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List Price: $13.98 | | Label: Interscope Records
Salesrank: 9734
Released: September 19, 2006 |
| Our Price: $0.97 |
| Used Price: $0.01 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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The Captain and the Kid Track Listing:
1. Postcards From Richard Nixon
2. Just Like Noah's Ark
3. Wouldn't Have You Any Other Way (NYC)
4. Tinderbox
5. And The House Fell Down
6. Blues Never Fade Away
7. The Bridge
8. I Must Have Lost It On The Wind
9. Old '67
10. The Captain And The Kid
Editorial Review:
The Captain & The Kid, written with his long-time writing partner, Bernie Taupin. More than 30 years after the release of their landmark #1 multi-platinum album, Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, the duo returns with this sequel. The new album features 10 new songs reflecting the intimate lives and public times spanning the long-standing songwriting partnership of Elton John and lyricist Bernie Taupin. In fact, for the first time, both John and Taupin are featured on an Elton John album cover.
"The album is a celebration of our lives and our lifetimes, of our music and of the music we love. The Captain & The Kid continues our story. You can't look back, we're looking ahead," says John.
Created in the tradition of those fantastic records of the 60's and 70's, The Captain & The Kid is a celebration of when music was the most important voice of our culture and the album was its prime vehicle. Much like Elton's previous records Tumbleweed Connection, Madman Across The Water, and Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy, The Captain & The Kid is an album meant to transport you back to that place in time when music mattered most. 35 plus years-later, Elton really has become Captain Fantastic and Bernie is most definitely The Brown Dirt Cowboy and they are as passionate about their music as they have ever been.
"I find the whole album to be so touching and beautiful for me because I've lived it," Elton added. "I lived it with Bernie and we've come through it. We've gone over the bridge and here we are at the other side."
The first single from the album, 'The Bridge" is one of 10 tracks which picks up where Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy left off. The album tells the story of Elton and Bernie from when they arrived in Los Angeles 30 years ago, through the ups and downs of their lives, to present day.
Description of The Captain and the Kid:
The degree to which you'll like The Captain & the Kid is going to depend on your personal history with Sir Elton John. If you're a resolute follower who was once reduced to a quivering mass of humility by "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" and then revived by the blast of pop liberation that was "Philadelphia Freedom" (a single that later appeared on the CD version of Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, the album to which this disc is a sequel) you'll have enough invested to appreciate the concept. If, on the other hand, you're a late arrival to the Rocket Man's repertoire, you'll have to adjust your expectations. Kid, unlike more recent efforts, isn't aiming itself at the lite-FM listening masses. What it's asking instead is that you return yourself to your 1970s-era childhood bedroom, flop on the bed, and lock the door, or at least fasten an elastic band around your MTV-addled attention span. This is total-immersion music, and it's got 30 years worth of stories to tell.
The Captain and the Kid are John and Bernie Taupin, his longtime songwriting partner. The music, a choir-enhanced swerve through genres including pop, rock, blues, folk, and country with signature piano riffs thrown in nearly everywhere, chronicles their splintery relationship. Innocence and hope ("Postcards from Richard Nixon") give way to success and joy ("Just Like Noah's Ark"), which eventually leads to discontent ("Tinderbox") and disaster ("And the House Fell Down"). A shot at redemption ("The Bridge") later finds the Captain; reflection ("Old 67") and a joyous reunion (the title track) follow.
Theirs is ultimately a simple story, but John and Taupin suffuse it with hypnotic sentimentality--along with the narrative, echoes of past hits wander into several classic-sounding tracks. "Tiny Dancer" darts through the cracked-voice beauty of "Blues Never Fade Away" and "The Bridge," for example, while "Wouldn't HaveYou Any Other Way (NYC)" works in hints at both "Candle in the Wind" and "Where to Now St. Peter." Other songs shake loose less likely influences ("I Must Have Lost it on the Wind" sounds like something off a vintage Linda Ronstadt album), but all are compellingly steeped in context; if you don't get the late-disc reference to fine silk suits and six-inch heels, you'll wish you did. --Tammy La Gorce
Selected Favorites from Elton John
Tumbleweed Connection |
Madman Across the Water |
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road |
Honky Chateau |
Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy |
Greatest Hits 1970-2002 (Box Set) |
The Captain and the Kid Reviews:
PART TWO 
2009-12-12 - 'The Captain and The Kid' is the sequel to 1975's 'Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy', which has long been recognised as one of Elton's finest moments. That album told the story of Elton and his songwriting partner, Bernie Taupin, from their first meeting in 1967 until their arrival in the US in 1970. It was the first album ever to enter the Billboard Chart at Number One, and saw Elton reaching the absolute peak of his popularity, especially in the US. This album picks up where the first left off, from their arrival in the US, and in only ten tracks brings us up to date with the amazing careers that they both have enjoyed. The lyrics on this album are among the most captivating and inspiring of Taupin's career, and they have certainly inspired Elton to compose some beautiful melodies. Elton's fans are raving about the album, and among the favourite tracks are "Tinderbox", "Blues Never Fade Away", "The Captain and the Kid" and "I Must Have Lost It On The Wind".
One of his best!
2009-08-12 - I am a younger generation fan of Elton, so I'm familiar firstly with his more current material from the 90's and 2000's. I heard this album before I ever heard Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy and instantly fell in love with it. To me, this is one of his best albums, and is great from beginning to end. I've since heard Captain Fantastic and while there are some timeless classic songs on that album (Someone Saved My Life Tonight, Curtains, We All Fall in Love Sometimes), I prefer this album, and feel it's much more cohesive and really tells a great story with each song. You really feel the journey Bernie and Elton have been on the last 30 years through the lyrics and Elton's piano riffs on some of these songs are just fantastic. "Just Like Noah's Ark," "And The House Fell Down," & "The Bridge" are good examples. The only song on the album I'm not terribly fond of is "I Wouldn't Have You Any Other Way," but it's not a terrible song. My favorites are "The Bridge," "The Captain & the Kid," "And the House Fell Down," and "Tinderbox," but really I enjoy them all. It's amazing after all these years they still have it! They should be extremely proud of this work!
Another Elton Classic
2009-06-01 - To compare this to "CAPTAIN FANTASTIC" is as stupid as comparing "BAND ON THE RUN" or "MIND GAMES" to SGT PEPPER!!!
You cannot re-capture (Unfortunately) the feeling of a classic time or album like that (Captain Fantastic) and trying to compare this to it is simply Stupid!!
Man weren't the 70's a blast, and Elton is one of the reasons. This album recaptures none of that same Majic!! It Can't!!! This isn't the 70's...SORRY. I'm sure those of you who grew up listening to albums in there rooms in the 70's after THE MIDNIGHT SPECIAL on Friday night will understand what I'm sayin'.
Great album tho!!
John L. Book
Palm Springs, Ca.
The Captain and the Kid 
2008-12-18 - The Captain and the Kid being Elton John's 2006 release and his 29th studio album is his second autobiographical album and picks up where the 1975 release Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy left of. The album chronicles the events in the lives of Elton John and Bernie Taupin for the last 40 years since they started working together. Songs that can be said to stand out on this release are "The Bridge", "Postcards From Richard Nixon" "Wouldn't Have You Any Other Way (NYC)". The book-let is a mixed bag with nice photos of Elton John and Taupin. The lyrics are easy to read and we get a nice list of whom plays what on the album. 4/5.
Elton John - The Story Continues....... 
2008-10-29 - Elton's latest album is a sequel to the 1975 album "Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy". The album continues the autobiographical tale of Elton and Bernie Taupin's rise to fame, fortune, drugs, loss and redemption in the music business. Hopes were that the album would capture some of the magic from Elton's 70's heyday. On that level the album only half succeeds. Elton's voice is significantly different today from when the first album came out and the music seems to follow a more soft, at times almost country-ish bent not all that different from albums like "Honkey Château". Nothing really rocks here, which may or may not be a turn off depending on how you like your Elton. On first listen I was quite disappointed with this disc, but I have to admit that with repeated listenings many of the songs grew on me. Highlights include "Postcards From Richard Nixon", "Blues Never Fade Away", and "The Captain And The Kid". These songs rank right up there with Elton's better work over the years. The rest of the album is good enough, although nothing mind blowing. Overall I don't think that this one quite captures what Elton and Bernie were trying to achieve and it can't quite measure up to the duo's 70's hey day, but it is a solid Elton John album that is worth picking up. Give this one several listens and some of it's subtle charms will begin to grow on you.
