Victim of Love (album)
| Victim of Love | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Elton John | ||||
| Released | 13 October 1979 | |||
| Recorded | August 1979 | |||
| Genre | Disco | |||
| Length | 35:45 | |||
| Label |
MCA (US) Rocket (UK) |
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| Producer | Pete Bellotte | |||
| Elton John chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Victim of Love | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    |
| Rolling Stone | (not rated) |
| Robert Christgau | (C-) |
Victim of Love, released in 1979, is the thirteenth official album release for Elton John. It is a disco album, released shortly after the peak of disco's popularity. It was not critically or commercially well-received, and is Elton John's third lowest charting album to date in the US, after 1986's Leather Jackets and 1985's Ice on Fire.
The title track of the album, however, was moderately successful as a single. It reached No. 31 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and No. 46 in Canada.
It is the shortest album of Elton John's career at under 36 minutes.
It is atypical of John's recording career in several respects. John neither wrote the songs nor played pianos or keyboards on it; he only provided vocals. It was his first album without any of his original band members, which would not happen again until his 2010 collaboration with Leon Russell, The Union. Along with A Single Man, it is also one of only two studio albums as of 2012 without lyricist Bernie Taupin. Apart from an appearance on the Australian television series Countdown, (he was also a comedy regular on the show during the 1980s), Elton did little promotion for the album. There was no tour to promote Victim of Love, and none of its songs have ever been played live by Elton. It is also the only studio album in Elton's discography to not have any songs of the album performed on stage.
The only B-side released on a single, "Strangers", appeared as a bonus track on his previous album, A Single Man, as it was recorded during those sessions.
When the album was released as a CD in the 1980s, the track breaks were incorrect. The first 45 seconds of "Spotlight" is part of the previous track, and similar errors occur in other tracks as well. The album was reissued in a digitally remastered format in 2003, with these issues corrected, and with improved sound and instrumental setup.
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