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Rating: Choosing an Elton John LP from the '80s is like reaching into a glass bowl full of colorful balls and randomly drawing one out; there's no guarantee the chosen color will be to one's liking. Generally, those who publish a lot tend to be scattered and often watered down. As someone who isn't a big Elton John fan but often needs a bit of pop song, I reached into the glass bowl and pulled out "Too Low For Zero," from 1983. Remembering the kitsch cover of the previous "Jump Up!" I find a more sober cover, a white cardboard with four holes in the middle, symbolically representing the album's title, from which the colors generated by the blotch reproduced on the inner sleeve shine through. A sober packaging for an at times inspired album that invites repeated listening. Recorded in Montserrat under the production of Chris Thomas, it reunites for the first time in a while the historical team of the British musician with lyrics by Taupin; it opens with the warm ballad, contrary to the title, "Cold As Christmas," a subdued beginning that anticipates the '80s classic "I'm Still Standing." The title track is an icy song, cold in rhythm and singing, in contrast to livelier tracks like the amusing "Kiss The Bride" or the dynamic "Religion," "One More Arrow" is the poignant ballad that closes the album.
"Too Low For Zero" is a good pop-toned album, perhaps the best from Elton John in the '80s from this perspective. Encouraged, I timidly drew the ball of "Breaking Hearts" from 1984 as the next listen, and it did not evoke the same pleasant sensations.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 I'm Still Standing (03:03)
You could never know what it's like
Your blood like winter freezes just like ice
And there's a cold and lonely light that shines from you
You'll wind up like the wreck you hide behind that mask you use
And did you think this fool could never win
Well look at me, I'm coming back again
I got a taste of love in a simple way
And if you need to know while I'm still standing you just fade away
Don't you know I'm still standing better than I ever did
Looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid
I'm still standing after all this time
Picking up the pieces of my life without you on my mind
I'm still standing yeah yeah yeah
I'm still standing yeah yeah yeah
Once I never could hope to win
You starting down the road leaving me again
The threats you made were meant to cut me down
And if our love was just a circus you'd be a clown by now
Y' know, I'm still standing better than I ever did
Looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid
I'm still standing after all this time
Picking up the pieces of my life without you on my mind
I'm still standing yeah yeah yeah
I'm still standing yeah yeah yeah
(Solo)
Don't you know that I'm still standing better than I ever did
Looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid
I'm still standing after all this time
Picking up the pieces of my life without you on my mind
I'm still standing yeah yeah yeah
I'm still standing yeah yeah yeah
I'm still standing yeah yeah yeah
I'm still standing yeah yeah yeah
(fade)
03 Too Low for Zero (05:47)
Six o'clock alarm
I get the wake up call
Let that sucker jingle-jangle
Ring right off the wall
I'm too low for zero
I'm too tired to work
Tied one on with a friend last night
And wound up losing my shirt
I'm too low for zero
I'm on a losing streak
I got myself in a bad patch lately
I can't seem to get much sleep
I'm too low for zero
I wind up counting sheep
Nothing seems to make much sense
It's all just Greek to me
You know I'm too low, too low, too low for zero
You know I'm too low, too low, too low for zero
Cutting out cups of coffee
Switching off the late night news
Putting the cat out two hours early
It isn't any use (isn't any use...)
I'm too low for zero
Insomnia attacks
Watching flies with my eyes till sunrise
It's daylight when I hit the sack
I'm too low for zero
I'm on a losing streak
I got myself in a bad patch lately
I can't seem to get much sleep
I'm too low for zero
I wind up counting sheep
Nothing seems to make much sense
It's all just Greek to me
You know I'm too low, too low, too low for zero
You know I'm too low, too low, too low for zero
I'm too low for zero
I'm on a losing streak
I got myself in a bad patch lately
I can't seem to get much sleep
I'm too low for zero
I wind up counting sheep
Nothing seems to make much sense
It's all just Greek to me
You know I'm too low, too low, too low for zero
You know I'm too low, too low, too low for zero, for zero, for zero, for zero
I'm too low for zero, oh
I'm too low for zero, oh
I'm too low for zero, oh
I'm too low for zero, oh
I'm too low for zero, oh
I'm too low for zero, oh
04 Religion (04:06)
Well he could almost taste the money
But he was sitting in a den of thieves
Looking for the great awakening
Trying to find a way to leave
But that's when he got religion
And the light went on inside
He said somebody up there likes me
Now he's working for the holy guide
He got drunk but he don't remember
That he'd been drinking in a bar downtown
When he thought he heard a choir of angels
Singing in the Tiki Lounge
And that's when he got religion
From no salesman on TV
Just a tap on the shoulder in the parking lot
He still drinks but he does believe
Religion, you do the best you can
We all make the same mistakes
We're gonna wind up with the man
Religion, oh you do the best you can
We all make the same mistakes
We're gonna wind up with the man
She was silent as he paid her
But the thanks she got was next to none
And as her car pulled out of the motel
She felt the presence of someone
And that's when she got religion
In the front of a compact Ford
Just a gentle voice on the stereo
Now she's a working girl who loves the lord
06 Crystal (05:05)
Music by Elton John
Lyrics by Bernie Taupin
We're caught up in a web, you and I
Since Crystal came between us
The knots of friendship seem to be untied
And it hurts me most to cheat and that's no lie
She can swing us both forever
In the long run she's the one who must decide
And if she leaves me handle her with care
Don't hurt little Crystal
And if she calls you long distance just be there
Oh Crystal
The world is your oyster, you're a pearl
But he's a jewel and my friend
I'm sure that in the end, Crystal you'll be his little girl
Oh Crystal
You're stronger than me but I'm sure
That the fight would fall to no one
The cold hard truth is stronger than us all
And it breaks my heart to see us go this far
We're just captives in our separate cells
And without her there's no peace behind these bars
07 Kiss the Bride (04:23)
Well she looked a peach in the dress she made
When she was still her mama's little girl
And when she walked down the aisle everybody smiled
At her innocence and curls
And when the preacher said is there anyone here
Got a reason why they shouldn't wed
I should have stuck up my hand
I should have got up to stand
And this is what I should have said
I wanna kiss the bride yeah!
I wanna kiss the bride yeah!
Long before she met him
She was mine, mine, mine
Don't say I do
Say bye, bye, bye
And let me kiss the bride yeah!
Underneath her veil I could see a tear
Trickling down her pretty face
And when she slipped on the ring I knew everything
Would never be the same again
But if the groom would have known he'd have had a fit
About his wife and the things we did
And what I planned to say
Yeah on her wedding day
Well I thought it but I kept it hid
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