Album of the Day — December 2. Elton John — Madman Across the Water
By: Keith R. Higgons
Tags: Culture, Art, Music, Classics, Rock And Roll

Album of the Day — December 2

Elton John — Madman Across the Water

Elton John — Madman Across the Water (MCA Records)

02.December.2020

Elton John

Madman Across the Water

1971

The run of commercial success that Elton John had in the early to mid-’70s was unparalleled by any of his contemporaries.

Madman Across the Water was John’s fourth studio album in two years. And once again, lyrics were by Bernie Taupin, music by Elton John, and the album was produced by Gus Dudgeon. Along with drummer Nigel Olsen and bass player Dee Murray, this was the nucleus of the Elton John Band that was behind his near decade long run.

And while Johnston, Olsen, and Murray played on Madman Across the Water, producer Dudgeon wasn’t quite sold on them, so many studio musicians were filtering in and out. Notably, Madman Across the Water is the first album where guitarist Davey Johnston became a fixture and influenced the core group.

The record opens with two fan favorites (or at least this fan), “Tiny Dancer” and “Levon” — the latter definitely being one of my favorite songs.

There is a lot of conjecture about the title track, “Madman Across the Water,” was about then-president Richard Nixon. Lyricist Taupin has repeatedly eschewed that idea saying:

“Back in the seventies, when people were saying that “Madman Across the Water” was about Richard Nixon, I thought, That is genius. I could never have thought of that.”

“Holiday Inn” is an auditory kissing cousin to its visual sibling Cinema vérité. That type of film is characterized by “realistic, typically documentary motion pictures that avoid artificiality and artistic effect.” The song is neither boastful nor whiny about life on the road. It is very matter of fact.

Holiday Inn

Boston at last and the plane’s touching down

Our hostess is handing the hot towels around

From a terminal gate to a black limousine

It’s a ten-minute ride to the Holiday Inn

Boredom’s a pastime that one soon acquired

Where you get to the stage, where you’re not even tired

Kicking your heels ’til the time comes around

To pick up your bags and head out of town

Slow down, Joe, I’m a rock-and-roll man

I’ve twiddled my thumbs in a dozen-odd bands

And you ain’t seen nothing ’til you’ve been

In a motel, baby, like the Holiday Inn

Slow down, Joe, I’m a rock-and-roll man

I’ve twiddled my thumbs in a dozen-odd bands

Oh and you ain’t seen nothing ’til you’ve been

In a motel, baby, like the Holiday Inn

Of the album’s two singles “Levon” and “Tiny Dancer,” it would only be “Levon” that charted on Billboard’s Top 40, peaking at #24. “Tiny Dancer” didn’t crack the Top 40. It did see a resurgence thanks to the 2000 Cameron Crowe movie Almost Famous.

Some suspect that “Levon” is about The Band singer Levon Helm, but here again, Taupin says that’s incorrect.

Madman Across the Water was one of John’s lowest-charting album efforts in the UK, but here in America, it continued John’s winning streak, peaking at #8 on Billboard’s Album chart. It would achieve RIAA Gold status in 1972 but would be another 21 years for it to become certified platinum.

CRITICS:

Robert Christgau wrote: “The two decent songs here — I refer primarily to the melodies of “Tiny Dancer” (just how small is she, anyway?) and “Levon” — clock in (with lots and lots of help from Paul Buckmaster) at 6:12 and 5:37 respectively. In other words, they meander. The others maunder as well. Ugh.”

Stephen Thomas Erlewine at AllMusic said: “Elton John and Bernie Taupin delivered another excellent collection of songs with Madman Across the Water. Like its two predecessors, Madman Across the Water is driven by the sweeping string arrangements of Paul Buckmaster, who gives the songs here a richly dark and haunting edge.”

Madman Across the Water is a lot like HBO’s The Wire. What I mean by that are two things:

Both are timeless. Both continue to grow in stature year after year.

Determining what “the best” or your favorite Elton John album of that era is a Sisyphean task. Each of the albums has a bar of excellence that is well above many artists, even today. But for my money, the album that is solid from start to finish is Madman Across the Water.