Big Dipper (Elton John song)
| A Single Man | ||||
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| Studio album by Elton John | ||||
| Released | 16 October 1978 | |||
| Recorded | January – September 1978 | |||
| Studio | The Mill, Cookham, Berks | |||
| Genre | Rock, pop, disco | |||
| Length | 48:46 | |||
| Label |
MCA (US) Rocket (UK) |
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| Producer | Clive Franks, Elton John | |||
| Elton John chronology | ||||
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| Singles from A Single Man | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| Robert Christgau | (C) |
| Rolling Stone | (not rated) |
A Single Man, released in 1978, is the twelfth official album release for Elton John. It is the first album where Gary Osborne replaced Bernie Taupin as lyricist.
A Single Man is the first of John's albums to not include long-time collaborators Bernie Taupin (lyricist) and Gus Dudgeon (producer). The returning members of his band are percussionist Ray Cooper and guitarist Davey Johnstone; the latter only played on one song on the album. Paul Buckmaster would not appear on another Elton John album until Made in England. Unlike previous compositions in which lyrics came first, John began writing melodies at a piano and an album unintentionally became of it. This was also John's first album in which he started singing in a lower register. "Song for Guy" was written as a tribute to Guy Burchett, a young Rocket messenger who was killed in a motorcycle accident.
The photo for the front cover was taken in the Long Walk, which is part of Windsor Great Park in Berkshire. The inside cover shows John in a Jaguar XK140 FHC.
The album was released on 16 October 1978 by MCA in America, and by Rocket in the UK. Singles from the album were "Part-Time Love", October 1978; "Song for Guy", November 1978; and "Return to Paradise", 1979. "Song for Guy" was a near-global success, charting high everywhere except the US and Canada, where John's label, MCA Records, did not feel that it had hit potential, in spite of the recent success of the instrumental "Music Box Dancer".
A Single Man was John's first album ever to be officially released in the former USSR, though his previous releases had been smuggled into the country in various forms. It was released following the success of his A Single Man in Concert shows in Moscow and Leningrad, though it differed in two ways from its release elsewhere. Firstly, the album was re-titled Poyot Elton John ["Elton John sings" in Russian]. Secondly, on some prints, both "Big Dipper" and "Part-Time Love" were removed, due to the subject matter of the songs. Curiously, John had performed "Part-Time Love" at the USSR shows without objection from Soviet officials.
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Wikipedia