Later this week, Elton John will release the 50th anniversary edition of the album that his mega-hit “Tiny Dancer” calls home. That album’s name is Madman across the Water, and it is one of my favorites. Elton John might be my favorite solo artist of all time, so this re-release is a big deal to me. Read on for more info and other thoughts about the 50th anniversary!
Elton John Releases “Tiny Dancer” Demo
Ahead of the anniversary edition of the album on which it appears, Elton John has released a lyric video for an early demo of “Tiny Dancer,” which you can watch right here:
If you’re familiar with the album version, you will notice a lot of little production elements are missing. This is as straightforward as a demo gets: the piano and the piano player. No violin, drums, bass guitar, or anything else. It throws aside all pretense and simply gives you the artist and his performance. Some lyrics have been changed since this demo, but some might not even notice.
In Defense of Madman across the Water
Although it has been one of Elton John’s least commercially successful albums, I enjoy every track of it. “Tiny Dancer” is track 1, and my personal favorite song of his entire catalog is track 2, “Levon.” The title track is much darker than John’s early 70s music usually got. In terms of tone, it might be more somber than the macabre imagery in the verses of “Someone Saved my Life tonight.” Consider the lyrics “Is the nightmare black or are the windows painted?”
But maybe it was that darkness that made people skip over this album. Elton John is a multi-faceted artist, and his full range of tones ought to be appreciated. If you are unfamiliar with his 70s discography, it goes like so:
- Elton John (1970)
- Tumbleweed Connection (1970)
- Madman across the Water (1971)
- Honky Château (1972)
- Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player (1973)
- Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973)
- Caribou (1974)
- Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (1975)
- Rock of the Westies (1975)
- Blue Moves (1976)
- A Single Man (1978)
- Victim of Love (1979)
That’s a lot of albums in 9 years. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road may be the most famous album—and it deserves to be—but Madman contains a lot of meaningful, unique music. It’s almost like a proto Yellow Brick Road, and maybe this re-release will help people give it another shot.
His first album came out in 1969 and he hasn’t really stopped making music, even if he is on his final tour. It’s hard not to appreciate an artist who has been churning out music for over 50 years now.
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