Madman Across The Water [Vinyl LP]

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, 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 ON THE WATER is a crucial, unique addition to the John catalogue.