Elton John (1976) Where the Shoorah - LOST70sGEMS

 Elton John's 1976 double LP Blue Moves was by far his most forgettable of his classic 70s run,
Your Starter for It is a xylaphone styled short instrumental that resembles a twinkly gentle video game theme ala Mario Kart. This whimsical opener is followed up by sweeping movie score grandeur of Tonight and the swooping falsetto soft rock epic Chameleon which pairs Elton in full of melodramatic high pitched wailing and watery guitar. Boogie Pilgrim is what it says on the tin but with a exuberant falsetto and stop start Southern beat. Cage the Songbird is a beautiful countrified Folk rocker and one of his most underrated as he warns you can 'cage the songbird' but not make her sing. Crazy Water is a bit of funky Captain and Tennille discofied yacht rock; this was 1976 and Elton was king!
Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word is one of Elton's stone cold classics along the lines of Your Song in it's sober barroom piano confessional style. Shoulder Holster has some light soul, Out of the Blue is harmonising Prog rock ala Kansas Wishbone Ash and that soughta thing, Between Seventeen and Twenty has some Stephen Stills light folk rock sound, while The Wide Eyed and Laughing is a bright harmony staked moody tune. A lot of this album has potential, its some of his finest craft and melodies just lacking the lyrical panache that Bernie Taupin usually graced his albums with; a rare off day. Songs like Someone's Final Song, Where' the Shoorah are draped in gorgeous melodies and harmonies but loses its snap, while If There's a God in Heaven (What's He Waiting For?) has a excellent funky rhythm but ridiculous lyrics, while the album ends how it started with a completely expendable monotonous and highly rhythmic theme tune; this time an Moroccan belly-dance type of acoustic piece called Theme from a Non-Existent TV Series; apt for an album unfairly forgotten by even the die hards amongst Elton's classic 70s run.

Gene Clark (1973) In a Misty Morning - LOST70sGEMS

Roadmaster was one of Gene Clark's lesser solo album before the cult favourite No Other in 1974 and after the lauded White Light LP, but it contains two of his best tunes the first is In a Misty Morning. An epic string sweeping masterpiece, it features Clark's intoning baritone ringing alongside a trembling bass and a general rumble of thunderstorm arrangement. The melancholia that was the strain at the core of all his work is no better exemplified here from the wistful longing of a brighter past; 'Running through my thoughts, Were the memories of the days that I had left behind, Way down in my soul were the hope, That better days were always there to find'. Whilst the main hook is that the mood is so grey and outlook so bleak that the clouds 'just had to cry', a tender sentiment that hits a raw nerve while the bluegrass violin coda gives the song a pep and chaotic energy associated with the twirling storm ahead. It has echoes of the wide production technique of the Echoes solo album from the mid 60s and of his next venture, No Other, with his soulbaring croak underscored by Wagnerian soundscapes of strings, acoustics and bass to truly spellbinding effect.