Elton John - Tumbleweed Connection

Tumbleweed Connection is the third studio album by English singer-songwriter Elton John, originally released in October 1970 via DJM Records.

Instead of repeating the formula that made his self titled second album a success, Elton and Bernie Taupin attempted the ambitious Tumbleweed Connection for the follow-up. A loose concept album about the American West, Tumbleweed Connection emphasized what always lay beneath their songcraft.

Half of the songs don't follow conventional pop song structures; instead, they flow between verses and vague choruses. These experiments are remarkably successful, primarily because Taupin's lyrics are evocative and Elton's melodic sense is at its best.

Produced by Gus Dudgeon with orchestral arrangements by Paul Buckmaster, this is almost as laden with Americana as Bernie Taupin’s lyrics, with Elton singing in a distinctly Yankee twang.

“Ballad Of A Well-Known Gun” sets out the album’s stall, a mid-tempo country-rocker gilded by period guitar fills from Caleb Quaye and a backing choir including one Dusty Springfield. Themes flicker here which reoccur between tracks: gunslingers young and ageing, a sepia sense of saloons and one-horse towns. “My Father’s Gun” and “Talking Old Soldiers” overtly try to enter the heads of ailing John Waynes.

The best songs are those which transcend Taupin’s Western fantasies. “Come Down In Time” is an exquisite ballad which remains one of Elton’s most under-acclaimed tracks. “Where To Now St. Peter?” allows itself more time to float than the formulaic structures that later became his trademark, and he exhibits a keening falsetto. “Amoreena” (used over the opening sequences of Sidney Lumet’s Dog Day Afternoon) bristles with drama. The climactic “Burn Down The Mission”, which was a live showstopper at the time, enjoys a grandstand finish, all bombast and infectious enthusiasm.

Relatively overlooked in the canon, despite peaking at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 chart and No. 2 on the UK Albums chart and being certified platinum by the RIAA, Tumbleweed Connection is a crafted, often impassioned work.

Check out the tracks: “Love Song”, “Country Comfort” and “Burn Down The Mission”. 

This reissued LP housed in a gatefold sleeve with reproduced original artwork, digital download code and remastered audio is pressed in Europe on 180 gram audiophile vinyl.