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The Captain & the Kid | 
 enlarge | Creator: Elton John
Label: Phantom Sound & Vision
Category: Music
List Price: $17.99
Buy New: $14.99
You Save: $3.00 (17%)
New (7) Used (3) from $10.99
Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 364766
Format: Import, Deluxe Edition
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 2
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.1 x 5.1 x 0.2
UPC: 602517073661
EAN: 0602517073661
ASIN: B000HWZB0U
Release Date: September 19, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Album Description
Limited Edition import two disc (CD + PAL/Region 0 DVD) pressing of this 2006 album from Elton and songwriting partner Bernie Taupin, an autobiographical sequel to their 1975 album Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy. The DVD contains an exclusive interview with John and Taupin. Mercury.**Please note that you will need an all region code player to view DVD content.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Cracking album June 12, 2008
S J Buck (Kent, UK)
I've had this album since it came out two years ago and have just started playing it again. These are very strong songs, that hold up to comparison with the classic 70's albums and 'Songs from the West Coast'. Melodically there are some songs here that once heard are very difficult to get out of your brain! 'Tinderbox' is a classic example. In fact its a classic example of the wonderful melodic musical gift that Elton is blessed with. A relatively ordinary verse, though this will also weave its way into your mind as well, followed by a classic chorus that is unbelieveably catchy. My favourite track is 'Old 67', which features a classic Elton Piano lick and great lyrics from Bernie Taupin. This song once heard a few times will also stick in your cranium.
My only criticism is 'The Bridge'. Its a fine song and very well performed but IMO it didn't need the backing choir - Elton and Piano would have done just fine.
For all those people who thought Elton John was past it. You need to think again. This album and 'Songs from the West Coast' (I do not own Peachtree Road yet) are a great return to form. Maybe not quite as good as GYBR or Tumbleweed overall, but close enough to make you realise that the man (and Bernie Taupin) is still blessed with fabulous song-writing talent. Long may it continue.
 Captain Fantastic Rides Again! February 18, 2008
MC Control (Australia)
The Deluxe edition of this album comes with a bonus DVD doco and a weblink on the cd to download exclusive tracks online that are not on the album but one of which appears in the lyric book.I highly recommend the Deluxe edition to the standard edition for those two reasons.One of the download tracks "Across The River Thames" is awesome,and part of the Captain and the Kid Story!
Elton toured Australia in late 2006 on the back of this album and had a good deal to say about it getting no airplay or promotion.Indeed he performed a block of the album's songs(5 or 6 of them if my memory serves me),right in the middle of the show preceded by "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" from the original Captain Fantastic.He spoke of the fondness he and Bernie share for that album(as do a lot of his fans)and the reasons for doing a follow up to that autobiographical masterpiece.If you buy this edition of the album,it's all explained on the bonus DVD interview.
After the show I could hear a number of disgruntled patrons complaining about too much new music and the volume of all things(and I thought I was getting old!).But as Elton said in his monologue before the "Captain and the Kid" block of songs,and I quote,"If we don't play them,how else are you gonna hear them."So he must have known there would be a few out there who only want to hear Candle..,Your Song and Crocodile Rock etc.Indeed!
But,I digress,just to point out that I think this album really did go over every-one's heads or slipped under their radar.And for the life of me,I don't know why.It is probably the best thing he's done for quite some time.It leaves Peach-tree Road and Songs From The West Coast for dead.
I dare anyone to listen to some of these tracks("The Bridge,"Blues Never Fade Away") and once you know the story behind the song,be genuinely moved!The lines in "Blues..." that refer to Gianni Versace had me in tears!And the obvious reference in "The Bridge" to the demons in all our lives is some of the best words Taupin has EVER written!
If you are an Elton fan and have not bought this album(shame on you,add it to your cart this instant)you won't be disappointed.
Breathtakingly Beautiful!
Elegant Sequel to "Captain Fantastic", But It Sounds More Like "Tumbleweed Connection" and....... October 27, 2006
John Kwok (New York, NY USA)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This limited edition imported version of "Captain and the Kid" contains an additional DVD that includes an interview of Elton John and Bernie Taupin discussing the creation of their latest album and looking back at their stellar career in music. It is also rumored to contain live versions of some of the songs from "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy" which were recorded during Elton's concerts at Madison Square Garden here in New York City approximately a year ago. As for this new CD, I regard it as an essential Elton John album. I've lost count how many times I have played the entire album or selected songs - at least nearly half of it - constantly.
Thirty-one years after "Captain Fantastic", Elton John and his long-time partner, lyricist Bernie Taupin, have quite literally returned to their roots in "The Captain and the Kid", yielding an album that sounds as fresh and poignant as their great mid 1970s album. And yet, it sounds much more like a return to their earlier musical roots, most notably such classic early albums as "Tumbleweed Connection" and "Honky Chateau", than a full-fledged sequel that is also a satisfying conclusion to "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy". All the praise that this album is acquiring so far is quite well earned; demonstrating that Elton's 21st Century musical revival - beginning with "Songs From The West Coast" - hasn't been a fluke. I doubt I have heard as consistently fine a collection of songs as those on this album from Elton lately; indeed, I have to search as far back as his early 1990s hit "The One" to find among his recent albums, one that is both a great body of work, as well as yielding quite a few Elton John/Bernie Taupin hit singles; it is definitely Elton's best album since "The One". Without a doubt, "The Captain and the Kid" should be regarded more as an album with a consistently great set of songs - than a collection of memorable hit singles and other songs - due in no small measure to the introspective nature of Taupin's lyrics chronicling their history - both together and apart - since Elton's triumphant American debut back in 1970, a memorable performance at Los Angeles' Troubadour Club. Moreover, Elton hasn't sung as well as in a long, long time, even if his youthful falsetto has given rise to a deeper, often richer, sound. And here on this album, he's often backed with classic harmonies from Davey Johnstone and Nigel Olsson - as well as the rest of the current Elton John Band - bringing back fond memories of Elton singing with Davey, Nigel, and the late Dee Murray on his classic 1970s albums.
"The Captain and the Kid" ranges all over the map musically, paying homage to country, bluegrass, blues, folk, rhythm and blues, as well as pop and rock and roll. Stylistically, Elton and Bernie cover musical terrain that may remind some listeners of Tucson's late great Irish Celtic/Mexican/Country/Bluegrass band, The Mollys, or some of Mary Chapin Carpenter's early work. I almost expected hearing Jean-Luc Ponty playing his electric violin - which he did memorably on two songs from "Honky Chateau" - or the great Irish-American Celtic violinist Eileen Ivers, or another, younger New York City-based bluegrass/country violinist, the still unknown, but quite brilliant, Dotty Moore, on a few of the songs (Indeed, these songs are so good, that I hope bluegrass and country musicians from Nashville and Austin to Tucson, and yes, even those here in New York City, will consider covering them.).
My favorite songs from "The Captain and the Kid" include its potential hit singles. "Just Like Noah's Ark" is a rollicking honky tonk tune which has an opening piano riff that's reminiscent of fellow Brunonian Mary Chapin Carpenter's "I Feel Lucky", but actually owes more musically to "Honky Cat" and "Bennie and the Jets" (I can easily imagine both fellow Brunonians Mary Chapin Carpenter and Dotty Moore lending their considerable musical talents to this very song; indeed I think that both talented ladies would be splendid guest soloists on the next studio-recorded Elton John album.); it's a joyous ode recounting Elton's early success here in the United States, and all the youthful indulgences associated with it. "..And The House Fell Down" is a somber, yet funky sounding, rhythm and blues/country tune in which Elton recalls his severe drug and alcohol addiction from the 1980s (Melodically the song sounds similar to "I'm Still Standing", but there's a brief section where Elton raps - I still can't believe it - Bernie's lyrics.). "Blues Never Fade Away" is a classic Elton John/Bernie Taupin bluesy country ballad that's in the same mode as "Candle in the Wind", mourning the tragic loss of lives cut too short, especially in the veiled - and not so veiled - references to Gianni Versace and John Lennon. "The Bridge", the current single, is yet another classic John/Taupin ballad, featuring only Elton and his piano, with background harmonies from Davey, Nigel, Bob, John and Matt (album co-producer and recording engineer Matt Still) that sound so much like the classic 1970s harmonies from Davey, Nigel and Dee; it is unquestionably one of my three favorite songs from this album, reminding me most, both stylistically and thematically, of "The Last Song". "Old '67" is yet another fine John/Taupin ballad, but with more than a bit of a country twist, in which the two remember well the year they met (1967), and reflect upon a solid musical partnership that has endured for nearly forty years (It's another personal favorite, and definitely one of the best songs on this album.). "The Captain and The Kid" opens and closes with the same musical chords (It's Elton on the piano accompanied by Davey's mandolin and Nigel's drum kit and John's percussion, with Bob's bass in the background.) from the title song of the "Captain Fantastic" album, and like that song, it is a country/pop/rock and roll ballad, in which Elton sings wistfully of the life-long paths that led him and Bernie Taupin to become "Captain Fantastic" and the "Brown Dirt Cowboy", looking back with ample amazement at what he and Bernie have wrought artistically these past four decades (This is yet another favorite song from the album, vying for top honors with the others.).
The other songs in "The Captain and the Kid" are just as memorable as the potential hit singles I've mentioned. "Postcards from Richard Nixon" is an uptempo, slightly honky tonk-inflected, pop/rock and roll song recounting Elton's muscial conquest of the United States in the early 1970s. "Wouldn't Have You Any Other Way (NYC)" is yet another splendid valentine to New York City from Elton John and Bernie Taupin, with musical reminders of "Tiny Dancer" and "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters", but sounding more like Elton's early to mid 1980s period, resembling songs such as "I'm Still Standing" and "Sad Songs (Say So Much)". "Tinderbox" is a caustic, bluesy country ballad from John and Taupin recounting their bitter breakup and separation, which lasted from the mid 1970s into the early 1980s (I'm starting to like this song so much that I could regard it as yet another potential single from this album.). "I Must Have Lost it On the Wind" is a country-tinged ballad in which John sings of lost loves and their poignant, and often bittersweet, memories; with Davey's harmonica and mandolin solos, the song sounds almost like something crafted by Bob Dylan back in the early to mid 1960s, before he discovered rock and roll.
Elton John and Matt Still have co-produced yet another classic Elton John album, with Elton and his piano once more at the center of attention (I have no doubt that the late Gus Dudgeon, Elton's original producer, would be proud of their accomplishment.). Davey Johnstone offers a multitude of superb banjo and mandolin solos, and Nigel Olsson provides once more his elegant melodic drumming, which, unfortunately, does sound slightly muted in several songs. Keyboard wizard Guy Babylon, who also orchestrated the arrangements on this album, can be heard in several memorable organ solos, most notably on "Just Like Noah's Ark" and "Old '67". And of course, there's excellent playing too from bassist Bob Birch and percussionist John Mahon. Long-time fans of Elton's music will also appreciate the collection of photographs of him, Bernie and his bands, stretching from 1967 until now, and the Ryan McGinley photographs of him playing the piano and Bernie Taupin riding a horse - the first time they've appeared together on an album cover since "Captain Fantastic" - at Bernie's California ranch. Those unfamiliar with Elton's work should nonetheless enjoy "Captain and the Kid" as yet another of his recent musical triumphs; diehard, long-time fans of Elton's music will surely want to add this fine album to their collections. In the album's final song, "The Captain and The Kid", Elton sings, "And you can't go back and if you try it fails..."; well, I'm sorry, Elton, but you have gone back, by making one of the finest albums in your glorious musical career; may it endure for a long, long time, always delighting the hearts and minds of countless fans like yours truly.
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