I pulled out my Stage Coach Times and I read the latest news

Continuing my trip back through the 1971 album charts.

04/04/71 : Tumbleweed Connection - Elton John

Our sixth visit with Elton but we've met a few of his from around this time which were pretty decent, so I have reasonable hopes for this.

Yeah - there's nothing wrong with this in the slightest. It's decent songs from Elton and Bernie, which are all played well and showing enough variety across the album to keep you engaged. It doesn't have any of his generally recognised top tunes on it, but it exudes a similar level of quality and feels like multiple listens wouldn't get dull.

We're at #13 in the charts this week on his thirteenth week of an eighteen week run, with it having peaked at #2 for its seventh to ninth weeks. The top five this week were Andy Williams (his second of two weeks at the top, but that's not enough to tempt me to investigate it), Jimi Hendrix, Simon & Garfunkel, and Jethro Tull and a Burt Bacharach compilation with the highest new entry being Elvis Presley (#6).

Wikipedia has a decent amount (143 milliPeppers) on the album and it tells us that this is his third album and it is "a concept album based on country and western and Americana themes", which I have to admit somewhat passed me by. There's actually remarkably little general information on there, but there are a couple of nice very specific gems. Firstly, the album cover photo was taken at Sheffield Park railway station which, as everyone knows, is one end of the Bluebell Line in Sussex - in August '20, for the 50th anniversary of the album, they recreated the album cover to let people take their own photos. Also, "Burn Down The Mission" was one of the few non-singles that he played on his farewell tour - and me & the lovely Mrs Reed were lucky enough to see him play it. Critically, it seems like people either absolutely loved it or they were slightly underwhelmed by it and commercially it did well, getting to #4 in Australia and Canada and #5 in the US, selling a million copies over there.

discogs.com tells us you can pick up a decent version for a fiver but if you want the original translucent vinyl misspressing then it's going to set you back £200 - it's funny the things people will pay for. This is a quality album though which I enjoyed on my first visit and would be perfectly happy to go back to.

11/04/71 - Surprisingly enjoyable

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