Empty Sky

After seeing Rocketman, I wanted to check out Elton John's early albums (pre-Goodbye Yellow Brick Road), as I am not overly familiar with them. His debut album, Empty Sky, came out fifty years ago this month, and it's kind of bonkers. A mixture of jazz, prog-rock, and the sweet ballads he became well known for, Empty Sky is not a very good record, but it shows the promise that he and Bernie Taupin had.

The opening title track is a good summation of the whole album. It's over eight minutes long, and changes throughout, although the lyric is straightforward enough:

"I'm not a rat to be spat on locked up in this room Those bars that look towards the sun at night look towards the moon
Everyday the swallows play in the clouds of love Make me wish that I had wings take me high above"

The theme of freedom is also in "Skyline Pigeon," the only song from this album that John still plays. It is, of course, accompanied solely by harpsichord:

"Turn me loose from your hands
Let me fly to distant lands
Over green fields, trees and mountains
Flowers and forest fountains
Home along the lanes of the skyway"

Taupin does get more obscure in his lyrics, though, such as with the closing track, "Gulliver." Not sure if it refers to Swift's character or not:

"Gulliver's gone to the final command of his master
His watery eyes had washed all the hills with his laughter
And the seasons can change all the light from the grey to the dim
But the light in his eyes will see no more bright
As the sheep that he locked in the pen"

My favorite song on the album is "Val-Hala," which is most reminiscent of future John/Taupin songs, a pretty tune about the Norse home for warriors:

"Oh Thor above the mountain
Look down upon your children
This is their heaven where they're told
To bring their galleons"

Empty Sky was not a success, but it did get a second album made, which set John off on his course to stardom. It was not even released in the U.S. until 1975, with a different cover, to cash in on his immense popularity. For fans of John, though, it is an interesting artifact of his early musical career.