Elton John
Caribou

THE REVIEW

"Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" is undoubtedly one of the great classics from Elton John's repertoire: #2 in the USA in 1974, a worldwide hit in its 1991 reissue in duet with George Michael, and paid tribute to by a considerable number of covers; unfortunately, however, this albeit beautiful song has literally "cannibalized" its home album, "Caribou" from 1974: nestled between "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" and "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy," this record, whose cover features Our Hero sporting a pair of questionable pants, is in my opinion the most underrated of EJ's entire golden era, and it's a pity because if "Captain Fantastic..." indeed reached the highest peak, it is thanks to "Caribou" that a new cycle in Elton John's career began, after "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" had closed the previous one.

Conceived in the gorgeous setting of the Colorado mountains, "Caribou" is an inspired, pleasant, and colorful album that seems to almost start off light-heartedly to gain more depth as one goes through the tracklist, and due to its completeness, it nearly succeeds in being a summary of the style and personality of the best Elton John ever. It has all the right ingredients: the vibrant and rhythmic rock of "The Bitch Is Back", the softer side tinged with childhood memories in "Grimsby", a passion for country music that brings the delightful "Dixie Lily" to life, a song that wins over immediately with its innocence and simplicity, contrasting with the rhythms and almost sanguine passion of the tango of "You're So Static" and the blues rock of "Stinker", based on a hypnotic and nearly obsessive bass line.

Of course, an essential ingredient like ballads is not missing, whether they are simple, sweet, and relaxing like "Pinky" or structured, baroque, and whimsical like "I've Seen The Saucers"; the cake batter is enriched with a pinch of extravagance (the operatic baroque nonsense of "Solar Prestige A Gammon", a true stroke of genius) and sublimated by "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me", certainly one of the most substantial pop hits ever for music, impact, and message conveyed, and finally by one of the great masterpieces of the John-Taupin duo, "Ticking", a poignant piano & voice portrait of a misunderstood and troubled boy who commits a massacre in a New York bar before being killed by the police.    

Even if less "advertised" than other EJ albums, "Caribou" remains an exceptional quality product, I would say almost perfect, conceived and structured to perfection, not a single song out of place, showcasing remarkable versatility and an immense class reflected both in the individual tracks and in the album's overall vision, which deserves 5 stars, not only for a matter of personal taste but for its actual quality and significance within Elton John's discography, who with these premises and on this foundation would give life to "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy".