Released in 2006 ‘The Captain and the Kid’ was the third of Elton John’s “back to basics” albums.  After decades of excess and over the top fluff (movie soundtracks etc), John and his lyrical writing partner Bernie Taupin began a conscious effort starting with 2001’s ‘Songs From the West Coast’ of going back to the sound that they started with.  That album brought John’s piano playing back to the forefront and while it had memorable songs such as the lead single “I Want Love” and ‘Original Sin’, the album, and the singles, didn’t sell that well.  ‘Peachtree Road’ followed in 2004 and was a slight letdown as the songs weren’t as memorable as those on the previous effort.  In fact I was a little apprehensive when ‘The Captain’ came out due to the lack of quality songs on the previous album and I didn’t remember enjoying this album as much when it came out.  But re-listening to it, this was one of Elton John’s best albums in years (decades?).

‘The Captain and the Kid’ is a sequel to 1975’s ‘Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy’ and all of the songs were autobiographical chronicling the lives of John and Taupin the 30 years since ‘Captain Fantastic’.  Surprisingly no singles were released off the album as it was expected to be heard in complete form. The album starts off with John’s piano and ‘Postcards from Richard Nixon’ a very singer/songwriter sounding tune.  ‘Just Like Noah’s Ark’ increases the beat a bit and sets up the album’s first great track, ‘Wouldn’t Have You Any Other Way (NYC)’.  This track is a love song to New York and how the city has changed throughout John’s life.  Again it’s mostly a piano and vocal tune that you can imagine John and Taupin writing the song together (which they did in the same room for the first time in their storied career).

Other highlights are the introspective ‘The Bridge’ and the sing-along friendly (only way i can describe it!) ‘I Must Have Lost It On the Wind’.  As I was listening to the latter I paused the album and just smiled thinking “this is a great album!’.

The album ends with the title track. While the song starts a little pedestrian, once the chorus kicks in it takes on a new life.  The song references previous highs (‘you a brown dirt cowboy, me a rocket man’) and lets the listener know ‘you can’t go back….’.

There were times when listening to this album that I could not believe it wasn’t a hit.  But in 2006 album sales were already tanking and it’s possible that the lack of singles doomed the project.  I have read that John was extremely disappointed with the effort Interscope put into the publicity of the album. His next album, ‘The Union’ (with Leon Russell) was released on Decca so perhaps there is some truth to his anger.

No matter the sales, if you enjoyed the EARLY Elton John (Daniel, Rocket Man etc…) then give this album a try, It is an artist reaching for previous heights and in this case almost getting there.