Madman Across The Water Elton John

• 1 Tiny Dancer 06:17
• 2 Levon 05:23
• 3 Razor Face 04:45
• 4 Madman Across The Water 05:58
• 5 Indian Sunset 06:48
• 6 Holiday Inn 04:18
• 7 Rotten Peaches 05:00
• 8 All The Nasties 05:10
• 9 Goodbye 01:51
• Total Runtime 45:30

Info for Madman Across The Water

'Madman Across The Water' produced only a couple of minor hits, which may have something to do with the fact that its best songs are all five or six minutes long. But they're among the strongest songs in the entire Elton John catalog--especially the lovely opening track, 'Tiny Dancer,' which builds from a light, delicately melodic verse to a sweeping, dramatic chorus. Another highlight is the inscrutably biographic 'Levon,' whose title character was born 'on a Christmas day when the New York Times said God is dead.'

John's luxurious piano melodies, Bernie Taupin's poetic lyrics, and Paul Buckmaster's lush string arrangements all stretch out on 'Madman Across The Water', giving the record a grandiose, sweeping feel when it is not riding dark, surging currents, as on the memorably edgy title track. There is a painstaking, interior quality here that goes missing from John's early pop-song oriented albums and from the later excesses of 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'. For this reason, 'Madman Across The Water' is a crucial, unique addition to the John catalogue.

'Trading the cinematic aspirations of Tumbleweed Connection for a tentative stab at prog rock, 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. And these are songs that benefit from grandiose treatments. With most songs clocking in around five minutes, the record feels like a major work, and in many ways it is. While it's not as adventurous as Tumbleweed Connection, the overall quality of the record is very high, particularly on character sketches 'Levon' and 'Razor Face,' as well as the melodramatic 'Tiny Dancer' and the paranoid title track. Madman Across the Water begins to fall apart toward the end, but the record remains an ambitious and rewarding work, and John never attained its darkly introspective atmosphere again.' (Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AMG)

Elton John, piano, vocals
Roger Pope, drums (Tracks 1, 3 & 6)
David Glover, bass (Tracks 1, 3 & 6)
Caleb Quaye, electric guitar (Tracks 1–3), acoustic guitar (Track 6)
BJ Cole, steel guitar (Track 1)
Davey Johnstone, acoustic guitar (Tracks 1, 4 & 7), mandolin (Track 6), sitar (Track 6)
Paul Buckmaster, arrangement (Tracks 1, 2, 4–6, 8 & 9)
Barry Morgan, drums (Track 2)
Brian Odgers, bass (Track 2)
Brian Dee, harmonium (Track 2)
Rick Wakeman, organ (Tracks 3, 4 & 7)
Jack Emblow, accordion (Track 3)
Terry Cox, drums (Tracks 4, 5 & 7)
Herbie Flowers, bass (Madman Tracks 4, 5 & 7)
Ray Cooper, percussion (Track 4), tambourine (Tracks 7 & 8)
Chris Spedding, electric guitar (Track 4), slide guitar (Track 7)
Diana Lewis, ARP synthesizer (Tracks 4 & 7)
Chris Laurence, double bass (Track 5)
Cantores em Ecclesia Choir, backing vocals (Tracks 5 & 8)
Nigel Olsson, drums (Track 8)
Dee Murray, bass (Track 8)
Lesley Duncan, backing vocals (Tracks 1, 6 & 7)
Sue & Sunny, backing vocals (Tracks 1, 6 & 7)
Barry St. John, backing vocals (Tracks 1, 6 & 7)
Liza Strike, backing vocals (Tracks 1, 6 & 7)
Roger Cook, backing vocals (Tracks 1, 6 & 7)
Tony Burrows, backing vocals (Tracks 1, 6 & 7)
Terry Steele, backing vocals (Tracks 1, 6 & 7)
Dee Murray, backing vocals (Tracks 1, 6 & 7)
Nigel Olsson, backing vocals (Tracks 1, 6 & 7)

Recorded 27 February; 9–14 August 1971 at Trident Studios, London, England
Engineered by Robin Geoffrey Cable
Produced by Gus Dudgeon

Digitally remastered