Live in Australia with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
| Live in Australia with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra | ||||
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| Live album by Elton John | ||||
| Released | 6 July 1987 | |||
| Recorded | 14 December 1986 in Sydney, Australia | |||
| Genre | Rock, symphonic rock | |||
| Length | 73:46 | |||
| Label |
Rocket (UK) MCA (US) Festival/ABC/Warner Bros. (Australasia) |
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| Producer | Gus Dudgeon | |||
| Elton John chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Live in Australia with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
Live in Australia with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, released in 1987, is the twenty-sixth official album release for Elton John. It is a live album recorded at the Sydney Entertainment Centre on 14 December 1986 with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
The concert, recorded on 14 December 1986, was the last of a series of concerts done throughout the last two months of 1986. The concerts consisted of two sets: the first was limited to John and his 14-piece band, including backing vocalists and the Onward International horn section, and his flamboyant stage dress, featuring Mohawk and Tina Turner wigs and some outlandish eye wear; the second featured John, the band and the 88-piece Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, with him dressed as Mozart.
John's band was essentially the lineup used on Leather Jackets, which he was touring behind at the time, including Jody Linscott and special guest Ray Cooper, both of whom played percussion.
James Newton Howard, who was at the time an up-and-coming film composer in Hollywood, joined John to conduct and write larger, augmented charts of not only his own previous work on "Tonight," but also Paul Buckmaster's original arrangements, since the music was to be played by 88 musicians, instead of the smaller studio orchestra for which the compositions were originally designed. He also wrote brand new full orchestra parts for songs such as "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me", which previously only had horn arrangements.
The album features most of the songs recorded in the second half of the show, excluding "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting", "Carla/Etude", "Cold as Christmas (In the Middle of the Year)" and "Slow Rivers", which was sung by John alone (John dueted "Slow Rivers" with Cliff Richard on Leather Jackets).
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