilisation, as it well warranted. 'Crystal' follows, another clever, catchy hook around a story of a lover lost to a friend, then comes the record's last major hit, 'Kiss The Bride,' a good rocker about falling in love with a stranger as she walks down the asile. I'll tell ya; for songs about unrequited love, no one beats these two. You might even call it their particular specialty: Elton and Bernie have managed to write uncountable songs on this topic, without excessive repetition of the same specific themes or stories (although they will write another song about falling in love with a bride at a wedding, 'I Never Knew Her Name,' on Sleeping With The Past six years hence, the details and the music are sufficiently different that you can't call it self plagarism, exactly). The next song, 'Whipping Boy,' is perhaps a bit perverse; the story of a masochistic relationship with a mean piece of jailbait, it's funny and it has the kind of chorus that can bother you for days. Now, we come to the tracks that close the original album, moving into torch-song territory: 'Saint,' a worshipful love song about an all-too good lover, and 'One More Arrow,' about a dead one. Finally, we come to the reissue extras. 'Earn While You Learn' is a jaunty instrumental that served as the b-side of 'I'm Still Standing,' 'Dreamboat,' a jazzy, countrified number in the tradition of 'Dixie Lily,' and the only non-Taupin lyric on the record- is Gary Osbourne's sole appearance on this record. Last, but far from least, is 'The Retreat,' a lovely ballad reflecting Taupin's continuing Americana fixation. It's a poetic tale of the aftermath of a Civil War battle, and one of my favourite songs in their entire catalog. I'm glad to see it finally placed on an album, no longer relegated to B-side or boxed set obscurity.
In conclusion, Too Low For Zero brought the rough patch that was the Punk/Disco/New Wave era to a satisfying conclusion for our heroes, as they survived their first set of challenges from various next big things, up-and-comers, trend-setters, various voices of the new generation and nay-sayers who said that their hit-making days were behind them. When most of these had been cast back into the obscurity from whence they came, Elton John and Bernie Taupin were indeed still standing. And twenty-three years later, they still are.
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