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List Price: $20.99 | | Label: Universal Import
Salesrank: 115039
Released: May 12, 2003 |
| Our Price: $8.62 |
| Used Price: $7.49 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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21 at 33 Track Listing:
1. Chasing the Crown
2. Little Jeannie
3. Sartorial Eloquence
4. Two Rooms at the End of the World
5. White Lady White Powder
6. Dear God
7. Never Gonna Fall in Love Again
8. Take Me Back
9. Give Me the Love
Editorial Review:
Remastered reissue of 1980 album for MCA that's out-of-print domestically. Nine tracks including three co-written with Bernie Taupin & the hit, 'Little Jeannie'. 2003.
21 at 33 Reviews:
Elton Not Doing Too Bad In 1980 
2009-07-02 - New decade,new music and a new Elton. Disco had come and gone and so had Elton's greatest peak of commercial prosparity.But as with people like Stevie Wonder who had a huge artistic and commercial reneissance during the early to mid 70's Elton realized that the elements that made his prime years needed to be reharnessed in order to move ahead musically in all areas. So Elton teamed back up with Bernie Taupin for a handful of songs here.Even so neither of them could deny that something about their sound and approch too,as both times and musical values had changed and so had the pop listeners ears. This was a big era for "soft rock",usually associated with 70's artists of all sorts trying hard to get on the radio with very poppified,sometimes low energy songs. Considering his way with ballads Elton was a sort of sudtle pioneer for the genre but never what I'd call a contributing part of it. So the difference in sound would have to involve a more modern production and instrumental sound.And here it all worked without destroying Elton's own uniqueness."Chasing The Clown" is a very bouncy pop/rocker to get the ball rolling.Of course "Little Jeannie" was the big hit and of course was kind of asking for radio airplay but did excellent at just that.Despite it's weighty title "Sartorial Eloquence" is basically another one of those great building kind of Elton ballads which you get to a far quieter degree on "Dear God" and even Gary Osborne's crack at a Taupin-like country flavored number in "Take Me Back" and "Never Gonna Fall In Love Again" though,even there the poppiness is hard to deny.As for Taupin's own contributions "Two Rooms At The End Of The World" is one of the most impressive uptempo tunes on the album.It has this driving rock 'n soul flavor with horns and all that would not have put it out of place on a Hall & Oates album from the period,say...Voices.Despite his in your face physical flamboyance the previous decade had taken it's toll on Elton and the less then sudtle theme to another catchy pop/rocker in "White Lady White Powder",another single from this album makes little mistake as to some previous cocaine use. Another of my own favorite tunes here is "Give Me The Love".It's a surprisingly "blue eyed soul/jazz/pop" kind of midtempo tune which is not outside the relm of a Tommy LiPuma/David Foster kind of production. It was the second time a strong modern soul flavor made itself known on this and was a memorable way to end the album. Elton and Bernie,now together were laying the groundwork for a huge 80's comeback that Elton would maintain for a decade to come at least.So for a transitional album known often more for it's annonymous art deco album cover than for the music inside this is a very rousing album with a lot of well thought out pop music surprises and finds Elton in general in a possition closer to being at the top of his game again/
Hey, this album is actually quite good
2009-04-03 - The critics have had their say and, basically, some of them don't like it much. The late seventies and early eighties are generally considered to be a dodgy period in Elton's career, following his brilliance during the early to mid seventies, but before his return to form in the mid eighties. Now, I'm not claiming that everything Elton recorded in the interim was wonderful, but I like some of the albums from the supposedly dodgy period, especially this one. Furthermore, the hits still came even though they may have been fewer and generally smaller than during his best periods.
This album featured three songs featuring lyrics by Bernie Taupin, Elton's most renowned song writing collaborator, these being Chasing the crown, White lady white powder and the song that could have been a single but wasn't, Two rooms at the end of the world. The first and most important single from the album, Little Jeannie, had lyrics that were written by Gary Osborne, who had been the lyricist on Elton`s 1979 album, A single man. Little Jeannie made the top three in America though it was only a minor hit in Britain. The follow-up, Sartorial eloquence, were co-written by Tom Robinson (famous for 2-4-6-8 motorway) with Elton, became a minor hit in both countries. Dear God, another track featuring Gary Osborne's lyrics, failed to chart.
So the album yielded just one big American hit and no big hit in Britain, but the album came close to the top ten in both countries without quite making it in either, but did they choose the right tracks for single release? Apart from Two rooms at the end of the world (supposedly about Elton and Bernie), another song that should have been considered for single release is Take me back, the third track on the album to feature Gary Osborne's lyrics. Brenda Lee, by then pursuing a career as a career, covered the song and it became the title track to one of her albums.
Another fine track is the album closer, Give me the love, which Elton co-wrote with Judie Tzuke, a singer who never really got the recognition she deserved but is best remembered for her hit, Stay with me till dawn.. No, you won't hear her voice on this album, as she doesn't even contribute backing vocals, but Elton performs this fine ballad superbly on his own. Surely it must have at least been considered for release as a single.
I'm not going to claim that this is Elton's strongest album, but it is a very enjoyable album and I rate it much more highly than some of the critics do. It easily justifies a five-star rating in my book, as most of Elton's albums do.
Underrated, and worth picking up for Elton fans.... 
2008-12-29 - This is one of Elton's most underrated albums. It has at least 3 tracks that are classic Elton. The single, Little Jeannie, is a beautiful ballad, and one of Elton's best songs from the 1980's. But two of the three colloborations with Bernie Taupin are the best songs on the album. Chasing the Crown and White Lady White Powder (yes, about cocaine) are fantastic songs, energetically performed by Elton John and his band. Satorial Eloquence is an excellent number as well, but doesn't have the biting wit that Chasing and White Lady have. Not surprisingly, Satorial was not co-written by Bernie Taupin. While the other songs pass from passable to forgettable, the four I mentioned make this album worth seeking out for Elton devotees.
An Underrated Elton John Album From 1980....
2006-12-30 - "21 At 33" is often overlooked by fans and critics; if it is remembered at all, it is best known as the album which yielded Elton's American Billboard Top 3 Hit "Little Jeannie", which ranks along with "Blue Eyes" as the best song he co-wrote with lyricist Gary Osborne. However, I think this fine album deserves recognition as yet another example of his splendid songwriting craft, having written all of the songs on this album in August, 1979 in France's Cote d'Azur (The album was co-produced by Elton and long-time associate sound - and concert stage - engineer Clive Franks.). Musically it is also noteworthy for being a partial reunion of the John/Taupin songwriting team, yielding such memorable rockers as the opening track, "Chasing The Crown", "Two Rooms At The End Of The World" (A post-"Captain Fantastic" sequel reminding listeners that the team had been separated only by distance - since Bernie had moved to California - and that they were still musically at - or at the very least close to - the stratospheric artistic heights they had achieved from the early to mid 1970s.), and "White Lady, White Powder". While these were among this album's best songs, along with "Little Jeannie", the most memorable ones also included the minor hit "Sartorial Eloquence" (co-written with Tom Robinson) and the bluesy hymn "Dear God" and the country-western ballad "Take Me Back" with lyrics from Robinson and a young English songwriter, Judie Tzuke, who was signed to Elton's Rocket Records. "21 At 33" should also be remembered as the first partial reunion of Elton with his original rhythm section of bassist Dee Murray and drummer Nigel Olsson (Olsson has a memorable drum solo on "Little Jeannie".), who would be featured - either together or separately - on every Elton John album in the early 1980s, and with both officially rejoining his touring band by 1980.
21 At 33-- 17, actually
2006-08-06 - In fact, 21 At 33, supposedly Elton's 21st record at the age of 33, is his seventeenth (unless collections count). Either way, the numbers don't matter; Elton sounds on this record like he has the energy of age 21 at 33-- hell, that's what I thought the title meant when I was a kid and I first bought this record on cassette! Having just received the CD through the Amazon Marketplace, replacing that long-lost cassette, I put it right on, hearing it for the first time in about fifteen years. Unlike me, the record hasn't aged a day; if anything, it sounds better, and the reissue art and liner notes from the omnipresent John Tobler are lovely additives. Not that the record needs them; 21 At 33 is, in my estimation, one of Elton's best, not only from this transitional period of his career but from his entire ouvre. Bernie Taupin makes a triumphant return to his partner's work here, with the three best songs on the record: 'Chasing the Crown' (John/Taupin's answer to the Rolling Stones' 'Sympathy for the Devil'), a hard-rocking testiment of the eternal Adversary that has never received the attention it deserves (Elton, if you're listening, you should add this one to your live show!); 'Two Rooms at the End of the World,' a state-of-their-union update and response from John/Taupin to the rumour that their creative relationship had reached its end, and 'White Lady, White Powder,' an honest and good-humoured ode to Bernie's coke habit (which, according to Phillip Norman's book 'Sir Elton,' was coming to an end around this time). Of the non-Taupin songs, the best is 'Sartorial Eloquence,' with lyrics by the gay punk-pop songwriter Tom Robinson. This one should go down in music history as one of the gayest love songs ever (sample lyric: 'Oh your lifestyle shows / In the clothes you chose / Sitting pretty in the masquerade'). Robinson's other lyric on this album, 'Never Gonna Fall In Love Again,' isn't as much of a standout, however; it's merely good. Of the remaining four tracks, three are written by Elton's collaborator on A Single Man, Gary Osbourne, whose best contribution here is the hit single 'Little Jeannie,' a seemingly straight love song that verges on sappiness at times, but is redeemed by Elton's emotionally effective but restrained vocal and the song's relaxed tempo. Osbourne's other two contributions here, the spiritual 'Dear God' and the countrified 'Take Me Back' are good, if not especially remarkable; the important thing is that they work in their context, neither slowing the record down or otherwise upsetting its flow. Outside of their context, neither song stands out particularly, but in it, they work beautifully. One of the great strengths of Elton John over the years is the diversity of not only his work entire, but specifically of his 'love songs.' While many an artist sticks with one, or at best, two dimensions of what we call 'love' (namely hetero-sexual lust and romantic love of the straight variety), the work of Elton John (particularly in tandem with Bernie Taupin) runs the gamut: straight love ('Tiny Dancer,' 'Amy,' 'Blues For Baby and Me,' 'Little Jeannie,' etc.); [...] love ('Elton's Song,' 'Sartorial Eloquence,' 'Razor Face,' 'Dan Dare [Pilot of the Future],'); brotherly love ('Daniel,' 'Two Rooms...,' 'We All Fall In Love Sometimes/Curtains'); etherial love ('Candle In The Wind,' 'Lady Samantha,' 'High Flying Bird'); dysfunctional love ('All the Girls Love Alice'); damaged and failed love ('Someone Saved My Life Tonight,' 'Cold As Christmas,' 'Sacrifice,' 'Dear John,' 'Love Lies Bleeding'); rented love ('Sweet Painted Lady,'); interracial love ('Amazes Me'); international love (Nikita) long-distance love ('I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues,') and just all-purpose, whomever-you-are love ('Your Song,' 'Love Song,' 'Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me,' etc). Lord knows I could go on; off hand, I can think of several more categories and tunes to fill them, but I digress. This brings me to the good all-purpose love song that concludes the album, the appropriately titled "Give Me the Love,' Co-written by Elton and Judie Tzuke (an artist that was signed to Rocket at the time). It's a funky little number, and an excellent closer to an underrated record by a man who still hasn't even come close to running low on energy and a songwriting team who still have much to teach us about love.
