Rock of the Westies
| Rock of the Westies | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Elton John | ||||
| Released | 24 October 1975 | |||
| Recorded | June–July 1975 | |||
| Studio | Caribou Ranch, Nederland, Colorado | |||
| Genre | Hard rock, rock | |||
| Length | 43:39 | |||
| Label |
MCA (US) DJM (UK) |
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| Producer | Gus Dudgeon | |||
| Elton John chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Rock of the Westies | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    |
| Robert Christgau | (A-) |
| Rolling Stone | (not rated) |
Rock of the Westies, released in October 1975, is the tenth official album release for Elton John. As with Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, Rock of the Westies debuted on the US Billboard 200 chart at No. 1, the only two albums at that time to have done so. It was less successful in the artist's home territory of the UK, where it reached No. 5 on the UK Albums Chart. Robert Christgau ranked it as No. 7 on his list of the best albums of 1975. The title is a play on the phrase "West of the Rockies".
Rock of the Westies contained the US No. 1 (#14 UK) single, "Island Girl", which was released prior to the album. John noted at the time in a radio interview that he had wanted to release "Dan Dare (Pilot of the Future)" as the album's first single instead of "Island Girl", because he thought it had more commercial appeal. He was however, over-ruled, and "Dan Dare" was never released as a single, whilst "Island Girl" became a hit.
The make-up of John's band was different on Rock of the Westies, being without his long-time drummer Nigel Olsson and bassist Dee Murray, both of whom John fired during April 1975. Added in their place were drummer Roger Pope, an old friend of John's who had played on Empty Sky, Tumbleweed Connection and Madman Across the Water, and American bassist Kenny Passarelli, who had previously played with Stephen Stills and was an original member in Joe Walsh's band Barnstorm. Pope had also played in Kiki Dee's touring band. Grammy, Emmy, and Academy Award nominated James Newton-Howard, at the time a virtual unknown, was also brought in as keyboardist, giving him his first major publicity. Also included was Caleb Quaye, another old friend of John's from his early DJM session days. Like Pope, Quaye had also played on Empty Sky & Tumbleweed Connection & also John's intervening eponymous release. Retained from the previous line-up were Davey Johnstone and Ray Cooper.
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