Blue Moves
| Blue Moves | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Elton John | ||||
| Released | 22 October 1976 | |||
| Recorded | March 1976 at Eastern Sound, Toronto, Abbey Road Studios, London, Sunset Sound, Los Angeles, Brother Studios, Santa Monica; remixed at Marquee Studios, London | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 84:47 | |||
| Label |
MCA (US) Rocket (UK) |
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| Producer | Gus Dudgeon | |||
| Elton John chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Blue Moves | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| Robert Christgau | C |
| Rolling Stone | (not rated) |
| Sputnik Music |  |
Blue Moves is the eleventh official album release by Elton John. It was released in October 1976. It was John's second double album (after Goodbye Yellow Brick Road) and the first to be released by his own label, Rocket Records Ltd. Despite the album's darker tone and a wave of negative reviews, on its release it reached no. 3 on the charts, partly on the strength of the its biggest hit single "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word".
While giving a concert at Wembley Arena to promote the album, John announced "I haven't been touring for a long time. It's been a painful decision, whether to come back on the road or not... I've made a decision tonight – this is going to be the last show... There's a lot more to me than playing on the road." He accordingly left the touring/live performing scene. Kenny Passarelli, Caleb Quaye, James Newton-Howard and Roger Pope left the band after the album's release. Newton-Howard would briefly rejoin John's touring band in 1980. Only Davey Johnstone and Ray Cooper returned in limited roles for John's next album, A Single Man.
John has stated that Blue Moves is one of his favourites of the albums he has recorded. It was Gus Dudgeon's last album produced with John for almost a decade. The cover art is from a painting by British artist Patrick Procktor. In the U.S., it was certified gold in October and platinum in December 1976 by the RIAA.
"Cage the Songbird" was a tribute to legendary French songstress Edith Piaf, and a year or so later was covered by Kiki Dee on an unreleased Rocket album, which finally was issued in 2008. ("Songbird" originated as part of the Rock of the Westies sessions, but wasn't completed during them, probably because the song's acoustic, delicate sound didn't fit with the more rock 'n' roll approach of the rest of the songs that made the Westies final track list.) The Beach Boys turned down "Chameleon" (which was written two years prior to the album's release), but Bruce Johnston, a former Beach Boy, performed backing vocals on John's version along with Toni Tennille. John also performed the song at Wembley Stadium in 1975, where he also performed the Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy album in its entirety. An excerpt from "Out of the Blue" was used for the closing titles on Top Gear until the end of that Top Gear format (in 2001). This was one of two albums in which Davey Johnstone does not provide backing vocals; 1997's The Big Picture would be the other.
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