Details
Track Listing
1. Ballad of a Well-Known Gun
2. Come Down in Time
3. Country Comfort
4. Son of Your Father
5. My Father's Gun
6. Where to Now St. Peter?
7. Love Song
8. Amoreena
9. Talking Old Soldiers
10. Burn Down the Mission
Album Notes
Recorded in the charmed period between the initial success of ELTON JOHN and superstar extravaganzas like GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD, TUMBLEWEED CONNECTION, a loose concept album about the American West, was a strange, sideways move for Elton John and songwriting partner Bernie Taupin. A album in the traditional sense, it is best heard as a piece, with songs that pick up and expand on each other's moods and settings. Notice, for example, the progression of characters from the young fighter waving "My Father's Gun," to the retired and forgotten "Talking Old Soldiers," to the protagonist of "Where To Now St. Peter?," shot down by "a sweet young foreign gun" and ready to be judged by his maker.
The mood holds from the sepia-toned LP cover art to John's songwriting, influenced by folk and country music and by The Band's MUSIC FROM BIG PINK. Among the songs it introduced were "Country Comfort," which Rod Stewart covered on GASOLINE ALLEY, and "Come Down In Time," later done by both Judy Collins and Sting. Though the rollicking piano epic "Burn Down The Mission" and "Amoreena" became FM-radio and concert staples, TUMBLEWEED CONNECTION remains the only John studio album without a hit single, a fact that doesn't affect the impact of this excellent country-rock outing.
Industry Reviews
...TUMBLEWEED CONNECTION is simpler than John's last album and next time around I hope he goes all the way and gets down to nothing but the basics. He is one of the few who is good enough not to need anything else...
Rolling Stone (02/18/1971)
3 Stars - Good - ...a slightly eccentric excursion into the imagery of American hicksville...
Q (08/01/1995)
...TUMBLEWEED CONNECTION is simpler than John's last album and next time around I hope he goes all the way and gets down to nothing but the basics. He is one of the few who is good enough not to need anything else...
Rolling Stone (02/18/1971)
4.5 stars out of 5 -- [I]t is one of the best country-rock albums ever written by London cowboys.
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