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Originally released in the spring of  1976, a time when live records were enjoying a renewed success in the civilized world, Elton John gave us a single album with a taster of two concerts he performed in 1974. On the first side he gives us five songs performed at the intimate 2,900 seated Royal Festival Hall in London. The second side was a raucous show performed at Madison Square Garden. The original record only gave us five tracks from the London show and four from MSG. When this record was finally released on CD in 1995, it was expanded to almost the entire setlists of both shows.

Each concert is now dedicated to it's own disc. Disc One is entitled Here, meaning the show in London. This concert was part of a fundraiser for the Invalid Children's Aid Society with Her Royal Highness Princess Margaret in attendance. At the beginning of the show we hear a recording of God Save the Queen that sounds as if it were one of the first recordings ever made. Perhaps because of the relatively smaller venue or because of the benefit, Elton and the band decided to not play a string of hits but more of their favorite songs. The outcome is probably truly rare occurrences for some of these tracks enjoying a live setting. He starts out the show with Skyline Pigeon, a 1969 song from his first LP Empty Sky. Unlike the original recording, Elton chose a newer rendition he had recently recorded that was included as the b-side to the Daniel single. The main difference is that he switched from harpsichord to piano. It's a lovely ballad that seems to have been forgotten despite the reissue, yet it makes for the perfect opener for this show. It sets the mood for a close and intimate performance of some true classic Elton material with a quiet attentive audience.

He then goes into a couple of more well-known tracks, Border Song and Take Me to the Pilot. The songs are virtually note-perfect to the studio versions. These two songs are taken from his Elton (1970) album. Border Song is a bluesy ballad with a gospel feel, while Take Me to The Pilot is more of a rocker, one of the few played that night. The band continue chronologically even with the next two performances, the next two numbers are taken from his Tumbleweed Connection LP, which is one of my favorites. Country Comfort gives the audience his attempt at country and western, while Love Song sounds like a total departure for Elton and his band altogether, and for good reason. Love Song was written by Lesley Duncan, one of the very few songs Elton has covered in his recording career. Lesley appears on the original studio recording singing back-up on Tumbleweed Connection, and for this concert she had made a special appearance to reprise her role for a live audience. This is one of the songs that make his Tumbleweed album so memorable, as Love Song is just one of the most hypnotically stunning ballads ever.

The band maintains his rare tracklisting with Bad Side of the Moon, another from his Elton album. Burn Down the Mission meanwhile closes out the Tumbleweed album tracks. He then closes out the show with five strong hits from his recent catalogue. Honky Cat, Crocodile Rock, Candle In the Wind, Your Song and Saturday's Alright For Fighting finish disc one with an exciting climax. The once polite applause turns into a more vocal praise and louder applause with each track that passes.

For disc two (There), Elton performs in Madison Square Garden six moths later in November of 1974. This show was programmed around his big hits, especially since his multi-platinum selling Greatest Hits album was released just about three weeks earlier. The band open with one of the greatest rock intros ever - Funeral For a Friend, a moody synthesized instrumental which segues into the awesome rocker Love Lies Bleeding which effectually primes the audience for an awesome night of some well-known favorites. Speaking of which, Elton croons the opening verse of Rocket Man (I Think It's Going to Be  a Long Long Time) to excited screams. The original album's liner notes author notes that the thousands of lit matches and lighters had brought Elton to tears, although to my ears it's hard to hear any cracks in his vocals which would back this statement up.

With these two concerts, there are remarkably only two repeats in songs. One is Take Me to the Pilot, which Elton gives a louder and bluesier rendition here in America. I finally understand why his amazing song Bennie and the Jets has a one-note false start because of this album. On the original Goodbye Yellow Brick Road LP, they give the song a faux live atmosphere, and the first note hit by the band is a bum note, so they begin again. To my ears, the original studio version doesn't accentuate that this was a bum note, yet on Here and There it is so apparent. If you notice how Elton John's style of singing has changed over the years, once he got to the mid-80s his vocals became less dynamic as he refused to hit those high falsetto notes that initially made his career. Songs like Bennie and the Jets, where Elton sings those high falsetto notes a lot shows why Elton and the band are in their prime, as they give the audience what they want. He gives Daniel more of a looser feel, yet he doesn't deviate too much from the version we all love. The flute-sounding keyboards are gone, yet it remains an effective ballad still.

This was a historical night after all, and especially in retrospect as the legendary John Lennon joins the band on stage for three awesome numbers. The first is the #1 hit written by Lennon called Whatever Gets You Through the Night. This was written to serve as a duet with John and Elton, a fast-paced rock and roll/bluesy track which although very repetitive makes for a great live number. Then the band naturally progressed into Elton's cover version of The Beatles Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds. The original studio version had Lennon singing and playing guitar on the track, and here he reprises his role. Then maybe because they were feeling nostalgic, they tore into a fine version of I Saw Her Standing There. The song like Lucy admittedly pales in comparison to the original Beatles recording, yet there is something very exciting about Lennon singing a Paul McCartney song in 1974.

Your Song is the other repeated track from both concerts. This version differs from the London version in that in America Elton is much more faithful to the original studio recording, while the London version feels more like an acoustic rendition, without the drums, guitar or bass accompaniment. Elton closes out the show with two of his most recent songs at the time, Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me and The Bitch is Back, both taken from his 1974 LP, Caribou. The overall feeling of the night is much more electric and exciting on America's side of the Atlantic, which is deliberate obviously.  The beauty of this CD is that neither concert is better than the other, and they're kind of impossible to compare. Whatever you're in the mood for will be the disc rotating in your player on the given day. I cannot imagine having only the limited tracklisting found on the original LP. These two concerts seem to compliment each other in a way that all happy accidents usually do - perfectly.  



Elton John
Here and There
Length: 139:56
Released: 04/30/1976 (05/14/1996 on remastered CD)
Rating: 5 stars
the Songs: 
            DISC ONE: Here - recorded @ the Royal Festival Hall on 05/18/1974
   1. Skyline Pigeon
   2. Border Song
   3. Take Me to the Pilot
   4. Country Comfort
   5. Love Song
   6. Bad Side of the Moon
   7. Burn Down the Mission
   8. Honky Cat
   9. Crocodile Rock
  10. Candle In the Wind
  11. Your Song
  12. Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting

            DISC TWO: There - recorded at Madison Square Garden on 11/28/1974
   1. Funeral For a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding
   2. Rocket Man (I Think It's Going To Be a Long Long Time)
   3. Take Me to the Pilot
   4. Bennie and the Jets
   5. Grey Seal
   6. Daniel
   7. You're So Static
   8. Whatever Gets You Through the Night
   9. Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
  10. I Saw Her Standing There
  11. Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me
  12. Your Song
  13. The Bitch is Back


More Elton John from Scapp70:
Elton John / Tumbleweed Connection  /  Madman Across the Water  /  Honky Chateau  /  Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player  /  Goodbye Yellow Brick Road  /  Captain Fantastic  /  Greatest Hits II

This LP also has a place in The Best Damn Live Albums Ever.

Recommended: Yes